Hillsboro-area foodies have a new dining option close to home.
LaLa’s Roast and Bistro, which features sandwiches, soup, salad, flavored coffees, powered drinks and coolers, opened April 3 at 10632 Business 21 in Hillsboro.
Owner Leigha Gaston expects the drive-thru to open this week.
The menu offers six styles of hot sandwiches made with your choice of smoked meat – brisket, turkey or pulled pork. LaLa’s also has six types of cheese to choose from, including Asiago and smoked Gouda.
The menu offers six styles of hot sandwiches made with your choice of smoked meat – brisket, turkey or pulled pork. LaLa’s also has six types of cheese to choose from, including Asiago and smoked Gouda.
Gaston said the restaurant gets its smoked meats from the Hog Call Barbeque catering company.
“They are pretty well known,” she said. “They have a food truck. It’s an old friend of the family. He was already in the business and his (smoked meats) are the best ever.”
Each LaLa’s sandwich is prepared to order.
“I don’t want to sound bougie and say (the sandwiches) are upscale,” she said. “There’s just fresh ingredients on them. They’re a little bit different than most. So for instance, we have cream cheese spreads, crispy onions, pickled onions, pickled tomato. We do a little bit extra to each ingredient. It seems to be working.”
One popular sandwich, the Boro Favorite, is made with pretzel bread, your choice of meat, crispy fried onions, smoked Gouda, bourbon barbecue sauce, bacon jam and pickled red onion, Gaston said.
Six “bougie” grilled cheese sandwiches are offered, like the Plain Jane that consists of provolone and cheddar cheese on sourdough bread. Others include the Four Cheese; Balsamic Fig and Goat Cheese; Sweet Heat Pepper Press; Buffalo Melt and Bees and Bacon, which is the most popular and features bacon, Asiago, cheddar, honey and crispy fried onions.
Gaston said each morning she chooses a soup of the day to be made. The restaurant also serves “LaLa’s Famous Big Salad.”
Homemade cheesecake also has been added to the menu.
Gaston said she is growing her own herbs to use at the restaurant.
It also serves breakfast, including muffin tops, pastries and breakfast sandwiches served on a biscuit or croissant. On Saturday, they offer biscuits and gravy made with brisket.
LaLa’s also serves hot or cold flavored coffees. Other cold drinks made with syrup are available as powered drinks (with caffeine) or coolers (no caffeine.)
The restaurant is open Monday through Friday 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. for full service, as well as 2-4:30 p.m. for drive-thru only with limited offerings of beverages and snack bar items. Hours on Saturday will be 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., with full service.
At some point, LaLa’s will offer call-ahead orders, Gaston said.
How it started
Before opening the bistro, Gaston, who grew up outside Dittmer and lives in Hillsboro, was working as a vice president of marketing for a healthcare company.
“I was driving my kid to school one day and I drove past a building I thought should be a coffee shop,” she said.
She informed her husband, Ryan, that she should own a coffee shop.
She said he responded with, “No, please don’t.”
“I’m sorry, it’s already there,” she replied. “It’s already in the future. I can see it … And so we just decided to move forward with it. I just had to get away from corporate America. It was killing my soul.”
Gaston said she is leasing ReMax real estate broker Cort Dietz’s former office space, which had once been a bank.
She said everyone in her family is a foodie but no one had restaurant experience.
“So this was interesting, a very interesting learning experience,” she said.
Gaston said customers have been patient.
“I feel like we’ve done a decent job of keeping pace,” she said. “There’s a little longer of a wait than like McDonald’s, but we’re definitely not fast food here. Each one of our sandwiches are made from scratch. They’re built right when you order them. After they come out of the oven, they’re topped, they’re wrapped, they’re sent out. There’s no premade sandwich here for sure.”
She said most of those who work at the restaurant are family members and friends, and they keep the work fun by singing a lot.
Her first hire was her best friend Christina Marks’ mother, Mary Jackson, who is the restaurant manager. She hired Kim Clark as the beverage director.
“My husband does endless work here,” she said.
Her retired father, Tim Kaiser, volunteers every day and helps her make sandwiches. Her daughter, Claire, is one of the closers, cleaning and stocking after business hours.
For those wondering about how the name came about, LaLa is a nickname.
“My cousins called me LaLa when we were kids because they couldn’t pronounce my name,” Gaston said. “It stuck, and my whole family calls me LaLa.”