OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — It's the final day of Women's History Month. So, it's only fitting we feature a restaurant owned by not one, but two metro women.
Lola's Cafe is a unique place. It's a coffee shop, bakery, workspace and happy hour all in one. In this week's Cheap Eats, 3 News Now anchor Serese Cole takes you to the cafe that's getting a lot of attention for the food and ambiance.
There's a new cafe in town.
At Lola's, you can get it all.
"During the day, we are a sunny cafe serving breakfast and lunch and espressos. And then in the evening we put candles out and dim the lights and we are a charcuterie wine bar with dinner entrees," co-owner Clare Watson-Bartolomei explained.
It's housed in the Historic Dundee Theatre building.
"We have this shared relationship. The theatergoers discover Lola's and Lola customers discover the theater," Watson-Bartolomei added.
But Lola's is more than just the name.
"Lola's is a figment of our imagination. She is a badass woman that can do anything," owners Corina Figueroa and Watson-Bartolomei said together.
Corina Figueroa and Watson-Bartolomei are the Lolas in charge.
They're Nebraska natives with Big Apple exposure.
"We lived in the East Village Manhattan for years and were kind of neighbors. We lived like a few blocks away bummed around New York for eight years," they reminisced.
"In New York, people eat out all the time pretty much every meal of the day. So, there's a lot of great casual places where you can go all day long to grab a meal. So, the idea of the cafe, we didn't really find in Omaha," Watson-Bartolomei recalled.
When they came back to Omaha, they missed the cozy cafes. So, they opened their own.
Figueroa creates all the recipes like their popular toastie breakfast sandwich.
"It's scrambled eggs, prosciutto and parmigiano cheese grated on sourdough focaccia, just that a perfect breakfast sandwich," Watson-Bartolomei detailed.
For lunch, customers keep coming back for the kale caesar salad.
It comes with slivered jalapenos, their in-house spiced almonds and the homemade lemony caesar dressing.
The heart of the cafe is their sourdough bread.
"It's enriched with butter and eggs and milk," explained bread baker Stephen Bartolomei.
Stephen's bread is a 24-hour process.
The morning bun is one of their signature sweets.
"The morning bun is a sourdough brioche with cinnamon sugar and orange zest. It's rolled up and it looks like a sticky bun with a nice balance of sweet and that sour from the sourdough," Watson-Bartolomei described.
A dinner favorite here is the Spanish tortilla, it's like a potato egg casserole. While the ingredients to all the dishes at Lola's are simple, this finished product is a masterpiece.
"It's probably one of my favorite things to make," said Kitchen Manager Leah Elsasser.
Customers can't get enough.
"They love the plants, the space and how open it feels, and the smell of the bread," said Figueroa.
"And people here are a bit surprised. They don't expect to find such a lovely place," Watson-Bartolomei added. "It's really nice to create a space where people want to come, where we also want to be."
A space owned and operated by two Lolas.
"It's amazing because everybody knows a Lola who is near and dear to their heart and we hear about everybody's Lola," they laughed.
Lola's Cafe is open every day of the week at 8:00 a.m. The cafe is on 4952 Dodge Street. They also cater events. To see all the cafe has to offer, go to lolasomaha.com.
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