Sky High Dreams

MOSES LAKE — Azure Goltz sits on the bench outside the cafe which bears her name.

From that spot, at that particular moment Monday afternoon, as she looks upward, the color of her new cafe matches the color of the sky.

Inside, the colors of the wall are yellow, because "we wanted the sunshine inside," she said.

Cafe Azure opened at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Division Street July 12.

A Moses Lake resident for 12 years, Goltz worked in different types of snack shops and fast food restaurants.

"It was fun meeting people, making the food and making people feel good about it," she said.

Goltz said owning her own restaurant had long been a dream of hers, a fact she had forgotten until one of her children reminded her.

"My son actually, a little over a year ago, he said to me, 'Mom, what happened to your dream?'" she said. "I kind of stopped and looked at him, had to stop and think, 'What dream are you talking about?'"

Shortly after, the cafe owner asked if she would be interested in her own operation. Goltz started thinking and praying about it, asking God to open or close doors.

"It just seemed like doors kept opening," she said. "Things started developing toward making this a dream come true."

Family and friends helped paint the outside of the cafe and arrange things inside.

As a Seventh Day Adventist, Goltz said she knows vegetarians and vegans don't have a lot of options in the local dining scene. Her cafe offers such vegan choices as vegetarian hot dogs, burgers and also non-dairy ice cream for milkshakes, sundaes or cones for lactose-intolerant consumers.

The cafe also offers meat options, including baked chickens for chicken salad sandwiches, and espressos.

"We are not fast food, and if people come here expecting to rush in, rush up to the window and grab something … we really cannot offer generally fast food," Goltz said. "We want it to be simply delicious food, as quickly as we can make it. And our kitchen is so limited. It's like going to Mom's kitchen, and having people streaming in the door, and Mom's in there, throwing together this and this and this."

The business employs one full time person, and a high school student works for several hours during busy times.

Business is building, despite some mishaps the first few weeks, Goltz said.

"Just trying to get everything to go smoothly, a few orders have been mixed up," she said. "I'm hoping that we're working through the bugs as far as production, and getting orders out to people as quickly as possible. If people have come and tried us within the first two weeks, they should come back."

Goltz hopes to eventually begin offering a menu of foods fit for pre-ordered homemade meals that customers take home.

The business offers espresso at 8 a.m., and opens for lunch at 10 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, closing at 3 p.m. on Friday because, during the winter months, the Bible Sabbath begins just before 4 p.m. on Friday evenings, Goltz explained.