Lula Cafe
Over the subsequent years the restaurant has become a well-oiled machine, where specials stay on the menu for weeks at a time, making regular reappearances after being tweaked until they’re just right. “Now we typically make four to five stocks at any one time, and we have ten items on the specials menu,” says Hammel. “And we’re more interested in development. It’s just what happens when you get busier and become a larger organization. When the system becomes larger it forces you to do that. And there’s a certain degree of satisfaction in working on a dish over time.”
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Still, says Hammel, “we missed the spontaneity and impulsiveness of the early days.” So last spring the couple, who got married in September, intentionally threw a wrench into the works by adding a weekly three-course prix-fixe special called the Monday Night Farm Dinner. The meal highlights seasonal farm offerings and ingredients that the restaurant might not usually have access to–like ramps, which are typically available for just one month each spring–or a special find. “Two weeks ago a farmer said to me, ‘I have a lamb shoulder. Do you want it?’” says Hammel. “There’s no dish on our menu that uses lamb shoulder, but that Monday we did a rustic lamb stew with tarragon and peas and ramps, with rye bread. That one ingredient inspired the whole meal.”
Since he and Tshilds don’t know until Thursday or Friday what surprises their purveyors might have in store, the Monday night dinner is less formal and more improvisational than the rest of Lula’s menu. “The whole weekend we’re thinking about it. But on Sunday night we write up the menu and finish everything on Monday,” says Tshilds. “It’s a little bit back to the roots of Lula, where we would just go for it.” One of them will come up with an entree, the other might suggest a salad and dessert, and then they give and take until they have a good combination. They don’t actually get to taste the finished product until about 5 PM on the day it will be served, a situation that charges the process with a bit of risk. They’ve never had a disaster, but Hammel admits that there are certain dishes that have never been revisited. He claims they’ve escaped his memory by now.
Lula Cafe will be closed on Memorial Day.
