Loto Café is now serving coffee and pastries off Eastway Drive. TM Petaccia/UP

By TM Petaccia

Tucked into an almost hidden walkway in the middle of the Eastway Crossing shopping center, Loto Café opened last week offering a number of coffee drinks, as well as pastries produced by area Latin food artisans. That’s just the first step of co-owners Leonardo and Kelly Solis’ plan to make their new business both a collaboration center and a welcoming, inclusive spot for the community at large.

“We’re excited to develop the menu as well as develop the culture and the community,” Leonardo Solis says.

Born and raised in San Bernardino, California, Leonardo is a musician first, by trade and passion – he’s both an audio engineer and multi-instrumentalist who performs locally along with his wife as the duo “Solis.” 

While music may be the soul of the Solis family, it’s clear that coffee has always shared a piece of Leonardo’s heart. “I remember my first sip actually,” he says. “My mom would buy second hand items and sell them at a swap meet. She had a coffee in front of her, and I just took a sip. It was wild, absolutely delicious.” Love of a good cup has been part of his life since. “Music was able to afford me to travel and finding a good cup of coffee was really important to me. I eventually found Charlotte and met Kellie and decided to stay.”

Kellie Solis was born in Spartanburg, S.C., but grew up in and around Charlotte. “Leo and I met at a show, actually,” she says. “We started to write together and we still have our band together.”

Leonardo and Kellie Solis, the owners of Loto Café. TM Petaccia/UP

While the couple was still dating in 2009, they met James Yoder of Not Just Coffee. “When I first got here, there weren’t a lot of places to go to get a curated cup of coffee. That is, until I met James Yoder,” Leonardo says. “We shared space in the same building (Area 15); I would walk up and he would be there serving coffee. He’s definitely one of the pioneers.”

“We both became friends of James,” adds Kellie. “I actually started coffee training with him when he had the Area 15 spot. I took an interest in coffee a long time ago. We were always looking for a good cup of joe.”

The couple then made the switch from coffee enthusiasts to coffee provisioners.

“He used to say in another life, maybe he would open a coffee shop,” Kellie says.

So when the former Eastside Local space became available, the couple jumped on it – on their own, without investors. “We’re 100 percent self-funded,” Leonardo says. “We built out the shop ourselves. We designed the space the way we wanted with the colors that Kellie and I chose. The space overall is a good representation of our creative expression.”

A cafe con leche and concha. TM Petaccia/UP

The space incorporates bright colors, and utilizes a long walkway with patio chairs and tables leading up to the shop itself. There are children’s play areas, with pets welcome in the outdoor sitting areas.

“We want to have a very inclusive space,” Leonardo says. “Not only with lifestyle, but diet-wise as well.” Plans include eventually adding vegan and gluten-free options to their current lineup of sweet and savory Latin pastries.

For that, the couple is bringing in food artisans from across Charlotte’s Latin community. Currently, items are available from Manolo’s Bakery and Dulce Dreams Café. Other food artisans will be featured on a rotating basis.

“I think it’s going to be very much improvisational,” Leonardo says. “How do we build a campaign around a certain food we are in love with within the East Side community?”

Loto Café’s drink menu offers standard drip, espresso, cappuccino, and latte opinions (with whole or oat milk), along with Latin specialties such as the cortado (equal parts espresso and milk) as well as the café con leche, a sweet cortado. Leonardo says his version is inspired by his mother’s flan recipe. Other drink options include earl grey tea, matcha, and chai offerings.

Other plans include possibly starting a barista training program as well as bringing in some live music once the weather warms up. 

“Already, the experience so far has been so worth the investment,” Leonardo says.