A new woman-owned breakfast and lunch spot, 9th Street Cafe, will be opening its doors in August, a few blocks west of downtown Lawrence.
The new cafe is a fresh start for owners Angelina Cruz, Shelby Bray and Jery Herrera Hernàndez after closing Mama’s Tamale Shop, an authentic Mexican restaurant, on June 1. The new cafe will occupy the same space at 602 W. Ninth St.
Cruz, also owner of Burrito King, said she looks forward to bringing something new to the Ninth Street location, and she is excited to continue feeding the people of Lawrence.
“After the closing of Mama’s we decided to revamp it and just bring something else to Lawrence other than Mexican food, because there’s a lot,” said Cruz, who opened Mama’s in 2019. “… We want everybody to enjoy and be able to lounge. Hook up their computers and sit here all day, have coffee, just a place to kick it.”
The cafe will have a breakfast and lunch menu, and there are plans to test out a dinner menu in the future, Cruz said.
The menu consists of homemade food and drinks such as smoothies and teas, breakfast items, sandwiches, pastas and more. Soups will include a five-meat chili with cornbread and pozole, among others.
Great Harvest Bread Co. is just a block away, and Wheatfields is also nearby on Ninth, but the new restaurant will have some more variety on its menu — such as the smoothies, pastas and a fresh juice bar — and it will be open later into the evenings than many other cafes.
Cruz and Bray said they took inspiration from the food Cruz loves to cook at home, along with Mexican and Italian family recipes that have been passed down for generations.
“When I was creating the menu, I felt like I was starving because I just wanted to eat it all,” Bray said. “The dishes she makes are to die for and I know everybody’s going to fall in love with it.”
Though 9th Street Cafe will be run by Cruz, Bray and Herrera Hernàndez, Cruz said she hopes to eventually step back and focus her time at Burrito King down the road to give her nieces an opportunity to run a business.
“I wanted to give the opportunity to other people to become business owners,” Cruz said. “I know it’s hard for us as women to get into business and I wanted to give them something that they can be proud of.”
Bray said her goal is to make the cafe feel like home for its customers, whether they’re in college, working class or just want a bite to eat.
“It’ll be just like grandma’s house, or maybe your aunt’s,” Bray said.
The owners have not yet decided on their exact opening date, but they are aiming for the third week of August.
9th Street Cafe plans to be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week, though the owners are also still deciding their exact days of operation.
Follow the business on Instagram, @9thstreetcafe1, for updates.
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Lane Rozin (he/they), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since January 2024, is a student at the University of Kansas Schools of Journalism and Film. He is a graduate of Pittsburg High School, where he was the multimedia editor for Pitt Media in 2019-21. He is currently the managing editor at the University Daily Kansan and development director at KJHK. See more of his work for the Times here.
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