By Brooke Brinker, Social Media Manager
Have you ever wanted to live in the 2000s TV show “Gilmore Girls” in the town of Stars Hollow? Elevenses Co. in Ybor City, Tampa, FL, made that possible for Gilmore Girls Fans. They transformed their cafe into the diner “Luke’s”.
Elevenses created a “Gilmore Girls” pop-up for four days, from Oct. 8 to Oct. 11. They had lines out the door each day. It was highly successful and very popular.
Elevenses created an experience. They got every detail, from the famous Luke’s sign out front to the “no Cellphone sign” on the wall. As well as the teal wall with shelves with Luke’s mugs on top.
As you walk in, Gilmore Girls’ music is playing, and you feel like you’re actually in Stars Hollow. On the counter, there was a notebook where fans could write anything in it. Many customers wrote iconic quotes from “Gilmore Girls”.
On the wall were pictures of the main characters, Lorelai Gilmore, Rory Gilmore, Luke Danes, and Sookie St. James.
One of the workers was even wearing a plaid shirt, which is Luke’s iconic everyday outfit.
Jade Yelvington, the owner of Elevenses, grew up watching “Gilmore Girls” ever since it first premiered. Yelvington loved to create themed baked goods. She first started with “Harry Potter macarons” when a wholesale account asked if she could create them. She had a notebook filled with ideas of themes she wanted to do. When Elevenses opened, instead of making just one item, like the macaroons, Yelvington aspired to do a whole “Gilmore Girls” Menu.
“I had no idea if anyone would care or not, but I cared and wanted to try it, so I did,” Yelvington said.
Now in 2025, this is the 9th “Gilmore Girls” Menu Elevenses has done. Every year, they add more Gilmore Girls charm to make it special for their customers. You can even get Luke’s stickers and to-go cups all year round.
The best part was the pastries. There were 11 pastry items. Each pastry was named after something iconic from the show. For example, they had “Sookie’s lemon blueberry pancakes cake slice”, which were pancakes that Sookie made in the show. Sookie is the Inn’s chef and Lorelai’s best friend in “Gilmore Girls”. Elevenses also had “Emily’s Christmas apple (pop) tarts”, which were Lorelai’s favorite dessert at her parents, Emily and Richard’s, Christmas party, and of course had “Coffee coffee coffee cake”, for Lorelai’s obsession with coffee.
Not only did they have pastries, but they also had the most creative coffee and drinks. Elevenses had nine drinks to choose from, and each drink went with a character from the show. It was so creative and fun. For Rory, the drink was called “A Rory” because, in “Gilmore Girls”, for Rory’s 21st birthday, there was a pink drink served called “A Rory”. For Max Medina, one of Lorelai’s love interests, there was a Pumpkin Pie spice latte, because Lorelai said to Max, “I’m attracted to pie, it doesn’t mean I feel the need to date pie.” The Max drink tasted just like fall and was full of flavor. Many of the characters, such as Lorelai, Luke, Jess, Logan, Dean, and Chris, were listed as drinks based on something they said on the show or their personalities.
When you get your drink, it comes with a “Lukes” sticker on the cup. If you got a bigger bakery item, you get a pink dragonfly in to-go box.
Elevenses does this adorable fall event twice a year, in the spring and the fall, for two weeks. So, don’t miss out on the next one. Make sure to follow their Instagram @Elevensesco so you can get updates.
Elevenses did a great job at bringing the Stars Hollow vibes to Florida, making all Gilmore fans feel like they are actually having breakfast at “Luke’s”.
1 Comment
This is so cute!!