Tiny eatery is BIG on flavor, hugs & affordability

If you know, you know.

And if you don’t, you might just drive past the restaurant recently ranked The Best Cheap Eats in the U.S.

Lola’s Kitchen, at 339 Ocean Blvd., Unit 103, at the north end of Hampton (N.H.) Beach, is owned and operated by longtime Methuen couple Lola and Jimmy Aboukhalil. Lola’s Kitchen earned a remarkable 4.97 out of a possible 5.0 ranking on Yelp. And in an article compiled by CashNetUSA, based on 5-star customer reviews including references to price, Lola’s Kitchen secured the top “Cheap Eats” spot for not only the state of New Hampshire, but also the entire country.

“Some people just look in the door and see what looks like a convenience store and turn around to leave without really checking us out,” say Jimmy, Lola’s husband, co-owner and chief sandwich artisan.

If anything teaches you not to judge a book by its cover, this place will. But to be enticed inside, Lola might call out to you if she sees you on the sidewalk to ask if you’re hungry for a breakfast sandwich (starting at $6), a little tabbouleh ($7) or the special Za’atar bread ($6). But to get inside, you will pass a few waving flags, almost garish posters, neon and A-frame signs that might lead you to think it’s just another honky-tonk greasy spoon, and you’d be very wrong.

The space is diminutive; two adults standing side-by-side with outstretched arms could probably touch both walls. The community table inside might seat eight with another eight able to eat outside in good weather. Everything is immaculately cleaned, and the welcome you receive from Lola or Jimmy is heartfelt whether you’ve been there a million times, or this is your first visit.

However, the reaction you get from impassioned customers can be a little intimidating. They listen to your order, then resolutely tell you what else you “have” to get – and they don’t take no for an answer. When ordering a $6 spinach pie (It’s not spanakopita; this is baked in a homemade savory pastry dough unlike phyllo and is the best I have tasted) and a hearty chickpea salad ($6), I was told by one guest that I couldn’t leave without trying the tabbouleh. Another person said I had to order the Za’atar special and I should just eat it as an appetizer (it is full-meal size as the portions here are ample). Attempting to set boundaries, I declined both only to have Lola send me out a serving of customer- and family-favorite tabbouleh, then with encouragement I bought a baklava ($8) ostensibly to “share” with my husband.

What is it about Lola’s Lebanese/American restaurant that is so special? If you read the dozens of Yelp reviews, virtually every one mentions the lovely, hospitable and kind couple who run the business. And of course, the exceptional food is discussed in-depth with many reminiscing about childhood memories of such food, and others wishing she would open a new shop near them. A second or even bigger shop is unlikely, so customers drive or fly and come back again and again for their distinctive favorites. Lola keeps her recipe secrets very close to the vest. She discloses nothing except, “I make everything with love; that is the secret ingredient. I respect myself and I give that same respect to my customers. And most important, I thank God for everything.”

Lola is a self-taught cook who for decades fed family, friends and fellow parishioners from St. Anthony Maronite Church in Lawrence who visited her Methuen home before Jimmy and she opened the restaurant at exactly noon on June 30, 2015. Her daughter, Jennifer Kozak of InBloom Marketing Studio, took on Lola’s Kitchen as her first marketing client and designed the website. But other than that, Lola and Jimmy do everything themselves.

The space is best suited to two behind the counter and, in a place where 90% of all the food is homemade and made to order, a lot of prep work goes into each day. Lola seems to thrive on 2-3 hours of sleep each night. But when Lola found herself too busy to keep up with the demand of her custom Za’atar spice for the crowds the shop was drawing, she reluctantly outsourced the production and tested and tested until it was perfected to her standards. That is why her food cannot be duplicated.

Lola relayed a story of a woman who came into the shop three times a day for a week and requested the same Fattoush salad. And then disappeared. Lola was worried about her until she showed up a week later.

“Where have you been?” she asked. “Are you alright?”

The woman sheepishly admitted that every time she ordered the Fattoush salad, she watched closely as Lola made it, intent upon duplicating the recipe herself. She returned after failing to get the same results, though she thought she’d done everything precisely. After a week, no matter how hard she tried, it was never as good as Lola’s. And so, she had to come back again to order the dish she loved and craved. This time just to enjoy it again; she understood it was futile to try to capture its essence.

At Lola’s Kitchen, food means family. Lola says her restaurant is a place for children. Children wander in from the sidewalk for a hug or sometimes to bring her a shell they found. As if to prove this point, Faith Gousse, 10, came barreling in leaving her parents down the sidewalk. She offered bear hugs to Lola and Jimmy. Her family, Ray Mackey and Sheri Gousse, arrived a minute or so later. They were visiting from Connecticut and visit several times a year (they’re next trip is scheduled for October, one last chance to visit the restaurant before it closes for the season) and the first thing they do, even before looking at the ocean they said, is stop into Lola’s Kitchen. A route they will retrace many times throughout their stay.

Faith’s mom Sheri holds a soft spot in her heart for the Aboukhalils. She’s been visiting Hampton Beach since she herself was a child and, now with the restaurant connection, she is introducing the spot to more family and friends.

“When Faith was very young,” she recalled, “she had a period in her life when she became allergic to what seemed like everything. We had a list of eight common things she could not eat. We showed the list to Mr. Jimmy and he took care of everything. He made every item precisely to her needs. And now we are glad to say she outgrew the allergies and can eat everything.”
“Except peanuts,” Faith interjects.

And then like 10-year-olds everywhere, she orders nuggets and fries while her parents order chicken shawarma. The food comes out at different times, some people eat before others, and this family wouldn’t have it any other way.

Making almost everything from scratch – and with love – sometimes takes a little extra time.