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Cafe Hope Getting Ready

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Mark and Andrea Oppermann display some of the tasty treats that will be available in the retail section and/or the restaurant section of Cafe Hope which should be open sometime this summer. Cafe Hope will feature homemade soups, salads, pizza, crepes, cakes, cupcakes, panini sandwiches and many other items with ingredients sourced from local producers, including the Sharing Spaces Kitchen and Greenhouse. (Photos by Ted Pennekamp)

The Sharing Spaces Kitchen and Greenhouse grows basil plants (above), along with tomatoes, peas, cucumbers and kale.

Here are four examples of the gourmet cupcakes that will be offered at Cafe Hope.

 

Café Hope to offer numerous delicious, homemade items

By Ted Pennekamp

 

Work is being done in the north half of the former Kozelka’s Men’s Wear building, and it is hoped that a new cafe along with an adult day care center will be open sometime this summer. 

In fact, the Opportunity Center of Prairie du Chien will have numerous products ready for the opening of Cafe Hope, said Opportunity Center Director Pam Ritchie.

“The handmade, gourmet cupcakes and decorative cakes are delicious. They’re to die for,” said Ritchie, who noted the retail section of the cafe will also have cheesecakes, decorative cookies, handmade candy, hot chocolate, soup mixes, pesto products, handmade french bread and wheat bread.

Some of the products have ingredients that are grown in the greenhouse portion of the Opportunity Center’s Sharing Spaces Kitchen and Greenhouse, and many products are created in the kitchen. The Cafe Hope basil pesto, for example, has basil that is grown in the greenhouse. The basil, along with all other ingredients, are combined in the kitchen to create the final product. Adams Garlic of Cassville provides the garlic and Driftless Organic of Soldiers Grove provides the  sunflower oil. 

“It’s a fabulous jar of goodness,” said Ritchie. “We focus on local ingredients and want to be as much farm to table as possible.”

The greenhouse raises all of its plants hydroponically and is managed by Dixie Toberman. The automated greenhouse is home to about 2,000 basil plants and also grows tomatoes, peas, cucumbers and kale. 

Sharing Spaces Kitchen and Cafe Hope Food Services Director Mark Oppermann said many of the products that will be for sale in the retail area of Cafe Hope will be incorporated into the restaurant menu as well.

The restaurant menu will expand over time, but some items to start with will include sweet and savory crepes, pastas, alfredo sauce, lasagna, pizza, panini sandwiches, homemade soups and homemade breads. The items will be made fresh on site. There will be seating for about 40.

There will be daily specials, and Oppermann said customers can either dine in or take out, such as with “grab and go” lasagna, for example.

“What we will start off with is not even the tip of the iceberg,” said Oppermann who noted that customers can expect the menu to be expanded greatly after the cafe gets up and running.

“We would like to do what other people aren’t doing,” said Retail and Marketing Manager Andrea Oppermann, who shared that Cafe Hope will offer some different and interesting items not normally found in most restaurants.

Ritchie said Cafe Hope will not only offer tasty and interesting fare, it will provide employment opportunities for people with disabilities as well. 

“It will be a community based, pre-vocational services site,” said Ritchie. “It will be like a training ground whereby people with disabilities can learn in order to gain employment at other similar businesses.”

Ritchie said Pellock Construction is the general contractor for Cafe Hope and the adult day care. Edwards Plumbing, Heating and Appliances is part of the project as is Renner Electric. John Sutton of Prairie du Chien donated his architectural services. 

The Opportunity Center owns the former Kozelka’s building. Cafe Hope will be in the front part of the north half and the adult day care center will be in the back. In the south half, the Opportunity Center is leasing 6,200 square feet to Ideal Decorating.

The adult day care will be for frail elders as well as adults with disabilities. Ritchie said the adult day care will have a small kitchen and will offer meals to be enjoyed in a dining area. There will also be a living room, a reading area, an art room, an exercise area, a showering service for those who need assistance, restrooms, personal care rooms, and a sensory room. The sensory room, said Ritchie, is a comforting room which has certain types of lights, colors and textures.

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