Just off the corner of Bank and Slater Street sits Centretown’s newest independent café, The EveryPerson Café.
Stylized as EP Café, the space has established itself as a hub for community, art and quality coffee since opening on Dec. 19.
Before finding its home at 139 Bank St., EP Café existed within the confines of a Reddit post in the r/Ottawa subreddit, called, “What would you like to see in a downtown coffee shop?”
Dani Zafar, co-owner of EP Café alongside his brother, said he received more than 600 replies to the post, along with 250,000 views.
“Just based on that, I’m like, ‘This is already a good idea because it’s causing such a rift in people,’” Zafar said.
Zafar said he picked up three main pieces of advice from the Reddit community: people wanted a café that closed late, provided milk and food alternatives and was full of art.
Unlike many other Centretown cafés that close in the afternoon, EP Café is open until 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
In a CKCU segment on Jan. 13, Zafar said Centretown cafés usually close earlier because their target audience is commuters.
The problem is not a lack of customers — Zafar said EP Café is busy well into the evening hours.
“The main reason someone might not come in is if [the business doesn’t] engage with the community to let them know that they’re open,” he told the Charlatan. “Otherwise people will not walk down the street for no reason, because they already expect everything to be closed.”
In addition to its favourable hours, the café doesn’t charge extra for drink additions and milk substitutions. It also sells vegan and gluten-free pastries from a local supplier.
And Zafar didn’t forget the art — the walls are covered with the work of local artists.
“[EP Café] has to be a place that someone who’s local can come in and feel happy that this is part of their local community,” Zafar said.
Val Brady, the café’s general manager, said a sense of community is “built into this establishment.”
“It’s just nice to be able to stand out and to be able to say, ‘Yeah, we’re working for the community,’” Brady said. “We’re specifically creating a space that is community-forward and we’re emphasizing the arts. We’re emphasizing people — every person.”
Centretown resident Bri Wiggins, who came to visit the new café, said it’s a safe space for anyone regardless of age, gender and identity.
“Most places, sometimes, I feel a little like I don’t belong — I feel a little left out,” they said. “But here, I feel like everyone is very friendly and respectful towards everyone.”
Brady considers EP Café and its brightly coloured murals an “anomaly” in Centretown. Its current paintings are the work of Gabriel Proulx, an artist from Quebec who frequently works in Ottawa.
“The city is built square and grey,” Proulx said of Ottawa. “Adding a little colour to it seems like the right way to go.”
As EP Café’s community artist, Proulx said he had almost total creative control over its interior walls, with little direction from Zafar.
“One of the ways that people love is through art,” Zafar said. “People want to see something interesting when they’re sitting down at a nice place.”
Proulx said his murals are inspired by Lord of the Rings, particularly with the swirly lines, called “filigree,” that crawl across the café’s walls.
One mural, which Proulx calls the “Lady of the Woods,” features a blue-skinned female character with a cup of coffee in hand. On another wall, he pointed to a large pair of coffee beans, which he said was first drawn on a piece of cardboard by one of the co-owners.
“If I could pop a smile out of someone’s mouth on a random Tuesday because they came in to get a coffee and they saw that,” Proulx said, “then I’ll count that as a win any day of the week.”
In an effort to support local artists, Zafar said EP Café set up a community art wall where artists can display their paintings to a wider audience.
Currently, Proulx and local artist Emmet Woulfe have paintings up on the wall for sale.
Zafar said he also envisions the café providing space for the artistic events run by local groups and organizations.
This is great news for Carleton University’s Poetic Society, according to club president Dylan Vinette.
When Haven closed in December 2024, the Poetic Society was left without an affordable event space, Vinette said.
The club hosted open mic nights at Haven on the first Wednesday of every month. After CUSA shuttered the long-standing café, the Poetic Society had no other venue to host their popular event.
Vinette said EP Café was their “saving grace.”
“[Zafar’s] only motive was to create an artistic space where people can come together,” she said. “And that’s really what our club is about — it’s about creating community.”
The society will host their first open mic night since Haven’s closure on Feb. 5.
“Having a space like this that kind of brings us together, is important in these times,” Vinette said.
“Artists need to support artists.”
Featured image by Kim Canlas/The Charlatan.
