MOTT HAVEN — Coffee lovers in the South Bronx will soon have a new place to get their morning jolt.
Starting around mid-June, the restaurant Charlie’s Bar and Kitchen will convert into a coffee shop on weekday mornings from 7 to 10 a.m.
The cafe, located at 112 Lincoln Ave. and tentatively named CBK Perk, will serve coffee, espresso, juices and croissants, as well as a berry hibiscus iced tea called Chuck Berry, in keeping with the eatery's theme of honoring famous people named Charlie.
Lovie Pignata, who will be running the coffee shop, stressed that the menu was still very much a work in progress and would evolve based on what she hears from patrons.
"We’re going to test a few things and have fun with it and see what works and see what people want," Pignata said. "I’m a big fan of getting customer feedback, so along the way if I get ideas from other people, we’ll try them out and see what happens."
CBK Perk will initially be geared toward serving tenants of the Clocktower Building, where Charlie’s is located, and then start marketing more broadly toward the entire neighborhood, according to restaurant manager Sam Toosi.
Charlie's had decided to open a coffee shop in the mornings after hearing several requests for a cafe from locals, he said.
“They couldn’t really get a good cup of coffee in the neighborhood before they jumped on the subway to go down to work in Manhattan,” Toosi said, “So we figured we have some space, it’s not being utilized, we have the clientele, so why not?”
Virgil Beaty, a 32-year-old bar manager who lives in the Clocktower, said he was very excited about a new coffee shop opening up so close by and characterized it as a great fit for the lifestyles of people who live in the neighborhood.
"Everyone here seems a little artsy and we all work late or early," Beaty said.
Charlie's used to open at 4 p.m. but recently started serving lunch from 11:30 a.m. until 3 p.m.
However, the restaurant was still vacant in the mornings, and Pignata described opening a cafe there as a productive way to use the space.
"I’d like to reproduce this idea in other bars that are not being used in the morning," she said.
CBK Perk will launch as just a trial over the summer, but the restaurant would like to make it a permanent feature and will do so as long as the idea is a success, according to Toosi.
The cafe will probably not change the layout of Charlie's and be located in the front section of the restaurant so customers can sit at the bar.
Toosi emphasized that a coffee shop was new territory for Charlie's, so staffers would likely be figuring things out as they go along.
"We'll have to play it by ear," Toosi said. "We’ve never tried this before, so we’ll have to let the guests and the clientele tell us what they need instead of us just trying different things that nobody wants. Someone stops in and says, 'Hey, I would love a croissant sandwich with some ham and cheese.' We’ll respond accordingly."
Pignata, who has mainly been selling her coffee drinks at pop-up locations throughout The Bronx so far, said she was thrilled to finally have a place to regularly set up shop.
"It will be nice to sit still during the week," she said.
