LB. started the way a lot of good things do: with two people feeling burnt out by the way things were.
Lee was running restaurants in Portland. Bryna was traveling nonstop managing musicians across the country, always looking for something to eat that made her feel better, not worse, between flights and venues. Somewhere in the middle of all that, they started talking about food, energy, and how hard it felt to find places that made everyday life feel a little better.
Not fancy. Not preachy. Just thoughtful. What started as a conversation slowly turned into an idea: food that tastes good and makes you feel good, served in spaces people actually want to spend time in.
The first LB. menu was sketched on a work trip. The conversations expanded from food into hospitality, community, and all the tiny details that make a space feel human. Soon after, they were renovating a little space on Congress Street.
Nearly a decade later, that same approach still shapes everything they do. Whether you walk into LB. Kitchen or LB. MINI-MART, the feeling is the same: welcoming, intentional, unfussy and grounded in the communities they serve.
Good food. Good people. A place that fits into real life.
LB. stands for Lee and Bryna. But over time, it’s come to stand for something bigger than either of them could’ve planned — a daily ritual, a community, and a reminder that feeling well doesn’t have to be complicated or compromised.
