Capitol Hill’s new Cafe Lolo has filled its fascinating menus with love, balance, and the seasons

You’re probably not going to find a lot of menus on Capitol Hill like the menus at Cafe Lolo.

The “seasonally dictated” cafe born in the city’s farmers markets with a dedication to local grains and the bounties of the Pacific Northwest is now open in the Loveless Building on E Roy just off the northern end of Broadway.

Lolo’s offerings also vary by the day. The cafe is beginning life open Thursdays through Sundays. On Thursday and Friday, service begins at 11 AM and runs through lunch and dinner until 9 PM. On Saturday and Sunday, Lolo opens at 9 AM and adds its hearty brunch menu to the schedule. In between night and day, the kitchen is closed from 2 to 5 PM but there are “grab and go” options and pastries available. plus Lolo’s full bar, creative beverage menu, and coffee available.

“Grab and go” also doesn’t do Cafe Lolo’s takeout case justice. They call it a “retail larder,” fat with a pantry full of “sustainable, thoughtful, zero-waste cookery” including pasta kits, house sauces and spreads, and dry “house-extruded pasta.” Lolo’s house teas, tonics, and soda are also available to go.

There is counter service for daytime hours when servers will still be attentive to table needs. Nighttime brings a transition to the more traditional sit-down dining service.

CHS reported here in January on plans for Cafe Lolo from restaurant veterans Leah Engel and Alex Halmi who found love and a life together growing Cafe Lolo at Seattle farmers markets and pop-ups. Capitol Hill diners may know Halmi from his time as “pastaioli” at 14th Ave’s Cascina Spinasse, Engel and Bankson were previously at Roosevelt’s Three Sacks Full. Another Three Sacks Full alum, Brett Bankson, rounds out the trio.

Lolo fills the space formerly home to Cook Weaver after chef and owner Zac Reynolds decided to sell the business after a near-decade on E Roy. Work included soft upgrades for the space including new lighting and some tile and ceramic work by Engel’s father. The old Russian Samovar murals remain.

So, about those menus. Cafe Lolo’s brunch, lunch, and dinner mixes are deeply rooted in the seasonal rhythms of the Pacific Northwest, focusing heavily on house-milled Washington grains and fresh, extruded pastas.

The Brunch menu, served only on Saturdays and Sundays, is a take on weekend comfort food and surprises like Breakfast Pasta, often featuring a unique shape like Campanelle or Lumache tossed with seasonal greens and a rich, vegetable-based sauce, all finished with a jammy egg. There are house-made focaccia sandwiches with nutty, house-milled flour creating a base for savory fillings like mortadella or porchetta paired with sharp seasonal pickles. Add some sugar with a seasonal fruit crostata or torta that showcases local produce like cherries or plums.

Lolo’s lunch menu shifts toward a more streamlined selection that remains focused on high-quality ingredients and regional flavors. It features a rotating selection of pastas, such as a hearty pork sausage ragù that is frequently brightened with unconventional additions like pickled jalapeños or fresh stone fruit. Another fascinating option is their vegetarian pasta made from Bluebird Hard Red Wheat, which often utilizes a “root-to-leaf” philosophy by turning vegetables like turnips into a creamy, velvety sauce. For a lighter accompaniment, the seasonal grain salads offer a way to experience the texture and flavor of the local wheat in its whole form, complemented by whatever vegetables are currently peaking at the market.

Dinner is where the crew at Cafe Lolo can stretch farthest and furthest from its farmers market roots, expanding into a more complex array of small plates and diverse pasta shapes. The most interesting items incorporate foraged or low-intervention ingredients, such as stinging nettles, fermented garlic scapes, or nasturtiums, creating flavors that are tied to the local landscape. Even the vegetable side dishes, such as roasted brassicas or turnips, are treated with care, following a philosophy where the produce dictates the preparation.

Beyond the food, the “wildcrafted, non-alcoholic, and low-ABV house beverage program” adds another layer of intrigue to the Cafe Lolo experience. The drink list is curated with a focus on low-intervention wines from Washington and Oregon, while the non-alcoholic program features inventive zero-waste tonics made from repurposed kitchen scraps like squash skins or fruit tops. How about a Einkorn Cortado or a Futsu Squash mimosa?

In the midst of those kinds of daily and seasonal dynamics, Cafe Lolo’s team is hoping to keep things calm and cool. The jitters of the first services are now out of the way.

They hope Cafe Lolo will be imbued with the spirit of the woman it was named for, inspired by Halmi’s childhood memory of a friend’s mother who mixed her career as a chef with a love for life and family. Halmi was notorious for raiding Lolo’s refrigerator for delicious leftovers. When she passed away as Cafe Lolo was taking shape, naming the venture in her memory brought that love — and hope for life balance — to the effort.

Cafe Lolo is now open at 806 E Roy. Learn more eatcafelolo.com.

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