Loretta’s is the new coffee shop and cafe from the team behind Bloomsday
“We saw a real need in the neighborhood in general for an early morning coffee shop,” Bloomsday co-owner Kelsey Bush said. Enter Loretta's, named after her grandmother.
In more than five years of running Bloomsday, the all-day restaurant and bottle shop across from the Headhouse Square shambles, Kelsey Bush got a good sense of the Society Hill crowd.
The weekend sales of pastries and coffees from Bloomsday’s takeout window in the alley were a sideline to its core business: brunch, dinner, and wine-bottle sales. But “we saw a real need in the neighborhood in general for an early morning coffee shop,” Bush said — and they wanted to pay more attention to Bloomsday’s acclaimed cocktail program.
She didn’t go far to expand the brand with a cafe called Loretta’s: It is two doors from Bloomsday, at 410 S. Second St., named in honor of her grandmother.
Bloomsday beverage director D’Onna “D” Stubblefield developed a specialty-coffee program around Rival Bros. Coffee that is similar to that served at Green Engine Co. in Haverford, the first joint venture of Bush and business partner Zach Morris. Stubblefield, Bush, and administrative director Sara May are overseeing it.
For Loretta’s breakfast menu, they’ve come up with new sweet and savory Viennoiserie-style pastries; sandwiches (such as a hoagie with frittata-style egg, bacon, banana pepper aioli, and Cooper sharp cheese); and hand pies. One morning last week, a batch of chorizo, egg, and cheese hand pies sold out quickly.
The lunch menu includes soups, sandwiches (like a meat loaf patty melt with red wine onion jam, Thousand Island dressing, and sharp cheddar), and salads (like spoon salad with “shredduce” and kale mix, pickled carrots, and marinated chickpeas with the option to add chicken) for lunch.
The menu is expanding now in advance of the official opening on Dec. 7.
Loretta’s hours are 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.
With the takeout window now closed, Bloomsday’s opening time Wednesday to Friday has been nudged to noon for what Bush calls “a proper lunch,” served through the afternoon. Dinner is served from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday. Weekend brunch hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.