Driving up Central Avenue from northeast Minneapolis and approaching Columbia Heights, you may have noticed the sign—large, bright red metal letters (and one white one) arranged in an irregular pattern on a grid that spells out “COSMIC.” It’s a cheery display reminiscent of vintage shops and thrift stores where hidden treasures are tucked away.
Or maybe you didn’t even notice! As Dusty Wahl, owner/barista/chef/sole employee of Cosmic Coffee, notes, this shop that sells coffee, not junk, Only a little further out than many of us city dwellers venture.
“That’s what makes it special,” he says. “It’s a little further north than anything else, which really ties it to this area.”
That neighborhood is called Waite Park, where Wahl has lived for the past decade, just a few blocks from the store. He visited the building at the corner of Central & 33rd Avenue — long a restaurant or cafe of some sort — countless times before moving in, saw it change hands more than once, and idly wondered what it would be like to open his own cafe there.
There was one small problem: “I didn’t know much about coffee,” Wahl laughs. But since he had worked in restaurants before, including as a cook for a community outreach program in south Minneapolis, he thought he could figure it out. And when the building became available again after Sammy’s Avenue Eatery left, Wahl decided to give it a try. He took over the lease in December 2021 and opened Cosmic Coffee the following February.
A few years later, it feels like Cosmic has always been there. Inside, a hand-painted message stretches across one wall: “Welcome to Cosmic. You are welcome just as you are. We are glad you are here.” Pew-like wooden benches line the outdoor area, and outside there is a sprawling patio and garden filled with picnic tables and mismatched chairs. It feels more like a fun aunt’s garden than a cafe.
As Wahl looks around the patio one afternoon, he thinks that someone must have taken a few chairs recently, “but that’s the first thing to disappear here,” he says. As he prepared to open, people warned him that he would have to lock everything up, but theft was no problem for him: “I actually gained two kittens,” he says.
(The “Cosmic Kitties,” as they were called, were abandoned outside the store in the winter of 2021 and lived in the basement during the store’s early days. Now they live with Wahl and his wife, but they are honored on bags of Cosmic’s house blend: Mac and Midnight, which, like all the coffee here, comes from Minneapolis-based Vitality Roasting.)
As for food, Cosmic serves breakfast sandwiches that are a steal at just $4, as well as breakfast burritos that range from $6 to $8. Breads and pastries come from nearby Heights Bakery, occasionally supplemented by orders from another Northeast bakery, Sarah Jane’s.
There’s no hood in Cosmic’s kitchen, so Wahl makes breakfast himself rather than preparing raw ingredients: “I see it more as a kind of food truck vibe, in the way I serve and the way I do things,” he explains. And at times, the cafe operated… just like a food truck. Last summer, it was open into the evenings, serving hot dogs and treats from the ice cream truck out the window overlooking Cosmic’s patio.
Wahl says he feels like he’s living a dream, and he wants to help other people live theirs. Many spaces at Cosmic are lined with items from local makers: broccoli earrings and eggplant keychains, crocheted hoods, art prints. Wahl, himself a longtime maker, doesn’t put a premium on display; his motto is more like, “If you can find a place for it, put it there.” He doesn’t charge a commission or a consignment fee—he has the space, so why not fill it with local goods?
It’s the ethos that underscores everything at Cosmic Coffee. A neighbor wants to host a barbecue on the patio? Sure, why not. Someone abandons kittens? We take them in. The cafe is a place for the community to socialize, and Wahl loves watching this part of town grow with him, chatting with regulars and watching the neighborhood kids come in on their own for the first time.
“What I really like is that I’m alone, you only see me and I see you, and I get to know you very well,” he says. “Especially the people from the neighborhood who come by regularly.”
The Cosmic sign is a symbol of this connection. One neighbor donated the letters and the flowerpot underneath, another neighbor donated the lattice, and it all came about thanks to the creative vision of a third neighbor.
“I feel like I’ve made a lot of friends,” Wahl grins. “We are building – and I hope we are building – something that can last.”
Cosmic Coffee
Address: 3301 Central Ave. NE, Minneapolis
Hours: Tuesday-Friday 6:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. (updated online)
