Small café opens in Gateway Community Center

A small but mighty new café is open inside the Gateway Community Center. Vanessa Walsten and Ethan Hamilton opened Le Petit Café in December 2021, offering an assortment of food and drinks that dwarfs the eatery’s small footprint.

“Our operating dogma is ‘keep it simple’,” said Hamilton.

“And traditional,” Walsten added.

Le Petit Café carries Fieldheads Coffee drinks and beans, as well as snacks and fermented produce made onsite.

“Whatever happened to a simple café that just made great coffee?” said Hamilton, who has worked in a variety of cafes throughout his career

Despite the focus on simplicity, Le Petit Café puts a few twists on its beverages. Walsten and Hamilton offer a few specialty drinks like keto “bulletproof” coffee, a mixture of coffee, butter and oil.

Walsten said the drink, a staple in her home, comes as a foamy latte brimming with energy. “That’s something kind of new,” she noted. “We wanted to bring this to other people.”

Walsten is also looking to share her Farmented Foods lineup with a wider audience. She and her business partner, Vanessa Williamson, started fermenting excess produce in Bozeman in 2017. The pair created unique concoctions like kimchi and sauerkraut while salvaging “ugly” produce that would have otherwise gone to waste.

Farmented Foods took off, and last year the two moved their fermentation station to Kalispell.

“It’s just been busy,” Walsten said. “It was a really busy fall.”

Farmented Foods has a popular following in the valley, especially from farmer’s markets. The Vanessas also ship their fermented products outside the local market. They’ve garnered such a dedicated fanbase that one loyal customer buys Farmented Foods by the gallon.

Walsten, who called Kalispell home before attending Montana State University, runs her fermentation kitchen adjacent to Le Petit Café.

She said sauerkraut is her most popular item, and people enjoy her kimchi because it’s “something totally different than people have had.” The spicy carrots, meanwhile, serve as a more familiar option that’s even popular with children.

“They’re not too out there,” Walsten said of the carrots.

Walsten and Hamilton hope that increased traffic in the mall will bring in even more fans of Farmented Foods. The couple is hopeful mall walkers and visitors to nonprofits like Northwest Montana United Way will complement business customers, who have so far made up the bulk of traffic to the only drop-in food vendor in the Community Center.

To encourage people to stop by the small café, Walsten and Hamilton are also offering the seating area outside their business as a gathering space. The open food court space can seat approximately 40 people.

“We’re really hoping to see more traffic for people who need a work space,” Hamilton said.

As the business grows, they also hope to add to their menu. Right now, they’re thinking about adding soups and baked goods from local bakeries. But they don’t want Le Petit Café to ever exceed its “petite” stature.

“We want to keep it small and straightforward,” Walsten said.

“A local, community café — that’s really where we’re trying to put ourselves,” Hamilton added.

Le Petit Café is located inside the Gateway Community Center, 1203 Hwy 2 W, Kalispell, door B.

Hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at 406-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.