New café offers international cuisine
Global Café owners hope to bring unique flavor to Lawrence
The recently-opened downtown café, located on 820 Massachussets St., serves to a diverse and young clientele. Featured items include pressed sandwiches, breakfast items and a full coffee bar.
By Sarah Neff
Thursday, August 23rd, 2007
Kate Gonzalez occupies her 2-year-old daughter Sofia with markers and paper while she helps customers and works on an advertisement design with someone from Dooph.com, a restaurant search Web site.
Photo by Andrew Wacker
Mike and Therese Ismert order lunch from manager Rafael Gonzalez at the Global Cafe in the heart of downtown Lawrence. The Global Cafe is located at 820 Massachusetts.
Just another chaotic day for the young businesswoman who recently opened the Global Cafe, 820 Massachusetts St., in partnership with her husband, Rafael. The couple also owns Kimbari, the shop next door to the Global Cafe.
Gonzalez said they had been talking about opening a restaurant for a long time. She said they wanted to tie the theme in with Kimbari, which imports items from all over the world, including tribal art and handmade crafts. She said the Cuban sandwich was the first menu item they thought of because of family ties to the country. The restaurant also offers breakfast items and a full coffee bar.
Gonzalez said preparing the Cafe was a challenge. It took her family six months to convert the retail space into a restaurant. Since its opening in July, Gonzalez said the Global Cafe has averaged about $700 to $1,100 each day.
Mary Lynn Slover, Topeka sophomore and Global Cafe employee, said she used to visit Kimbari frequently. Slover said when Gonzalez found out she was co-majoring in international studies and African and African-American studies, Gonzalez offered her a job at the Global Cafe.
“People from all over the world come in there, and talking to them is really fun,” Slover said. “There are also a lot of open-minded people and a lot of young people, I think because it’s a hot spot and it’s never very loud.”
Julie Skolnik, Fort Worth, Texas, senior, also works at the Global Cafe. She said she heard about it from friends who knew the Gonzalezes.
“A lot of people come in from Venezuela or Cuba,” Skolnik said. “They are really hard in grading the food, but so far I haven’t gotten a negative report.”
Gonzalez said she and her husband wanted to bring something unique to Lawrence. She said they are preparing to add some hot dinner items to the menu, and they plan to build a patio for the front and have live music during the week.
—Edited by Rachel Bock
Discussion
All comments are moderated by Kansan.com staff. For our full user policy, click here.
The sandwich I had was poor. The sandwich was advertised as a cuban steak sandwich, but it was nothing more than fatty roast beef with soggy caramalized onions and soggy bread. FWIW
Crybaby.
The cuban I had was really good. Exactly like the ones I used to get in Key West... mmm.
Share your 2¢
Requires free registration.