Kahve Cafe
Address: 57 South 600 East
Telephone: 801-888-0354
Website: kahvecafeslc.com
District: Central City Historic
“Kahve means coffee in Turkish,” Elif Ekin said with a warm smile, introducing the heart of her cafe’s name. Born in Adana, a small city in southeastern Turkey, Elif’s story is one of deep cultural roots, migration, and a love for creating community.
Elif’s parents left Turkey in the mid-70s due to political unrest, settling in Rhode Island after her father, a university professor, saw a military tank roll onto the campus. Within six months of leaving Turkey, many of his colleagues were imprisoned, and the family stayed in the U.S. for good. Elif grew up between worlds, visiting Turkey every three years, which helped keep her Turkish heritage alive.
Elif met her Turkish husband while they both attended college in Rhode Island—he at Brown, and she at Providence College, where she majored in Art and Art History. After graduating, Elif faced the unfortunate collapse of the arts job market, a turning point that would steer her away from museum work and into a new direction. Eventually, they moved to Utah in 2001 when her husband took a position at the University of Utah. Their arrival coincided with Pioneer Day, which left Elif feeling like she had walked into a ghost town. “Where are all the people?” she recalled, finding the surrounding streets eerily deserted on that holiday.
Despite the rocky start, Elif soon built a life in Salt Lake City, volunteering at the Fine Arts Museum and later starting a baklava business. Her early years in Utah saw her preparing baklava and cooking for the Tea Grotto while pregnant, her daughter strapped to her back as she worked. Sadly, her marriage ended, but for years, Elif ran a modest but steady business, baking wholesale for local cafes and restaurants. However, when the pandemic hit, her orders dropped to nearly nothing, pushing her to pivot into a new venture.
Elif had long dreamed of opening her own Victorian-style cafe, a place where she could blend her cultural heritage and personal style into something meaningful. “People told me I was crazy,” she recalled, insisting she wanted a Victorian house, not just any strip mall or commercial space. In June 2020, she spotted the listing for a Victorian home in downtown Salt Lake, and her vision clicked into place. After a long eviction process due to pandemic protections, she finally received the keys in February 2021. The house had a troubled past, once occupied by tenants battling heroin addiction, but Elif saw potential amid the damage.
The house itself has a colorful history. In the 1960s, a German woman turned it into a men’s boarding house, removing many of its original features, including stained glass and the porch. Some of the men who once lived there, occasionally visit, and reminisce about their time here. In the 1980s, it became a Bed and Breakfast, operating for ten to fifteen years before transitioning into a drug rehab center for three years. It then returned to being a B&B for another five years before the neighbors bought it, becoming Elif’s landlords. Out front, a vegetable garden now flourishes, supplying fresh mint, tomatoes, and other ingredients used in the cafe’s kitchen.
Renovating the house was no small feat, with two months of hard work to repair holes in the walls, clean syringes left behind and breathe new life into the space. Elif describes the house as having its own energy, one that asks people to “level up.” “The house kicks people out if they don’t fit,” she laughed, reflecting on how tenants and workers often self-select when they are no longer a match for the space.
Wandering through Kahve Cafe feels like uncovering a hidden world of delightful nooks and crannies. You might settle down on a pillow in the cozy living room or take a seat at one of the many beautiful tables scattered throughout the house. On a nice day, people can be found sitting outside soaking up the view of the charming residential streets lined with old Victorian homes. Upstairs, there is a room dedicated to architecture, displaying old drawings of the house, a reminder of its storied past. The sunroom, with its inviting window seats, lets the sunlight pour through, creating the perfect space to unwind. There is a quiet study equipped with laptops, a printer, and office supplies for those looking to get some work done. It is truly a home away from home for many of the cafe’s visitors.
Every corner of Kahve Cafe tells a story, especially through the items that fill the space. “Everything here has meaning,” Elif shared. The walls are adorned with photos of her Turkish family, while dozens of pictures of her daughter and her other “kiddos” create a warm, personal atmosphere. There is a rich robe from Kazakhstan hanging proudly, a glass table crafted by an Asian artist, and furniture that has been either thrifted or gifted, each piece carrying its own history. Some of the items have been in Elif’s family for generations, like the over-150-year-old rug saved by her great-great-aunt.
Kahve Cafe also offers an array of items for sale, allowing visitors to take a piece of Elif’s world home with them. Turkish scarves, imported directly from the bazaars of Istanbul, hang artfully around the space. Shelves are lined with Turkish teas, spices, and the cafe’s signature organic coffee, roasted locally from Tanzanian beans - a close match to the original Turkish coffee, which traces its origins back to Yemen.
Elif’s menu reflects her Turkish American heritage, with traditional Turkish small bites and baklava infused with modern twists. “Baklava can be intimidating if you’ve had a bad piece,” she joked, explaining why she makes hers bite sized. In addition to classics like walnut and pistachio, she adds flavors like Reese’s Dark, made with unsalted roasted peanuts and dark chocolate, and pistachio with lemon curd. The menu also features Turkish tea served from a samovar, Turkish coffee cooked on hot sand to emulate the traditional cooking methods over hot coals, and moon milk - a calming, plant-based drink inspired by Turkish ayurveda.
Elif estimates that over 100 people pass through the doors of Kahve Cafe each day, except on Mondays, when the cafe is closed. Elif considers this cafe her field of dreams. “I believed that if I followed my path, people would come,” she said. And come they certainly do.
The sense of family Elif cultivates extends beyond the kitchen. As a single mother, she shares her home and business with her daughter Mina, and five other children from previous relationships, whom she affectionately calls her “kiddos.” “They all work here, which is lovely,” she said, mentioning that most of them help on Sundays. Her daughter, now eighteen, plays a key role in the cafe, and even launched her own lemonade stand over the summer, creating unique flavors and managing the operation with the younger “littles.”
Elif’s journey has not been without challenges. In her first two years of business, she survived an embezzlement that nearly derailed everything. “I lost $42,000 to a manager I trusted,” she revealed. “The DA has pressed charges, and we’re still in pretrial, but I’m too stubborn to quit.” Despite the setbacks, Kahve Cafe has thrived, and the community that gathers there reflects the love and care Elif pours into every detail.
At its heart, Kahve Cafe is more than just a place to get a coffee or a pastry. It is a place where people become family. “When you come here, you’re home,” Elif said, reflecting on her vision for the cafe. “I just want people to feel loved and supported, wherever they are or however long they want to stay.”
