A photo slideshow first look at the East Village Coffee Lounge makeover.

East Village Coffee Lounge (373-5601) has taken a pounding. 

Not from the installation of the new granite bar and cabinetry and espresso machine and lighting.

Or the reconfiguration of the kitchen, remodeling of the bathroom and deep cleaning throughout.

Or the retrofit that inspired the whole refresher over the last month and a half.

The landmark building, gathering place and caffeine depot at 498 Washington St. in downtown Monterey has taken a pounding from its regulars.

On the door.

As a result, says co-owner Janet McAthie, even though new food offerings from the rearranged kitchen and consulting chef Christophe Bony aren't quite finished, they are soft-opening today.

"Customers really wanted us open," she says, "and with a lot of regulars—a lot—we feel very 'of the people,' so we're going for it.

"We thought about them the whole way."

McAthie and her partner in life and coffee Dean—who run Carmel Valley Coffee Roasting Company—made the most of a mandated retrofit to do far more than scrub the place often voted Best Coffeehouse by Weekly readers in our Best of Monterey County poll.

They took out the couches and added nice wood-and-metal swivel stools and community tables, dropped in a beautiful new granite bar with reclaimed wood face and made it longer to accommodate four stools.

The workflow behind the bar is decluttered and streamlined significantly with an assist from iPad point-of-sale systems and more efficient drink-making arrangements.

"We opened it up a lot," Janet says.

New cabinetry went in behind the bar, as did a fancy new Simonelli espresso machine, six-tap draft beer dispenser and upgraded wine program. 

Beautiful new lighting fixtures, fresh paint and other furniture appointments further amplify the new feel, accented by a colorful series of Burning Man photographs from D. Michael Troutman, including one of the spellbinding 55-foot-tall "Truth is Beauty" statue developed locally. 

(For more, see slideshow, above right.)

The music/poetry "stage" is back to the great room (from the longer, skinnier side space, which now opens to the kitchen).

The overall effect is industrial chic, and more subtle than dramatic because all the elements dovetail nicely with the historic stone building. In fact, the most rattling change will be with the flow of coffee pickup, with longtime loyal customers likely stumbling to move left toward the window to pick up drinks than right where new stool seating abuts the bar.

New china cups, plates and stainless steel flatware are also in place, providing appropriately pretty platforms for the new food program. Plates will run $3.95-$14.95, with most items $8-$12.

The light fare options and enhanced beer-and-wine offerings will smooth transitions toward a stronger night presence, with the live entertainment docket returning full force. 

Bony is playing with fancy popcorns, shrimp tacos with wasabi cream, pulled pork-green chili tacos and lamb sliders with cayenne mint aioli. The burrata with fennel salad I tried was a knockout.

"The key to the food is to make everyone feel welcome," he says. "Like a food truck food inside a building."

New hours start at 6am (except 7am Sunday) and go until 8pm Sunday-Monday, 10pm Tuesday through Saturday with the exception of Wednesday, when Rubber Chicken Poetry Slam helps push it to 11pm.

"With this redo we've recommitted for another 10 years," Dean says. "Ritual, Zeitgeist—all those places in San Francisco—none of those places have anything on us."