Auntie Lola was a small woman in stature but not in heart. She owned a dry cleaning business and a botanist company and was known for her fierce and fiery demeanor.
Lola’s portrait, trimmed with gold against a background of deep red, hung in her living room while she was alive. Now, it sits above the bar in the restaurant being opened by her great nephew, chef John Hall, that bears her name. She watches over as the small dining room at Restaurant Lola transforms in preparation for opening day.
“Naming a restaurant, it’s like naming a kid – you say this like a million times in conversation and in passing,” Hall said, looking up at the image of his grandmother’s last living sister before she passed. “That name may be said with joy and enthusiasm, that name may be mentioned with bitterness and anger. It feels easier to sometimes name projects after family members, because you’re used to saying the name.”
When Hall and his partner Anna Bressi saw the storefront that would become Restaurant Lola, they noted its limited size but also a sense of its personality – they wanted the room to embody Auntie Lola’s fierce and fiery entrepreneurial spirit.
Guests will find Lola’s atmosphere homey and cozy, curated by Bressi’s interior design, which she hopes will make diners feel as welcome for special occasions as for a random Thursday dinner.
The couple is gearing up to open the refined and intimate 20-seat restaurant for lunch service on Oct. 31 and then for dinners in November or December. But the interior is just part of the story. The menu of Lola and an accompanying lunch spot in the same business complex is that of a renowned chef combining his past and present with dishes curated from locally grown Pacific Northwest ingredients and composed with inspiration from Hall’s Southern heritage and training in New York City kitchens.
When Hall was a senior in high school, he didn’t know what he wanted to major in, though he always knew he enjoyed cooking. He was driving with his father one day when they passed a billboard for culinary school. For Hall, that was it — he realized his passion had always been there in front of him.
Working his way up from his first job as a dishwasher in Atlanta, Georgia, Hall has worked with Michelin-starred chefs at establishments like New York City’s Per Se, Gramercy Tavern and Momofuku Ssam Bar, Restaurant Lea Linster in Luxembourg and Post Office Pies in Birmingham, Alabama, a chain that Hall opened himself.
Staying within food industry hubs like Los Angeles and New York City is the status quo for many seasoned chefs, but Hall harkened back to a question from chef Thomas Keller of Per Se: “It’s important for us to hone and develop our skills at good institutions, but if those talents only stay concentrated in one area, does the industry as a whole get better?”
For Hall, there is value in dispersing the high-quality dining experiences of big cities across the country. Hall began dating Bressi, who grew up in Gorst, in 2020.
So he asked himself, “Why not Bremerton?”
“This means a lot to me and it means a lot to her as well and our family because she was literally just born right up the street,” Hall said. “To bring and give something back to the communities, that to some degree made us, has been part of our story.”
Restaurant Lola, as a result, is not only an homage to Hall’s late great aunt, but also to the establishments that raised him professionally. Hall pulls the thoughtfulness of cooking from Gramercy Tavern, the attention to detail, cleanliness and organization from Per Se and the entrepreneurial spirit, culture, music and ambience from Momofuku Ssam Bar.
Just as he did at Gramercy Tavern and his own Post Office Pies, Hall also intends to be a part of a sustainable ecosystem of local food, supporting local farmers and showcasing cuisine that is recognizable and approachable for local restaurant-goers.
Hall began to feel confident about restaurant life in Bremerton, worlds away from the big city, after doing a menu takeover at Hama Hama Oyster Saloon in Lilliwaup and connecting with Deborah Taylor, who also cooked at Per Se, and her husband, Scott, who together own Finistère in Port Townsend.
“It really gave us a bit of confidence,” Hall said. “It’s truly that we needed to see that you can come to a smaller town on the Sound, give the community a good restaurant, be supported, and have a good quality of life for your family.”
But, the restaurant world had changed after the COVID-19 pandemic, so starting a new business by the traditional route wasn’t Hall’s goal.
In 2020, about 72,700 more restaurants and bars closed than normal, estimated the Washington Post, 95% more than the average annual rate.
“Many people in our business now, they’ve gone right back to business as usual, like it never happened,” Hall said. “But for the amount of places that closed and people that have died, to not try to reimagine or rethink the model of doing business, I think it would be an opportunity lost.”
Issues that weren’t discussed often pre-pandemic were brought to the forefront during that time, Hall observed. People began to talk about the cost of doing business more critically, citing extremely high rents, predatory landlords and financial help, or lack thereof, from municipalities to stay afloat.
Ultimately, Hall began to question “if the juice was worth the squeeze” to open a restaurant in Seattle just for the allure and accolades. Entrepreneurship became a mission of intentionality, stripping away the fluff.
And now, Hall knows he’s paying a fraction of the cost of rent in Seattle. Restaurant Lola is about the size of a one-bedroom apartment, but the size requires a smaller staff and generates a smaller carbon footprint, Hall said. Restaurant Lola aims to do more with less.
“We do want this space to feel special for folks,” Hall said. “Often what you would hear is that we’ve got to get on the boat to go into the city for certain types of amenities and experiences, but why can’t those things be here as well?”
Restaurant Lola will feature a rotating seasonal menu with an extensive wine list and a full-service cocktail bar complete with fresh squeezed juices. Diners will see dishes like hama oysters, shaved country ham, hand rolled seafood pastas, variations of grilled or pan roasted local fish, seasonal vegetables, steak and a selection of southern subtleties like a personal baked cast iron of cornbread served with whipped lardo and seasonal butter. As the restaurant will open for dinner service in winter, customers can expect some slow cooked, multi-hour braised dishes as part of a heartier cold-weather menu.
As Hall and Bressi work tirelessly to prep for Restaurant Lola’s opening, the couple are raising their newborn son and opening a second restaurant, the Larder, two doors down from their location on Lebo Boulevard in Bremerton.
The Larder will open on October 31 as well, serving as a casual lunch and dinner joint with an offering of refined take-home dinners. Customers will see handmade pastas, soups, sandwiches, braised chicken, clam chowder, mac and cheese, and seasonal vegetables and chicken bakes.
Restaurant Lola is set to open for full service in December but will have ticketed dinner dates available for reservation in November, Bressi said. The gradual start will allow Hall and Bressi to meet some of their community while giving the staff an easier introduction to business.
“We’re excited to be here and just excited to be bringing a new addition to this area,” Hall said.
