Loquet X Dimes
To celebrate the launch of our charm collection in collaboration with Dimes, we sat down with the founders Sabrina and Alissa, to ask them a few questions.
Loquet is all about telling stories. Could you tell us yours?
Sabrina and I became friends years ago while working at the restaurant Lovely Day in Nolita. Sabrina eventually began working on a concept for a juice bar. I had graduated from culinary school a couple of years earlier and offered to help with the food aspect. During this time we took a trip to Patagonia. The lack of fresh produce during our travels (and the 27 hours bus rides) had us dreaming of all of the things we could do with our menu back home. As we continued to talk, the concept grew into more of a full-fledged restaurant with a complete menu in addition to a variety of juices. The restaurant began in a tiny space in Chinatown and was only open for breakfast and lunch. Since opening four and a half years ago, we have expanded to three storefronts: a full service restaurant, a takeaway and a market.
With two longterm friends as co-founders at Loquet, we love that we share that in common with you. Have you got a story that illustrates your friendship?
Owning a business with Sabrina has definitely taken our friendship to another level – we work so closely together and have such a symbiotic relationship that we can often finish each other’s sentences and can basically read each others minds. This has, sweetly, created some misconceptions about us – when I was pregnant with my first child, someone we had just met congratulated Sabrina on our baby :)
Any good stories that have played out at Dimes?
There have definitely been a lot of momentous happenings at Dimes but one of my favourites is that one of our bartenders met his girlfriend after she saw a posting of him on the Dimes Instagram. They’ve been together over 3 years now.
Tell us about a meal that's a story all its own
We recently decided to remove a dish from the menu that’s been around since we opened, the pickled salmon. There was some backlash from our staff as it was a much loved dish. One staff member was so upset that she insisted I teach her how to make it so that she could keep eating it at home. She brought all the ingredients into work one day and I gave her a cooking lesson.
We love to get to know people a little more, prompted by a few of our charms. So, here it is: a Loquet quick-fire round:
Star: Current favourite film?
Alissa: The Graduate
Sabrina: Black Panther
Moon: Book to read late into the night?
Alissa: Little Women
Sabrina: A Little Life
Elephant: Place you're happiest?
Alissa: The woods
Sabrina: In my dreams
Shooting Star: Something you're hoping for?
Alissa: A lengthy trip to the beach
Sabrina: To touch my toes!
Tortoise: A piece of wisdom that's stuck with you?
Alissa: You can learn something from everyone.
Sabrina: Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.
And finally, tell us about one of your favourite Loquet x Dimes charms?
Alissa: I love the egg because eggs are kind of everywhere in a kitchen – an essential and versatile ingredient and also visually very cute.
Sabrina: Avocado my heart all day and night!
Thank you both!