SAMARA KALK DERBY | skalk | 608-252-6439
Bunky’s Cafe plans to open an offshoot of its popular restaurant this spring a block down Atwood Avenue.
Five years ago, owners Teresa Pullara-Ouabel and husband Rachid Ouabel bought the 400-square-foot cement building at 2302 Atwood Ave., that was previously home to a tattoo parlor and was probably best known as a Jamaican store. It’s painted bright yellow now and was last home to Bea’s Bonnet, run for a year by Mary White of Honey Bee Bakery.
Pullara-Ouabel and Ouabel, who traveled to Ouabel’s native Morocco on Sunday to adopt a 6-year-old child, bought the current Bunky’s location at 2425 Atwood Ave., three years ago and wanted to make sure it was running smoothly before they pursued anything in the smaller space.
They wanted to do something with the other location because it’s so close to Bunky’s, and plan to open the new spot in late May or early June.
It will be named Oum-Laids’ Kitchen after Ouabel’s mother, and will sell the restaurant’s salad dressing, hummus, bulk falafel and some specialty grocery items.
“We’ll have some of the items we sell at Bunky’s that people want to buy in bulk,” Pullara-Ouabel said.
The couple will also offer items like pita sliders, pita bread falafel, shawarma, kefta, and $5 sandwiches on the bike path, she said.
Pullara-Ouabel plans to build a deck onto the building and install a bike rack.
She said Oum-Laids’ Kitchen will be like a deli, but with some fried foods. She eventually envisions offering breakfasts.
They won’t be serving coffee so as not to compete with Victory and Cafe Zoma nearby but will do some Egyptian teas. “We want to mix it up a little bit,” Pullara-Ouabel said.
Meanwhile, the restaurant is pulling its busy catering operation out of Bunky’s and moving it to a commercial kitchen on Highway M.
“We tried to grow slow with catering and we’ve been asked to do so many (catering jobs). There was one Saturday night — a football Saturday — where we were grilling 900 pieces of chicken for Olbrich,” Pullara-Ouabel said with a laugh.
