Cottonwood Offers Variety
Nathan Simpson had a dream. In it, Simpson served bagels in a shop while the customers sang the classic “House of the Rising Sun.”
Years later, Simpson’s dream is near reality. Both bagels and customers reside in his new shop where the lyrics to “House of the Rising Sun” can be found painted along a southern wall alongside images of Ray Charles, Janis Joplin and other musicians.
“[The dream] stuck with me for some reason so when I came in here, I saw it had the lyrics to ‘House of the Rising Sun’ and thought it was pretty cool,” Simpson said.
Simpson is the owner of both Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso and Cottonwood. Located at 440 South 11th Street, the new Cottonwood acts as a café, bistro, and bar. Downtown Lincoln visited Cottonwood and spoke with Simpson about his dream and his new business.
Downtown Lincoln: How and why did you decide to open Cottonwood?
Nathan Simpson: I own Meadowlark Coffee down on 17th & South and we’ve been there for 10 years. And I’ve daydreamed about opening a second place but it never seemed to work; location, affordability and whatnot. I was approached about having a business here and I thought, ‘You know I kind of like that, the brick and the history of the building and everything.’ So I just came down and did a walkthrough with Gary and my imagination started going a bit so we made a business plan and got everything situated. First I had one foot in the door, then I had two feet in the door and then I was going. I had a lot of help from the managers here and I think we invested a lot and we’re really proud and happy to be here now.
DLA: Are you trying to make Cottonwood a different feel from Meadowlark?
Simpson: A little bit. We’ve got a bar here, which is different, and a full kitchen, which really changes the dynamic of the place. We have music down at Meadowlark and we’re having that here as well. I just talked to a company about doing a pub quiz here which I think would do really well. I don’t want it to be too loose-y goosey, but I don’t want it to be too stuffy either. I want it to feel personal and I think we’ve kind of got that down here.
DLA: What kind of music do you guys want to have?
Simpson: I’m open to anything, but I’m thinking more of jazz, light blues and world music. There’s a reggae band that might want to play, stuff like that. I’ve always really liked the feeling that jazz brings to a place.
DLA: Do you guys plan on participating in First Fridays and having art at Cottonwood?
Simpson: Yeah, we have art in here right now from Steven Kerns, who’s our artist of the month. But we’d like to get into that First Fridays loop. If anybody is interested in playing here, they should definitely contact us.
Cottonwood’s hours are: Mon-Tue: 7:30 a.m. – 10 p.m.; Wed-Fri: 7:30 a.m. – 2 a.m.; Sat: 8 a.m. – 2 a.m.; Sun: 8-10 a.m. Follow Cottonwood online at http://thecottonwoodcafe.com/ or on Facebook.
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