This summer, the first brick-and-mortar location for a traditional Colombian restaurant will open in Littleton.
La Rola Colombian Kitchen first opened as a food truck in July 2017 and then served customers via a food stand at Zeppelin Station. The lease ended at the Zeppelin Station location, and La Rola Colombian Kitchen owner Karen Martinez started searching for a new space.
La Rola Colombian Kitchen began serving from two cloud kitchens last month—one at 810 Vallejo St. in Denver and one at 14200 E. Alameda Ave. in Aurora. Martinez found a spot for a new brick-and-mortar at 5350 S. Santa Fe Dr. in Littleton and hopes to host a grand opening there on July 1. They will continue to serve to-go and delivery options from the two cloud kitchens.
Martinez works with her sister, Andrea Martinez, and their mother, Maria Teresa Garzon, at La Rola Colombian Kitchen. “My mom, she’s a very good cook, and we thought it’d be best to share our food with everybody else. So, my mother, she plays a big role because it’s her recipes and her style of cooking,” Karen Martinez said.
“Now that we’re growing, it’s very exciting for us. We are minorities. We are immigrants, and so this is a huge step for us.” The family is originally from Bogotá, Colombia but has been in Denver for 20 years.
The new brick-and-mortar location will feature indoor and outdoor seating, as well as a variety of traditional Colombian plates including empanadas. “They are all gluten-free, and they’re all made with masa,” Karen Martinez said.
La Rola Colombian Kitchen also serves Arepas Rellenas, which is flat cornbread stuffed with cheese and a choice of filling such as beef, chorizo, chicken, pork belly, or sweet plantains. Arroz con Pollo with rice, chicken, and vegetables is served with a side of sweet plantains and yucca fries.
Other popular dishes include the Billionaire hot dog. “The Billionaire hot dog is a 10-inch hot dog, and it has chicken, ham, onion. It has bacon, pineapple sauce, pink sauce, ketchup, and it’s topped off with a quail egg,” Karen Martinez told What Now Denver. “It’s like a cheat meal maybe. It’s hefty, but it’s very good.”
