Ice cream, lavender lattes, bagels, Canh Chua, and grits.

About a month ago,  Boon Boona Coffee, 724 S. 3rd St.  in beautiful downtown Renton hosted a pop up for an ice creamery called Sweet Alchemy. It was pretty divine. Then a couple of weeks later, they hosted a couple more popups,  Sweet Alchemy once again, and also Seattle Bagel Bakery, who were doing a lovely bagel, lox, and cream cheese with tomato and thin red onion, as well as bagels with just cream cheese, or with hummus. Pretty great.
So it begs the question:
Wouldn't having the option to go get really good ice cream in downtown Renton make it an even cooler place than it is? Or going to get baked on premises cookies, breads, and pastries? Dude! That ups the ante on the quality of life scale by a lot.
Boon Boona upped the ante. It's a large espresso place and roastery, with sandwiches, pastries,  lavender lattes, and Ethiopian coffee ceremonies. It's a hopping, happening  place. Some places seem to be instant successes. Efram the owner sure looks like he knows what he's doing with Boon Boona. The place gets fairly packed, and it holds a lot of people.  There are frequently events going on there, there's Four Generals beer on tap, it's got high ceilings  and concrete floors. It's also significant that  downtown Renton now supports three places within a few blocks of each other where you can sit down and have a cappuccino and a snack. And they're all good. Common Ground makes cupcakes, and the Liberty Cafe  has great coffee., soups, sandwiches, and pastries along with frequent art displays.
I think if you wanted to throw money away quickly, you might open a fourth coffee shop in downtown Renton. But there's enough coffee . How about someone with money and vision open a bakery in downtown Renton, and someone else open a place with great ice cream( or gelato)?

Speaking of places that could be called an instant success, Renton Bistro, 212 S. 3rd St, Renton  is also getting discovered. Since it's long incarnation as Gene's Ristorante, it's been Da Pino, then Vino, then empty for a while, then Quan Ngoc, and now Renton Bistro. It's a little far from the epicenter of all that is happening in downtown Renton( a few blocks west), but sometimes word of delicious food at reasonable prices spreads fast, and Renton Bistro, in the three or four times I've been there, is really good. Service is a little slow, but the product they put out is clearly a step or two up from other Vietnamese restaurants. There's lots for vegetarians to choose from, and they have Canh Chua, the legendary Vietnamese soup. You thought it was Pho, huh? Canh Chua is the Vietnamese hot  and sour soup, usually made with tomatoes, tamarind, Vietnamese vegetables and herbs, pineapple, bean sprouts, and shrimp. Renton Bistro also offers it with catfish,  and with tofu. It's pretty amazing, better than Pho any day of the week. In the photo, Canh Chua is in the background, but in the foreground is the grilled tofu platter, which is served with rice paper rounds served in warm water, so you essentially make your own Vietnamese "burritos".  This was also pretty great.

And up the road a bit in Seattle's Rainier Beach neighborhood, Jude's Old Town , 9252 57th Ave S, Seattle, serves weekend brunch in addition to weekday dinners.  Great,  and reasonably priced. And the grits are just insanely delicious and addictive.