The Weathervane Cafe Celebrates a Decade in Uptown

For ten years, the Weathervane Cafe has operated inside a small, now-126-year-old house at 1725 East 17th Avenue. During that time, it's shifted and adjusted as needed, but its "granny chic" cozy feel, as co-owner Lindsay Dalton calls it, has been maintained.

Along with serving coffee and tea, the cafe has remained committed to offering made-to-order food and using housemade ingredients, like its flavored syrups. "Our items are not just a microwaved burrito or a pre-made sandwich in a clamshell," notes Dalton, who owns Weathervane with her husband, Alex. "We make everything from scratch."

Breakfast options include a panini-pressed burrito with housemade salsa as well as seasonally flavored oat and chia puddings. The lunch menu consists of sandwiches that are recognizable but have their own twist, like the chickpea salad, the jalapeño peach melt and the ham and berry goat cheese, each served with either chips or seasoned cucumbers. The cafe also partners with two bakeries, La Belle French Bakery in Thornton and La Fillette Bakery, to serve a rotating Pop-Tart and other specialty pastries.
On the beverage side, Weathervane calls its Earl Grey cambric tea Liquid Mittens, and its signature latte is the Happy Camper, made with smoked maple syrup and topped with pine sugar. It also offers rotating drink specials, like the currently available cinnamon dulce latte garnished with a tiny cinnamon bun on a stick.

Over the years, the cafe has accidentally become an adorable retail shop, too. When it opened, Weathervane sold coffee by the bag, items from Dram Apothecary and coffee-cup holders. As Dalton found gifts for herself or friends at other shops, she would add to the retail area. When the pandemic hit, the cafe removed the tables in the tiny downstairs seating area and added an armoire for more retail space, which it filled with goods from Dalton's artist friends. The mini-shop now includes pantry items, bandannas, T-shirts, foraging items and more. There is also art, along with fun finds like the Pee-wee Herman and Dolly Parton stickers that were recently added.

A number of other changes made to accommodate COVID, like online ordering, have stayed on at the cafe. "There are so many things we're not going back to," Dalton notes. The house's small front porch was extended to include a patio between the walkway and street, and she says that the tables that crowded the first-floor space of the house are not coming back — and neither is the internet. Since the inside of the cafe only has seating for about ten upstairs and a handful of people downstairs, the removal of wi-fi is a way of encouraging guests to talk to each other or, as the website suggests, "meet a friend, play some cards, laugh a lot."
More changes are coming, too, though Dalton says most customers won't even notice the upgrades, which will have a more significant impact on staff. A new bar was added in late November, which was custom made for the cafe and replaced the "planks" they put together for the cafe's opening ten years ago, she notes. The light fixtures are next to be replaced, and Dalton has been working on the decor to create a more intentional look. "We're doing nice upgrades that feel more like a choice," she explains. "It'll feel pretty much the same to everyone and have the same cute vibe."

One obvious change for anyone visiting or driving by, though, is the exterior color; the cafe is now bright orange, and a string of pennant flags proudly announces its decade in business.

The Weathervane Cafe is located at 1725 East 17th Avenue and is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. For more information, visit weathervanecafe.com and follow it on Instagram.