Restaurants
The bread is yummy and the sandwiches are meat-free at Lola's
The new Rainier Valley bakery and cafe also serves homemade ice cream and Olympia's Batdorf & Bronson coffee
By Cody Ellerd
Special to NWsource
Cody Ellerd
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Lola just turned six. Her favorite ice cream flavor is vanilla. Her mom makes it by hand to sell in her dad's bakery, which was named after her.
Lola's dad is Russell Battaglia. He used to own the Tall Grass Bakery in Ballard. Before that, he owned a Capitol Hill record store called Fallout Records. He named Lola after a song by The Kinks, one of his favorite bands.
At the South City Bakery, Lola's dad starts baking very early in the morning. He makes cinnamon rolls, baguettes, the best-ever white and wheat bread for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and really good pizza dough to use at lunchtime. A lot of people don't even notice that his sandwiches and pizzas are vegetarian or vegan, because they've got yummy things in them, like caramelized onions, walnuts, roasted garlic and roasted red peppers.
The breads that he makes sound like normal bread, but there's something about them that makes them taste sooooo much better than normal. Maybe it's because all the ingredients he uses are organic and sustainable, so he just has really good bread karma.
Some of the breads he makes have some weird stuff in them, like spelt and big, whole grains that go crunch in your mouth. The one called Granary Bread is like that. It comes from England, like Lola's grandmother, but it's better than the English version because it's moister and sweeter. Lola's dad cuts it into giant slices and serves it to his customers with thick pieces of double Gloucester cheese.
One of his other weird breads is called Fougasse. It's long and flat like a paddle, but the top is puffy like a cloud. It has green olives and herbs in it. An Italian guy named Pino, who has a restaurant down the street called Pino's, buys it and serves it to his customers.
Lola's bakery is only about 4 months old, but it's already pretty popular with the families in Hillman City, the Rainier Valley neighborhood where it opened. The parents are glad there's a place to get healthy bread that doesn't cost very much -- three to five dollars is a really good price for an organic artisan loaf.
There are a few tables in the bakery, so when people come to buy bread, occasionally they sit down and have lunch or coffee too. Some of the parents also notice that Lola's dad plays awesome music. That's the nice thing about a guy who used to own a cool record store.
Most people have never heard of the coffee that they make at Lola's bakery. It comes from Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters, which is in Olympia. It's all organic and fair-trade, and it has such a perfect flavor that some who usually put milk in their coffee don't do it here because they like the taste so much all by itself. It's especially good with a scoop of the ice cream that Lola's mom makes. There are other flavors, like chocolate, nectarine, pear, and lemon sorbet, but Lola is right. Vanilla is the best.
Lola's dad is Russell Battaglia. He used to own the Tall Grass Bakery in Ballard. Before that, he owned a Capitol Hill record store called Fallout Records. He named Lola after a song by The Kinks, one of his favorite bands.
At the South City Bakery, Lola's dad starts baking very early in the morning. He makes cinnamon rolls, baguettes, the best-ever white and wheat bread for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and really good pizza dough to use at lunchtime. A lot of people don't even notice that his sandwiches and pizzas are vegetarian or vegan, because they've got yummy things in them, like caramelized onions, walnuts, roasted garlic and roasted red peppers.
The breads that he makes sound like normal bread, but there's something about them that makes them taste sooooo much better than normal. Maybe it's because all the ingredients he uses are organic and sustainable, so he just has really good bread karma.
Some of the breads he makes have some weird stuff in them, like spelt and big, whole grains that go crunch in your mouth. The one called Granary Bread is like that. It comes from England, like Lola's grandmother, but it's better than the English version because it's moister and sweeter. Lola's dad cuts it into giant slices and serves it to his customers with thick pieces of double Gloucester cheese.
One of his other weird breads is called Fougasse. It's long and flat like a paddle, but the top is puffy like a cloud. It has green olives and herbs in it. An Italian guy named Pino, who has a restaurant down the street called Pino's, buys it and serves it to his customers.
Lola's bakery is only about 4 months old, but it's already pretty popular with the families in Hillman City, the Rainier Valley neighborhood where it opened. The parents are glad there's a place to get healthy bread that doesn't cost very much -- three to five dollars is a really good price for an organic artisan loaf.
There are a few tables in the bakery, so when people come to buy bread, occasionally they sit down and have lunch or coffee too. Some of the parents also notice that Lola's dad plays awesome music. That's the nice thing about a guy who used to own a cool record store.
Most people have never heard of the coffee that they make at Lola's bakery. It comes from Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters, which is in Olympia. It's all organic and fair-trade, and it has such a perfect flavor that some who usually put milk in their coffee don't do it here because they like the taste so much all by itself. It's especially good with a scoop of the ice cream that Lola's mom makes. There are other flavors, like chocolate, nectarine, pear, and lemon sorbet, but Lola is right. Vanilla is the best.
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