'A third place': Fable Cafe opens in Westwood

Annasofia Scheve, Cincinnati Enquirer
·2 min read
Owners Brandie Potzick and Austin Kolaczk aimed to create a homey environment where customers feel a sense of community.
Owners Brandie Potzick and Austin Kolaczk aimed to create a homey environment where customers feel a sense of community.

Home is your first place, work is your second place and the new Fable Cafe hopes to be your third place.

A third place is somewhere people can gather to connect with others apart from home and work, which owners Brandie Potzick and Austin Kolaczko hope to bring to the West Side by making their visitors "feel like they're a guest in our own home."

The coffee shop and cafe opened Sunday at 3317 Harrison Avenue in Westwood's historic town hall district, with a turnout so big they ran out of food.

The cafe serves up the Cincinnati-based Yield Coffee, as well as loose-leaf tea. Sixteen Bricks pastries and baked goods made in-house are available to snack on alongside beverages. On the weekends, breakfast sandwiches are made to order.

Potzick has loved coffee for as long as she can remember. She holds fond memories of sipping strong coffee on her grandma's back porch and frequenting coffee shops throughout her college years.

When Potzick and her husband, Kolaczko, moved to the West Side in 2021, they missed the sense of community they felt on the East Side, walking around on the weekends to check out coffee shops and taking their kids to the park.

"Surely, there's other people that want it too," Potzick said.

Her natural entrepreneurial spirit meant she always had a plan to start a business one day, which she and Kolaczko had been saving up for little by little.

When they saw the building on Harrison Avenue was available to rent, the timing felt right.

Fable Cafe owners Potzick and Kolaczko saw an opportunity to bring a "third place" to the West Side when the space on Harrison Avenue became available.
Fable Cafe owners Potzick and Kolaczko saw an opportunity to bring a "third place" to the West Side when the space on Harrison Avenue became available.

Potzick and Kolaczko wanted the physical space to mirror the community they aimed to create, which is why they chose a bar layout that feels like it could be a kitchen counter in your own home as opposed to a more industrial design.

The cafe already has growth plans, including expanding the breakfast sandwich offerings to weekdays. Gluten-free and vegan options are also on the list of future additions to the menu.

The overall spirit of the West Side's new third place is reflected in a Peter Pan-inspired quote posted on one of the windows: "Would you like an adventure now, or shall we have our coffee first?"

Fable Cafe is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Weekend hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 'A third place': Fable Cafe opens in Westwood