Update: Lola’s Handcrafted Sandwiches is coming back!

Fan’s of Lola’s Handcrafted Sandwiches: after publishing our story on restaurant churn in Tyler, we heard from Shawn Dunn, who, along with his wife Rebecca, has bought Lola’s from its former owners and is reopening the restaurant this month.

Shawn and Rebecca were on vacation in the Caribbean in January when a friend alerted Shawn that Lola’s was closing. “It’s funny,” says Shawn. “My wife and I have always dreamed of moving to the Caribbean one day and opening a bed and breakfast. Ironically, we were sitting in the Caribbean when we got this news. We looked at each other like, ‘You only live once, right?'” They messaged Chris Czop, former owner of Lola’s, via Facebook and offered to buy the restaurant. A deal was successfully negotiated, and the grand opening is scheduled for Saturday, March 17.

As for why Lola’s closed in the first place, Dunn says it’s a familiar story in the world of first-time independent restaurant owners: the business side of the equation simply got to be too much. Shawn, who opened a State Farm agency in Bullard, and Rebecca, a professor in the pharmacy department at UT Tyler, intend to keep their day jobs and manage Lola’s on the side. “In the beginning I’ll be at Lola’s quite a bit,” says Shawn. “We want to get it to where it’s a well-oiled machine and then let it run.”

So what do the Dunns have in store? So far, the only change they plan to make to the menu is introducing a handful of cold sandwiches to ease bottleneck on the grill. “We’re not taking anything away from the menu,” says Shawn. “My wife and I would be dumb to come in and try and change any of that.” Andrew Czop, Chris’s son, manned the grill when his family owned the restaurant, and will continue to be executive chef at the new Lola’s. “Andrew is so passionate about food and we are so thrilled that he’s going to stay on and keep doing what he does,” says Shawn.

The grand opening is scheduled for Saturday, March 17.

Thanks for reading this story. Just one more thing. If you believe in the power of local journalism here in Tyler, I'm hoping that you'll help us take The Loop to the next level.

Our readers have told us what they want to better understand about this place we all call home, from Tyler's north-south divide to our city's changing demographics. Power, leadership, and who gets a seat at the table. How Tyler is growing and changing, and how we can all help it improve. Local arts, culture, entertainment, and food.

We can't do this alone. If you believe in a more informed, more connected, more engaged Tyler, help us tell the stories that need to be told in our community. Get free access to select Loop events, behind-the-scenes updates about the impact and goals of our work, and, above all, a chance to play a part in bringing more fresh, in-depth, unexpected journalism to Tyler.

Support The Tyler Loop

Previous articleWhat Kiepersol’s Michael McClendon wishes you understood about East Texas wine
Next articleEssay: Shall We Gather at the Brewery?
Tasneem Raja is the Editor-in-Chief of The Oaklandside. A pioneer in data journalism and local nonprofit news startups, she co-founded The Tyler Loop, a nationally recognized community news platform in East Texas. She was a senior editor at NPR's Code Switch and at Mother Jones, where the team she led helped built the first-ever database of mass shootings in America. She started her career as features reporter at The Chicago Reader and The Philadelphia Weekly, and lives in Oakland with her husband and two imperious terriers.
SHARE