Sara Stewart Martinelli

Meet Sara Martinelli. She and her husband, Lenny, own The Huckleberry Cafe and Bakery. A staple of Louisville, they serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner in an atmosphere of fun, creative comfort. Their food is created to be contemporary comfort food- real food you recognize and love with a modern twist.  They also have a full service bakery on site, baking fresh pies, pastries,  cookies, cakes and bread daily.  You must try their fresh baked gluten-free bread which is incredible.

Sara enjoys quality time with her friends, but then has her so called “best friends,” her three adorable and charming dogs: Cooper – a Blue Heeler, Roxy – the black lab, and Jane – that looks like “Santa’s Little Helper” in the Simpsons.

Thank you, Sara, for serving up incredible comfort foods that fill and please the stomaches of Louisville and Lafayette (and beyond!).

Questions:

Q: What inspired you or led you to your current career?

A: My husband and I own a number of restaurants, mostly in Boulder. We live down the street in Old Town Louisville and when this used to be restaurant called Karen’s Country Kitchen, that had been here for about 30 years, we used to come here regularly. Then when it went up for sale we needed somewhere to eat nearby and decided to buy it . So, we’ve been running this restaurant for 18 years.

Q: What is your favorite restaurant in Louisville and Lafayette, and what do you love there?

A: In Louisville, we’re big fans of Lulu’s BBQ across the street. I think they do a great job, it feels like a community restaurant and is really consistent.  And I think they have great BBQ.

Q: How long have you lived or worked in Louisville and Lafayette?

A: 26 years now.

Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in Louisville and Lafayette?

A: Nancy, who owns Found Underground, is very involved and cool person in the community.  Lots of women in Louisville enjoy and support her shop.

Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be? And why?

A: I’ve traveled a lot and I think we live in the best place in the world. So, if I have to travel somewhere else, it would be probably to Ireland because I’m a big horse person… we have a farm in Lafayette where we grow organic produce for our restaurants and have 12 horses.  Ireland has a strong horse culture and it’s really beautiful.

Q: What is your favorite movie OR what is the first movie you remember seeing in a theatre?

A: Hands down it’s Jurassic Park. I’m shallow when it comes to entertainment, I don’t want to be taught anything, I don’t have that dramatic emotional response to it, I  simply like the explosions and dinosaurs chasing cars.

Q: What advice would you give a crowd of people?

A: I think one of the things that we learn as we age is to just be yourself, accept who you are, and people will like you best when you are the best version of yourself that you can be.

Q: What is something on your bucket list?

A: I feel like I’m fortunate to be able to do things I wanted to do.  I really want to ride my horse on the beach. I want to have grand kids someday, I want to be a good grandma.

Q: What is your favorite music/ 3 bands you would like to see (dead or alive)?

A: I like all music, literally every style.  I would want to see the Grateful Dead again, I love Pearl Jam, and AC/DC which I just decided whenever its come on.

Q: What current / former local business makes you the most nostalgic about Louisville and Lafayette?

A: I am not really a nostalgic person. Change happens, growth happens, but I think it’s all about making sure that the growth happens in a way that is beneficial for the people.  I think Lafayette and Louisville have done a really good job with that. Something that I think really cool is Louisville and Lafayette is the small town feel.  For example we sponsor the Louisville annual  pie contest, an event on Labor Day Fall Festival and people bake big pies, it’s super, super cute. I love that small town feel, but as populations grow what we are trying to avoid is turning it to suburbia. I think we need to keep on focusing to keep that small town feel. Schools are really great here and they’re the kind of schools where teachers and your kids are neighbors which is really a great sense of community.

Q: Choosing anyone alive and a non-relative with whom would you love to have lunch? Why and where would you have lunch?

A: I’m one of those people that if there’s someone reasonable and realistic that I want to know I’ll just say hey, let’s go to lunch! I’d like to have lunch with J.K Rowling. I am a big reader and for me Harry Potter is one of the most amazing creations ever and such a cool story to come out out of someone’s head.

Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about Louisville and Lafayette?

A: I think that when we bought here years ago, when we lived in Boulder and we can’t find anything in there that it seems like the sort of groove of this area is full of kinds of people that Boulder used to be,  which is kind of cool. It is

Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?

A: Where I’m at most likely. I am really simple. I wouldn’t want to have bunch of houses because it fractures my intention. I need to focus that this is my home, this is my nest. I don’t want a house in other mountain towns, I just like to go there once in a while. Everything is decided on whether the horses can be there! Sometimes, I’ve thought about moving back to Boulder, but that’s too far away from my dhorses.

Q: (Even for friends or family), what is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?

A: My friends know everything about me as I am a super social person. I am one of those people that’s never alone, I am always with my friends. But, something that’s not generally known about me, is that I am a third degree black belt in karate. When my kids were young, we got really, really into karate at IMA Karate, and I didn’t want to just sit on the sidelines.  So, after a few of their classes I decided to join in.

Q: What 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?

A: Dogs, Family, and Couch. Home for me is like sitting on the couch with my dogs in front of the fire.

Q: If you had a full time staff member that was fully paid for, who would you choose? Chef, Housekeeper, Driver, Coach, Physical Fitness Trainer, or Nanny?

A: Personal Assistant. The details of my life get away from me, so staff to remind me of an appointment, answer emails, and stuff like that. Oh, and I always wanted to have a horse groom, somebody who will get the horse ready for you.

Q: If you were cast into a major motion picture and had your choice of anyone to be your co-star, who would you choose?

A: That’s a funny question because if it’s action movie then I want an action star. Probably someone funny, like Will Ferrell. He’d be great to have over for Thanksgiving dinner

Q: Will there be anything you would like to improve or add something in the community of Louisville or Lafayette?

A: The only thing that I dislike is the tendency, that I feel, that is pushing towards suburbia. In my mind there’s a really different visual of culture of suburbia versus small town, and really want to hold on to small town America.

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