Christmas 2007 had a special gift in store for Brenda Moon, 53, of Nodine. That’s when she first had the idea of opening a restaurant with her kids.

“I’m the mother of this invention,” Moon said.

She’s also the mother of her two business partners n son Lincoln Freimund, 23, and daughter Corrie Brekke, 27, both of La Crosse.

“The idea just kind of sat in my brain,” Moon said.

It was planted there because Brekke had been a barista, working behind the counter at coffee shops, for years in the area, and Freimund ran kitchens in several Rochester restaurants where he specialized in pizzas, she said.

Fast-forward to June 20, 2008, when the trio opened The Hob Nob Cafe at 301 Kistler Drive, Suite 3 in La Crescent.

The site was still painted neon yellow from its days as a taco shop, Moon said, but now it’s filled with classy, muted earth tones n and a lot more.

“I don’t think people know we have an espresso bar and fresh-baked pastry,” Brekke said.

Many of the items on the menu are fresh, homemade and organic. The menu, like the partnership, is a collision of family expertise.

Breakfast includes omelets, quiche, pancakes, waffles and pastries. It’s served until 11 a.m. n except on Sundays, when the after-church crowd can get breakfast until noon n and Brekke runs the kitchen, Freimund said.

He works the kitchen from lunch into dinner, he said. Lunch features pizza, burgers n including that famous Trempealeau Hotel Walnut Burger n soups and salads.

Freimund’s favorite is called The Bluebird n layers of chicken, ham, gorgonzola, red onion and barbeque sauce nested between grilled bread.

“It doesn’t sell as much as the other ones, but it’s the one I like the most, so I talk about it a lot,” he said.

Dinner offers a full array of appetizers such as bruschetta, salads, burgers, pasta and pizza. You can even get a sirloin steak.

“We sort of found out what our niches are,” Freimund said.

Moon handles the financial books as well as working as a nurse at Gundersen Lutheran in La Crosse. She said she’s going to be cutting back on her hospital hours, though, so she can be around the cafe, and her kids, more.

“If we’re going to do this, I need to be dedicated as much as I can,” Moon said.

Brekke would like to see the cafe become a place people want to visit again and again, and she’d like to see the espresso bar take off.

“I hope at some point it can be its own thing with our own coffee,” Brekke said.

Freimund would like to see the family- owned business, with more than a dozen employees, become a community staple.

“In order for a community to grow and thrive, it needs businesses with personality,” Freimund said.

Brekke does a lot of the prep work, including making sandwiches and sauce. In fact, her mom said, there’s not much she can’t make.

“It’s been in the back of her brain for years,” Moon said. “She’s read every recipe there is. I don’t know where she gets it from. It’s not from me.”

It was her grandma, Brekke said, and the memory of her in the kitchen, who instilled in Brekke the dream of wanting to feed people.

“That kind of always stuck with me,” Brekke said.

What: The Hob Nob Cafe

Where: 301 Kistler Drive, Suite 3, La Crescent

Hours: 7 a.m. to 9:15 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays

Information: (507) 895-3262