How perfect is a summer night at a cafe on the bank of the river? "It's a dream come true," says Peg Botto of her newly opened
Cosmic Cafe at Lloyd Hall. Located at the beginning of Kelly Drive just across from the Azalea Garden, Cosmic Cafe opened this spring, thanks to a collaborative effort by Botto and
Fairmount Park, and it's set to continue operation year round.
"There's always been a cafe at Lloyd Hall," explains Mark Focht, Executive Director of the Fairmount Park Commission. "Peg Botto's sustainable approach to business meshed very well with the Parks and Recreation mission." Botto, whose previous retail outlet was at the Chestnut Hill Farmers Market, also runs Cosmic Catering. With the fully outfitted new kitchen at Lloyd Hall, Botto can run both the cafe and catering operation on site. Botto saw right away that the space would be great for catering, with lower and upper outdoor decks, plus an upstairs room. In all, Cosmic Cafe can hold up to 250 people for private events.
Open seven days a week from 8 to 8, Cosmic Cafe offers the kind of healthy food athletes crave, including organic produce, eggs and poultry, nitrate free bacon and locally baked bread. On a recent visit, smoothies, watermelon gazpacho, baked goods and a full range of sandwiches were on the menu. Several nights a week, there's live music, and Botto also barbecues several times a month out on the deck. "It's right on the river. You can't get any closer than that."
Botto says that she worked on the Lloyd Hall RFP for about 4 months, and she won the contract from a pool of ten applicants. After an $85,000 kitchen makeover and the hiring of about a dozen staffers, business is good. "We pay rent to the city plus a percentage of the gross," says Botto, who adds that these costs are in line with what she would pay for a similar space elsewhere. But nowhere else offers a constant stream of bikers, walkers, joggers, rollerbladers and tourists, whose stars are cosmically aligned for an alternative to the hot dog and ice cream carts of Kelly Drive.
Source: Peg Botto, Cosmic Cafe
Writer: Sue Spolan