- I-Miun Liu, owner
Eastern Cafe inhabits a ballroom-like space in the International District that stood vacant for three years before owner I-Miun Liu signed the lease. I-Miun hired a contractor who removed the drywall and carpet to reveal beautifully weathered mint-green and yellow cement walls and the space's original fir floors. With simple lighting and changing local artwork (currently a mixed-media show by Aung Robo), the place is appealingly industrial without any distressed-jeans-esque overkill. The building is more than 100 years old, built as a hotel for railway workers; the rooms upstairs are now rented as apartments.
I-Miun, whose background is in economics and banking, also owns a nearby bubble tea shop, Oasis. He wanted to open a type of business that doesn't exist anywhere else in the neighborhood...
