Owners Christina and Titus Bartolotta debuted Rise 2 on Friday in the former longtime Trackside Restaurant space on South Broad Street in downtown Mooresville.
Employees pose under the giant inflatable rainbow outside Rise Cafe’s new Mooresville location on opening day, Friday, July 26, 2024. JOE MARUSAK/jmarusak@charlotteobserver.com
The location was a natural for the family-owned and -operated Rise Cafe as it looked to expand in the area, Christina Bartolotta told CharlotteFive at the restaurant on Friday.
George and Helen Georgakis said customers became more like family at their Trackside Restaurant over its 32 years before the couple retired in June.
Rise Cafe lends that same feel, Christina Bartolotta said.
“We have this standard that everyone’s welcome here,” Christina Bartolotta told CharlotteFive when the Huntersville location opened last year in a former Egg Cafe.
“But you’re probably going to hear some Christian music and hear some Bible verses because that’s part of who we are,” Bartolotta said. “For us, food’s very important and the spiritual food is what matters, too. We want to make sure we incorporate God into everything we do.”
Both Rise Cafe locations have prayer boxes, and the restaurant takes meals to at least 100 people each week who are homeless, Christina Bartolotta said Friday.
“We want to make sure that people who can’t eat well get good food,” she said. “The same quality food you’re eating here is what they eat when we feed them.
“Whether they’re Christian or not doesn’t matter for us,” she said. “We just want to give everyone what we feel is God’s love.”
Most everything on the menu is prepared fresh, in house, Titus Bartolotta said Friday.
The Bartolottas both worked as chefs before delving into other industries, and then returned to the culinary world with Rise Cafe.
“If we can’t make it, we will find someone who makes it better than us, and we’ll bring it in,” Titus Bartolotta said Friday. “But we won’t serve it unless it’s great. I would say 95%-plus of what we put on the plate, we made it from scratch, fresh, in house.”
His favorite items on the breakfast menu include the steak-and-eggs. “We turn the normal sirloin into a filet,” he said.
Eggs on the menu are from cage-free hens.
The eggs Benedict selection with in-house Hollandaise sauce is another of his favorites. “We have the traditional eggs Benedict, but then we have, like, seven other versions.”
He also mentioned the hamburger lineup — custom-blended steak burgers made of brisket, short rib and chuck.
Popular items also include chicken-and-waffles, the cinnamon roll waffle and the heart-shaped pancakes, Christina Bartolotta said. Children love the spaghetti pancakes, she said.
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