Cafe Lolo, a pop-up favorite celebrated for fresh pasta, house-milled grains and locally sourced produce, will open its first brick-and-mortar restaurant this spring.
Owned by Leah Engel, Alex Halmi and Brett Bankson, the restaurant and larder will debut in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood at 806 E. Roy St.
“They [Engel and Halmi] have been cooking together in Seattle for about a decade and wanted to work with local grains. Washington is very, very bountiful with grain produce. They started doing pop-ups and working at farmer’s markets setting pasta as a template,” Bankson told What Now Seattle.
He continued, “They named Cafe Lolo after Alex’s childhood best friend’s mother, Carol. She was a chef. She was very inspirational in his cooking, learning to cook, and going to culinary school. In 2022, when Alex and Leah were getting the cafe off the ground, she passed away. So, they named it in her honor.”
Bankson joined the duo after working closely with Engel at Three Sacks Full in 2023, stating they “immediately just synced up with our love of grain and love of produce.” Soon after, the trio had the opportunity to do a residency at the restaurant, which Bankson described as “seamless,” sparking the idea to open a brick-and-mortar location.
Cafe Lolo’s menu will build off its farmers’ market offerings, with a daytime brunch and lunch service centered on two pastas, one vegetarian and one meat option, along with small salads and sandwiches made with house-made bread like focaccia and ciabatta. Dinner service will feature small plates, three to four pasta options and a rotating selection of desserts.
“My favorite dish, the first one that comes to mind is anything with turnips–cooking down onions and adding turnips or a root vegetable. It is just one of the most fabulous, velvety, flavor-forward vegetable pastas I’ve ever had. It goes so well with the Methow hard red wheat from Bluebird. It has this nutty, buttery flavor. It actually has a flavor instead of being a vehicle for sauces flavor,” he said.
Bankson leads the beverage program.
“It’ll be highlighting low-intervention, eco-sensitive wines from Washington, Oregon and old world things as well. There’s also amazing beers and ciders being produced in the Pacific Northwest. In terms of spirits, definitely focus on more bitter beverages that you drink before a meal or you drink to help you with your meal,” he said.
Bankson will highlight non-alcoholic beverages like tonics and sodas, along with Pu-erh and Oolong teas and affogatos. He also plans to repurpose produce for drinks.
“I can take squash skins, make that into a vinegar, and use that as a base for a tonic that we’ll serve,” Bankson said. “I can take the strawberry tops, let that macerate for a couple of days, add it into a barley tea or lavender soda, and all of a sudden it’ll be this savory, slightly fruit-forward base.”
Cafe Lolo will comfortably seat 36 guests and showcase a design rooted in history.
“The first tenant was a Russian tea house named Samovar. They had these murals painted back in the day, depicting scenes from poems by Alexander Pushkin. We’re not touching those. They’re the main character in the aesthetic. The mural is honestly the fourth member of our team,” he said. “There’s also a lot of original wood and really nice sandstone, taupe, ochre, dark lapis and jade going on in the restaurant.”
The trio is eager to start this new chapter as restaurant owners
“Opening a restaurant is crazy. I think we decided to do it because we would like to work in this industry for the rest of our lives,” Bankson said. “We’re hoping to build a space that allows us to have some creative satisfaction. We would really like to have a space where folks can come in and tell that we really care about their experience. I think people are just trying to be comfy, excited, feel nourished, feel alive. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish.”
Cafe Lolo will open at the end of March. In the meantime, fans can get their pasta fix at the West Seattle farmers’ market on Sundays. For updates, visit the website and follow along on Instagram.
