Ever since she closed her Lost Barrio cafe six years ago, fans of Tooley’s Cafe’s turkey tacos and plate-sized cookies, soft and chewy from the oven, would occasionally ask owner Patricia Schwabe when she was going to bring it back.
Last fall, Schwabe, who also owns downtown’s popular Mexican restaurant Penca at 50 E. Broadway, decided it was time to resurrect Tooley’s Cafe and its popular turkey-centric menu.
The restaurant at 299 S. Park Ave. reopened on Friday with the original breakfast and lunch menu that dates back to 1989, when Schwabe’s then boyfriend/now husband Ron opened the restaurant.
Patricia Schwabe closed Tooley's six years ago following the death of her sister. She's been working for months to get the space reopened.
The restaurant was supposed to be a hobby for Ron Schwabe, whose primary business was his development company Peach Properties. When he told Patricia he was thinking of closing the restaurant, she said it would be a loss to the community.
“You can’t close. People love it,” she recalled telling him.
“Well then you can have it,” he told her.
She admitted she knew nothing about restaurants back then.
“I had never, never, never worked in restaurants. I was never a server or hostess or nothing,” she said. “But I did grow up in a house where we cooked a lot. I was never afraid of the kitchen.”
Turkey tacos were always a fan favorite at Tooley’s. They’ll return to the menu upon the cafe's reopening.
For the next 19 years, Patricia Schwabe ran the restaurant. In 2013, she opened the Central Mexico-inspired Mexican restaurant Penca and ran both businesses along with her role as a leasing agent in Peach Properties. Penca was a year-round operation, but every summer, she closed Tooley’s from July until September, reopening in time for the return of the winter visitors and students.
But in September 2016, Schwabe lost her sister and when it came time to reopen Tooley’s, she put it on hold. She said she didn’t have the energy or motivation, especially with the street construction on South Park and East Broadway that cut into many of the Lost Barrio businesses. She turned her focus instead on Penca and her other downtown venture, The Owl’s Club at 236 S. Scott Ave.
Tagg Schwabe, son of owner Patricia Schwabe, eats turkey tacos and a burrito at Tooley’s ahead of the cafe’s June 3 opening.
Last fall, Schwabe decided enough time had passed. It took her six months to clean up the restaurant, which seats about a dozen inside and another 30 or so on the patio. Last month, she got the necessary county and city permits to reopen and began hiring and training staff, and a couple weeks ago, she spent several mornings at the restaurant taste-testing the menu coming from the kitchen.
“Tooley’s was the original. It was our first walk into this business, the place where we started cooking and developing a lot of these recipes,” she said. “People loved the corncakes and pozolé and turkey tacos.”
Tooley’s Cafe will be open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays.
Find Tooley's Cafe at 299 S. Park Ave. The cafe has reopened after a six-year closure.
