Editor's note: This story was originally published in May. We're republishing the story in November because Cafe Passe has officially reopened its doors. Hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. for now, but 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. hopefully soon. For now, the menu includes brunch favorites like eggs and a quesadilla, French toast,ย posole, salad and a burger.
Cafe Passe has always contained more than passersby on Fourth Avenue would be able to see. Their modest storefront belies their sprawling patio, with its alcoves, mesquite trees and slotted wood floors.
Customers could use the cafe like a to-go coffee bar, but theyโd be missing out on what makes the spot quintessentially Tucson: our unfussiness in the dirt floors and wooden tables, our beauty in the historical touches and well-cared for plants, our community everywhere.
Cafe Passe, 415 N. Fourth Ave., has been closed for a year: nine months later than owner Jenny Rice had in mind when she closed for kitchen updates last May. Her super compares building to a puzzle: not only do you need the right pieces, but you need to have them at the right time.
โI still have giant holes in the drywall in the bathroom because I canโt close them up because the electrician has to finish his job so I canโt paint,โ Jenny said.
Before the remodel, everything on the menu โ from the French toast to the breakfast sandwiches โ was cooked by a few hot plates and a microwave. Though very little has changed to the cafeโs physical appearance, its innards have been almost completely transformed.
![The Healthy Helga at Cafe Passe (copy)](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/71/c71cfb9a-f9b0-11ed-9df8-bb11c331bf7c/54fe5331ced6b.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/71/c71cfb9a-f9b0-11ed-9df8-bb11c331bf7c/54fe5331ced6b.image.jpg?resize=300%2C199 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/71/c71cfb9a-f9b0-11ed-9df8-bb11c331bf7c/54fe5331ced6b.image.jpg?resize=400%2C266 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/71/c71cfb9a-f9b0-11ed-9df8-bb11c331bf7c/54fe5331ced6b.image.jpg?resize=540%2C359 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/71/c71cfb9a-f9b0-11ed-9df8-bb11c331bf7c/54fe5331ced6b.image.jpg?resize=620%2C412 750w)
Pictured here in 2015 is Cafe Passe's kombucha tea-based cocktail nicknamed the Healthy Helga.
โI learned so much about construction in the last year,โ Jenny said. โI know everywhere every pipe, wire, floor, you know, what's under my floor, what's in my ceiling, what's on my roof. I know everything about that building now.โ
The cafe has a new sewer line and will soon have new electrical wiring. Yet the only space where customers will notice the transformation is at the bar: it will be smaller, to make room for the new full-hood, six-burner grill and two ovens in the kitchen.
โItโs going to be an entirely different bar; adorable, the cutest bar youโve ever seen. Itโs more of a lounge than a bar,โ Jenny said. โIโm not trying to compete with Cheโs or Royal Room or The Buffet or Mr. Heads. Itโs a place to sit and chat with your girlfriends or bring a date and sit and enjoy the space and the food and all that I have to offer.โ
![Cafรฉ Passรฉ (copy)](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/3d/33da5634-f9b0-11ed-8598-d7ec800b4bc6/536a87f9107ea.image.jpg?resize=200%2C134 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/3d/33da5634-f9b0-11ed-8598-d7ec800b4bc6/536a87f9107ea.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/3d/33da5634-f9b0-11ed-8598-d7ec800b4bc6/536a87f9107ea.image.jpg?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/3d/33da5634-f9b0-11ed-8598-d7ec800b4bc6/536a87f9107ea.image.jpg?resize=540%2C361 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/3d/33da5634-f9b0-11ed-8598-d7ec800b4bc6/536a87f9107ea.image.jpg?resize=620%2C414 750w)
Cafe Passeโs bar space, where this poetry slam was held in 2012, is the site of greatest change: โItโs going to be an entirely different bar; adorable, the cutest bar youโve ever seen,โ Rice said.
Jenny is decorating the new lounge with reclaimed and donated materials, like a friendโs wooden fence used to line the ceiling, her sisterโs chandelier and her best friendโs old granite countertop for the bar itself.
These major, costly renovations, though, have been in service of the historic space and its menus: the kitchen will be ready for dinner service.
โSo I am going to have a lot of the things I had on the menu before,โ Jenny said. โBut the biggest change is that Iโm going to have a fryer: French fries and burgers and yโknow, dinners like pot roast and meatloaf and albondigas.โ
โIโm basically basing this menu on how I grew up. Mexican Americana. My mom is Mexican. I grew up on traditional Mexican meals. My dad is a gringo, so on his side we were doing meatloaf and pot roast. Itโs a blend of who I am,โ she said.
When the cafe reopens, the hours will look different. โWe were only open until, I think we closed at 2:30, and I was closed two days a week,โ Jenny said. With the dinner menu, Cafe Passe will be open until 9 or 10 p.m.
![Cafe Passe](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8f/88f89e24-f766-11ed-a268-a33c4cc55a66/6469589e94d7f.image.jpg?resize=200%2C137 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8f/88f89e24-f766-11ed-a268-a33c4cc55a66/6469589e94d7f.image.jpg?resize=300%2C206 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8f/88f89e24-f766-11ed-a268-a33c4cc55a66/6469589e94d7f.image.jpg?resize=400%2C274 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8f/88f89e24-f766-11ed-a268-a33c4cc55a66/6469589e94d7f.image.jpg?resize=540%2C370 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8f/88f89e24-f766-11ed-a268-a33c4cc55a66/6469589e94d7f.image.jpg?resize=750%2C514 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8f/88f89e24-f766-11ed-a268-a33c4cc55a66/6469589e94d7f.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C822 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8f/88f89e24-f766-11ed-a268-a33c4cc55a66/6469589e94d7f.image.jpg?resize=1700%2C1165 1700w)
Cafe Passe is located at 415 N. Fourth Ave. "Iโm in this gray zone where the old pictures donโt suit me anymore and the new ones donโt exist yet," owner Jenny Rice said.
More hours mean longer nights spent with friends under Cafe Passeโs mesquite trees and moonlight, but it also means more staff: Jenny only needed six people before. Now, she needs a full spread โ from dishwashers to line cooks to kitchen managers.
Sheโll start hiring as soon as the major construction has wrapped up, which sheโs expecting by the end of the month. โI would need a couple weeks to prepare,โ Jenny said. โSo I would hire and then 10-14 days later, I would open.โ
That timeline places the opening in mid-to-late June, but we can start the official countdown once we see Cafe Passe post about hiring on Instagram. โMy next post will be about hiring,โ she said.
โIโm overwhelmed, Iโm excited. Iโm exhausted,โ Jenny said. โI lay in bed at night thinking about being open. I visualize people being there, plates clinking and people chatting, but Iโm not there yet.โ
โI want everyone to know that Iโve really missed being on Fourth,โ Jenny said. โAs much as they might miss Passe, Passe misses them, too.โ