Chef/owner Luciane was born and raised in Brazil, Porto Alegre. She left in 1987 to live and travel around Europe, working in numerous restaurants as way of making a living. She then moved to Hawaii for two years to further explore life, all the while learning different cuisines. In 1992, she finally settled and married in New York City. In 1994, unable to get a job due to her pregnancy, she decided to open Cafe Colonial, a small cafe with great food.

Cafe Colonial has grown and matured into a beautiful restaurant in these last twelve years. The food reflects her origins in Brazil, her travels through Europe and her passion for Hawaiian and Caribbean food. Her main goal was, and still is, healthy, honest and high quality food. It is not easy to run a restaurant in NYC, there will be always up's and down's but one does experience God's grace in cafe colonial.