When career bartender Jeff Kinder was pondering the kind of business he wanted to own and operate himself, his ideas didn’t fit the standard tavern mold. For one thing, Kinder wanted a place where someone who works into the wee hours, as bartenders do, could still get a breakfast sandwich.

He drinks a lot of coffee, he says, so he wanted to have that, too. In the end, Kinder’s 6-month-old, eclectically charming Haven Cafe is, he says, “like your living room when you don’t want to go home yet.” Here’s a closer look at four recent-ish examples of the third space redefined:

SereniTea Lounge

2569 N. DOWNER AVE.

On an early fall Friday afternoon, the wind brought in a gaggle of preteen girls for boba tea, which they slurped while sharing gossip at the modern cocktail lounge-like bar.

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