On Wednesday morning, Sophie Dowlatshahi was busy behind the counter grinding coffee beans, brewing coffee, prepping food and waiting on customers inside the Riverside Cafe.
“The thing that is going to be different for us is that this is our focus,” said Henry Olson, who owns the shop along with Dowlatshahi. “We really put a lot of heart and soul into what we do, and we have made it our mission to cook everything from scratch and utilize the space as much as possible.”
The Riverside Cafe opened inside the Bud Werner Memorial Library two months ago, and has been offering a selection of coffee and tea in addition to handmade pastries and a variety of menu items. The cafe is open from 8 a.m. to 4 pm. Monday-Friday.
The cafe’s drink menu includes drip brew and decaf, Americano, espresso, cappuccino, latte and mocha, as well as a selection of teas including Persian chai latte — Dowlatshahi makes her own chai.
The food menu includes avocado toast created with a slice of freshly baked whole wheat bread with an avocado spread, and seasoned with Everything Bagel Seasons, salt and pepper, and cherry tomatoes with a balsamic glaze.
Riverside Cafe also makes a curry hummus toast that starts with baked bread with a yellow curry hummus spread, topped with fresh basil, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, lemon and an olive oil drizzle. There is also a veggie pistachio pesto sandwich, a turkey pesto, and a weekly soup special that is always house made, vegan and gluten-free. The pastry case is filled with a number of fresh baked items including scones, super food fudge and a blueberry banana oat cookie.
In addition to what customers will find on the menu at Riverside Cafe, the owners will also be baking for Thanksgiving this season, offering a dozen homemade dinner rolls for $25, whole wheat sourdough loaves at $8.50, and a gluten-free and vegan assortment box for $40.
“We supply Seedhouse Coffee (Roasters), and we also carry The Boulder Tea Company teas — and all of the food we make is 100% from scratch,” Dowlatshahi said. “Henry makes the whole wheat sourdough toast that we turn into avocado toast (and) curry hummus toast, and we serve it with our house-made soup every week.”
The space was previously home to several coffee shops — including Mountain Brew and Off The Beaten Path, which used the space as a second venue. When Dowlatshahi and Olson noticed the space inside the library was vacant a few months ago, they approached the library director asking if they could submit a business plan.
“The library had built this space with the intention of a cafe here,” Dowlatshahi said. “Henry and I always talked about having a cafe one day, and whatever phase of life I’ve been in, I’ve always just spent so much time here at the library.”
The two young entrepreneurs are excited and grateful for the opportunity. Dowlatshahi said they are currently catering events at the library, and exploring other catering opportunities.
Dowlatshahi came to Steamboat Springs to ski and worked for five seasons as an instructor for Steamboat Resort. In the summers, she worked for Rocky Mountain Youth Corps and studied outdoor education and sustainability at Colorado Mountain College. She also took an interest in mental health care and accepted a position at the Foundry Treatment Center.
Olson got his start in the culinary world in Washington state, where he worked at a spiritual retreat center called Holden Village. That’s where he learned to create a meal from scratch, and it’s also where he learned to bake.
He arrived at the Foundry in 2021 and started in a part-time position before working his way up to executive chef. Now, he has joined forces with Dowlatshahi to pursue their dream of owning and operating a cafe and enjoying Steamboat Springs.
“I always come back to food; I spent so much of my free time cooking and preparing meals,” Dowlatshahi said. “Henry was the executive chef over at the Foundry Treatment Center where we learned how much it adds to people’s day when they eat wholesome, 100% from scratch made food. We were like, ‘Let’s have a cafe one day.’ That’s something we always wanted to do — and here we are.”
John F. Russell is the business reporter at the Steamboat Pilot & Today. To reach him, call 970-871-4209, email jrussell@SteamboatPilot.com or follow him on Twitter @Framp1966.
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November 16, 2023 at 08:49AM
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New owners put their heart and soul into making Riverside Cafe's food from scratch - Steamboat Pilot & Today
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