In a basement at 431 Northampton St., there's a sealed doorway that once led into the building next door. People signed their names near it, along with the years the owners believe they came and went. The owners heard from the neighbor who sold them the building that the basement had been a speakeasy in the 1920s. According to The Morning Call, that's what started Easton Speakeasy & Dining Room.
That basement is a good picture of how Easton changed this year. Most of the newest places to eat, drink and spend an evening didn't need a new building. One returned to its old address after eight months away. One is moving into the shop next door. Others took a stall inside an existing market, a new name at an existing kitchen, or a counter inside someone else's shop. Walk Northampton Street from Centre Square toward the West Ward and most of the storefronts look familiar. A lot of what's behind them is new.
Back at 14–16 S. Fifth St. After Eight Months
The clearest example is a return. The State Cafe and Grill, the breakfast and lunch spot at 14–16 S. Fifth St., closed in February. A fire at the Hotel Hampton building at 462 Northampton St. sent water runoff into its basement and flooded it.
Owner Bill Sneeringer told The Morning Call the restaurant would hold a soft opening the weekend of Oct. 23 and a full reopening on Thursday, Oct. 29. The newspaper's earlier update and its reopening story list the changes: new cold brews, fresh paint and renovated bathrooms.
It's the same address and the same owner, with a few updates. That pattern shows up all the way up the street.
A Basement That Kept Its Secret Until Now
Back at 431 Northampton St., co-owners Aaron Coleman and Tony Austin turned that history into a venue for ticketed shows and dinners. They live upstairs. Coleman told The Morning Call that they didn't want to live above a bar, so they built a place guests reserve for an event.
Here's how the building is laid out, according to that report:
- First floor: a dining room with glass chandeliers and a baby grand piano
- Basement: a mirror bar, a fireplace, lounge seating and the sealed doorway to the building next door
- Capacity: up to 70 people
- Out front: an entrance that barely advertises what's inside
"We wanted people to get dressed up again and be able to kind of step back in time into that gilded age of time where things were glamorous and fabulous," Coleman told The Morning Call. The ticketed events have formal dress codes. The lineup includes Mimi's Drag Brunch Melodies, jazz, burlesque, stand-up comedy and vaudeville.
The food also comes from places Easton already knows. The Morning Call named the catering partners as Porter's Pub, Aman's Artisan Indian Cuisine, Meli, Colonial Pizza & Spaghetti House, Stoke Coal Fire Pizza & Bar and Sette Luna. A dinner at the new venue is cooked by kitchens that have been feeding downtown for years.
If you're hoping to go before the holidays, the venue's show page lists November and December as sold out. Two December shows have their own event pages:
| Show | Date listed by the venue |
|---|---|
| Christmas Burlesque | Dec. 11, 2026 |
| Paige Turner | Dec. 18, 2026 |
Private events are planned to start next year.
A Bookshop Inside a Cafe, and Soon a Cafe Next Door
About a mile west at 1458 Northampton St., Plants + Coffee shows the same habit on a smaller scale. In June, the shop started making room for another small business inside its own space. Jojo's Book Nook, a bookstore inside the cafe, held its grand opening June 26. The bookstore is run by Jojo Schienholz, who first pictured a mobile bookstore before working with the cafe to open one in a fixed spot.
Now the cafe is growing into the space next door. It's taking over the former Mystery Box Games space to add seating, room for shopping and a bigger kitchen, along with more space for Jojo's Book Nook. "We are small for how busy we get," Schienholz told The Lafayette, the Lafayette College student newspaper.
Co-owner Jenny DeLorenzo told the paper that the cafe is tentatively aiming to open the new space in the first couple of weeks of December. The two rooms will connect, so customers can walk straight through. The bigger kitchen is about keeping up with demand. "This is going to give us the ability to be able to make more things, and that is absolutely the goal," DeLorenzo said. According to the same report, Mystery Box Games may keep hosting pop-up events around Easton on its own, separate from the cafe.
At Easton Public Market, New Stalls Under the Same Roof
Easton Public Market at 325 Northampton St. was built for this kind of change. A new food business can start with a stall inside the market before it ever needs a storefront of its own.
This year brought two new stalls. Bincho-Don held its grand opening April 2. Tortuga Club, a Mexican and Mexi-Cali stand, came next. Its owners are CJ Moyer, Jean Jimenez and Jessica Watson, and lehighvalleylive.com reported a menu of tacos, quesadillas, tortas, ceviche and margaritas. The Morning Call later reported a July 1 opening date.
Here's who the market's vendor directory lists right now:
- Bincho Don
- Centre Square Cheese
- Chocodiem
- Crêpes at Casa
- Farmstand
- Green Vida Downtown
- Houseplanted
- Luca and Sons
- Mister Lee's Noodles
- Modern Crumb Bakeshop
- Rod's Dogs
- Scratch
- ThreeBirds Nest
- Tolino Vineyards
- Tortuga Club
On a weeknight when you can't settle on one cuisine, that list covers noodles, crêpes, hot dogs, cheese, wine and tacos under one roof. The directory doesn't post hours for each stand, so check before you go.
In the West Ward, a New Name at a Known Address
Up at 1300 Northampton St., the change is a new brand. Salaam Bros launched with a Saturday grand opening around Oct. 10. The halal menu leads with Nashville hot chicken, alongside smashburgers, gyros and platters. Lehigh Daily reported that the address was already home to Salaam Arabian Kitchen. It's a new name and menu from a kitchen already working at that address.
Across town, J's Steaks & Subs found its own way back into an existing business. In July, The Morning Call reported a new J's food truck at Weyerbacher Brewing Co., 905 Line St., describing it as the chain's return to the Lehigh Valley. The report didn't give an opening date, so look up the truck's schedule before you plan dinner around it.
Where Things Stand in Early November
| Place | Address | Status as reported |
|---|---|---|
| State Cafe and Grill | 14–16 S. Fifth St. | Full reopening set for Oct. 29 |
| Easton Speakeasy & Dining Room | 431 Northampton St. | Ticketed shows; November and December listed sold out |
| Plants + Coffee and Jojo's Book Nook | 1458 Northampton St. | Expansion tentatively early December |
| Tortuga Club | Easton Public Market, 325 Northampton St. | Listed in current vendor directory |
| Salaam Bros | 1300 Northampton St. | Launched around Oct. 10 |
| J's Steaks & Subs truck | Weyerbacher Brewing Co., 905 Line St. | Announced in July; no start date given |
Five of the six are tied to an existing address, kitchen, market or brewery, and the sixth opened in a basement first used as a speakeasy in the 1920s.
If you've lived in your Easton home a long time and are starting to wonder whether to update it, stay or make a change, Michael and Ed at The Grateful Agent are glad to listen first and talk it through at your pace. Contact Us whenever you're ready.