Minas and her sweetie working at Karachi Cowboys (Image: Yeobo)

Powered by community crowdfunding and a wealth of experience working with Capitol Hill food and drink venues including Post Pike Cafe, Fuel Coffee, and the gone but not forgotten Karachi Cowboys, Yeobo Cafe and Bar is bringing Korean-American comfort food to the slopes of Madison Valley in early 2025.

Chef Mars Minas announced the location this month after a crowdfunding campaign earlier this year that saw more than $20,000 raised to support the diner project from the first-time owner.

Finding a space for the project to call home was a major challenge but a restaurant with good bones and the right location finally became available.

Just east of Capitol Hill, Yeobo will be busy transforming the former Two Doors Down burger joint that closed in October after owner Erin Nestor’s ten-year run on the E Madison corner.

“It’s such an honor to be taking over such a beloved space, and we’re so grateful to Erin for trusting us with what she’s built, Lex for really doing the most for us as our broker, all our amazing kickstarter supporters for believing in us, and to our greater communities for your constant support,” Minas wrote in the announcement. “We hope to make you all proud, and we can’t wait to welcome you through our doors.”

Two Doors Down closed on the corner in October

Minas says Yeobo will be a cafe-space “focused on community-building and sharing third culture experiences through food and drink.”

“We cultivate a sense of belonging through our Korean-American comfort food; the spirits on our shelves from BIPOC and queer distributors; and retail shelves featuring artists and creators of diverse backgrounds, identities, and media,” Minas writes. “We are excited to become your new neighborhood comfort cafe and bar, all 100% gluten-free.”

The first-time owner has been busy honing her food and drink plus hospitality skills across Capitol Hill in recent years, working at 12th Ave’s Pakistani soul food joint Karachi Cowboys (RIP, 2023) and later perfecting her offerings at pop-ups at Broadway’s Post Pike Cafe and providing buttermilk biscuits and spreads to Fuel Coffee.

Yeobo Cafe and Bar’s offerings will be diverse with plans for breakfast, lunch, and night service plus weekend brunch menus that celebrate “classic American comfort foods, but always with a third culture twist” and “a heavy Korean-American influence.” The day will shift from build your breakfast sandwiches and coffee cocktails to nighttime bar bites like Scallion Fritters and Honey Gochujang Wings plus Late Night Musubi along with a full cocktail program plus non-alcoholic cocktails.

The new Yeobo will neighbor the Bottleneck Lounge which continues it nightly service on the block under new ownership.

Yeobo draft menus

Minas says Yeobo Cafe and Bar really will be a labor of sweet love. The word “yeobo” is a Korean term of endearment like honey, baby, or sweetie pie.

Yeobo will create “Korean-American comfort food with love and care, as though every dish and drink is for our Yeobo,” she says. “My own Korean-American identity will play a heavy influence on the menu, but as will the experiences and identities of everyone on staff because we all have our own story to tell.”

Yeobo Cafe and Bar will open “early ’25” at 2332 E Madison. Learn more at yeobosea.com.

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