Newton’s latest restaurant, Lavender Café, is inspired by Venezuelan flavors and cuisine. The breakfast spot had its soft opening on May 6, welcoming many new customers.
Co-owners Naisbel Azarak and Haylee Kulig run their catering business, NaisLee Catering, together and have now taken on their latest venture, running a cafe.
Starting May 11, the cafe will be open regularly on Thursdays and Fridays from 8AM to 4PM, and Saturdays and Sundays from 9AM to 3PM.
Featured menu items include breakfast pastries, sandwitches, a “build your own” Latin bowl, arepas, tequeños, desserts, and plenty of other snacks and drinks.
“Our food speaks for ourselves,” said Azarak, whose Venezuelan heritage influences the cafe’s flavors. Azarak’s mother helps out in the kitchen, curating the authentic flavors. “We have so much passion for what we do. We are absolutely all from scratch. We have no problem doing dietary restrictions. We like to accommodate everybody’s palette,” said Azarak.
Azarak and Kulig met in 2017 as colleagues in a pastry kitchen and then became friends. The pair started NaisLee Catering in 2023.
“It’s been a journey, It has been a roller coaster of emotions,” said Azarak about opening her own restaurant, “You cry, you smile, you laugh.”
Lavender Café is located at 15 Spencer Street in West Newton. The building was formerly L’Aroma Café – which, like many other restaurants, closed during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
“We’re gonna do this for this community, because they’ve been so welcoming to us,” said Kulig about giving meaning again to this location in the neighborhood.
Azarak’s old friend and colleague, Theo Fagan, stopped by the opening for a bite with friends, and left with several large bags of food. The friends joked that they ordered the entire menu, “We just want to eat it [all],” said Fagan.
This Mother’s Day, Lavender Café is offering a breakfast box special with mini hand-crafted pastries including florentine croissants, raspberry and brie danish, plain croissants, ricotta blackberry pound cake, classic madeleines, chocolate-covered madeleines, and alfajores cookies.
Orders are available for pick up Friday, Saturday, and Sunday after 10:00 A.M., and Azarak and Kulig request that customers specify their preferred day and time for pick up, sending their pre-orders to haylee@naisleecatering.com.
