Downtown Bargersville is a new destination for foodies hoping to satisfy a culinary craving or families feasting on a delicious weeknight dinner.

Patty Timmons, executive chef and owner of Lola’s Table, brings her passion for authentic, homestyle Filipino food from her own kitchen to the restaurant. The Bar on Baldwin, also owned by Patty, serves brunch, lunch and dinner as well as upscale bar food and drinks.

From the dumplings to the adobo, you’ll taste a little something special at Lola’s Table where the dishes are simple and served family-style.

Q: Where did the interest in becoming a chef originate or your desire to enter the restaurant industry?

A: I’ve always been interested in food. I’ve loved cooking and everything about it. Before the internet, maybe in the early 80s, I would cut out recipes that I wanted to try and paste them inside a little diary.

As an entrepreneur, my mind organizes and creates things a certain way. I had a vision in my head of what Lola’s Table would be, I could see it, and then I created it.

I’ve opened several businesses, including Wileypalooza, an ice cream shop, that my daughter and I opened in multiple locations north of Indianapolis. It was really part of the community, and that’s what I loved about it.

Q: Describe your culinary philosophy or approach to cooking.

A: It’s got to taste good and look good. If I say there is an ingredient in there, you have to see it and you have to be able to taste it. I like punchy flavors.

I’m pretty simple; I like to use as few ingredients as I can when I cook, because they are the star. It’s just about keeping it simple, keeping it fresh.

Q: How do you describe Loal’s Table’s menu?

A: It’s just homestyle cooking. It’s what I cook for my family when I’m home or people come over. It’s nothing fancy.

I think the biggest critics I’ve had so far are other Filipinos because Filipino food is just like Italian food. Everybody’s spaghetti sauce is going to taste different from how their parents made it because there is an extra ingredient or something.

Lola’s Table is me. It’s my personal cooking, except it’s made in a restaurant.

Q: What is your first food memory?

A: That would be fried chicken. When my family boarded a ship from the Philippines when I was three years old, we were in this cramped little room. Almost every day it smelled like fried chicken and seawater. My memories are not like a movie; they are more like a Polaroid. I can’t tell you anything about that experience except for this.

Q: What are your favorite ingredients to work with and why?

I love lemon. I love the brightness of it. I use it a lot in food. Fish sauce, of course. So, the two flavors together are harmonious because you have the sourness and then the saltiness. When you put both ingredients together on noodles, it is delicious. It’s simple, but it has big flavor.

Q: Tell me about a dish that you created or serve that you are proud of.

A: One dish that was in my head that we created is ube flatbread. Ube is a purple sweet potato and a superfood. We make an ube jam and use it like a tomato sauce on flatbread and then top it with spicy plant-based sausage, pickled red onion, fresh herbs and Havarti cheese.

Our dumplings are a signature menu item. They are delicious and served with a sweetened black vinegar sauce.

Q: What is a specialty drink at Lola’s?

A: Our drink menu includes classic cocktails, but the names have personal meaning. The Lola Sunset is similar to a tequila sunrise and is made with orange juice, grenadine and topped with ube foam. It looks like a purple sunset.

The De Campo is named after my mother’s maiden name. The Hi, I’m Cassie cocktail is named after my daughter and includes Midori melon and vodka. And the Prosper Street cocktail is named after a street where my sister lived in San Francisco.

Q: For someone who hasn’t eaten Filipino food before, what do you recommend they try first?

A: I recommend the adobo, a signature dish of the Philippines. Everybody has their version of adobo. Most of it's the same. It's meat braised in soy sauce, vinegar and garlic. We offer both pork and chicken adobo.

Our ribs sell really well, too. We make our own barbecue sauce, which is sweet and just a little spicy.

Q: What is most important to you in the restaurant business?

A: To me, it's never been about dollars and cents. It's never been about numbers. It's really about the legacy that I want to leave behind, when people can say, “Hey, remember when we went there, and we had this really good time?” Or, “We did this thing, or we met this person there?” My heart is in the experiences and connections people make in an environment or restaurant that I created.

Q: Tell me about the restaurant’s name.

A: “Lola” means “grandma” in Filipino. Our ice cream shop, Wileypalooza, was named after my granddaughter, whose nickname from me was my little Wileypalooza. So, both businesses are named after Wiley and me.