The Dish
DINING DETAILS
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FROM LEFT: Loma’ s classic bar; Loma co-owners Osman Cortave, Leishla Maldonado and
Yefri Cortave, with team member Caption
Adam to Mikula come
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The Lowdown on Loma
Learn about spirits and cocktails in a Latin-inspired intimate space. By Jamie Coelho
T TOOK LOCAL BARTENDER LEISHLA MALDONADO and family about a decade to save funds and open the bar they’ ve always wanted. The self-funded classic bar, Loma, is worth waiting for, tucked away in Federal Hill’ s back corridor on Spruce Street. It is the first Rhode Island bar to make Tales of the Cocktail’ s
Spirited Awards’ Best New U. S. Cocktail Bar in the East list.
The family, including Leishla— who is Puerto Rican— her partner Osman Cortave and his twin brother, Yefri Cortave— who are Guatemalan— transformed the space into a hideaway that instantly transports guests to an intimate living room in the’ 60s or’ 70s somewhere in Latin America. It’ s named Loma after the region’ s hills and valleys. A privacy screen depicts those hills and valleys when you descend down the staircase into the bar.
Once inside, a deep mahogany custom bar, warm copper walls and burnt sienna velvet banquettes line the space where golden daylight drifts in from a stained-glass window. Even the soundtrack is intentional, with Latin jazz and bolero pumped in early in the evening with livelier salsa picking up as the night progresses.
“ Our favorite places take you somewhere else for a moment, where you come in and sort of forget where you are. Pretty much all of the inspiration is from our roots,” Osman says.
Once they had a vision in place for the space fitting of Maldonado’ s decade-plus of cocktail-making experience, Osman and Yefri studied and researched spirits, along with their other team member, Adam Mikula. Maldonado served as a cocktail apprentice representing Rhode Island for Tales of the Cocktail, and also earned BAR 5-Day Certification, which in the cocktail business is similar to becoming a sommelier in the wine world.
The family focuses on classic cocktails, using spirits that tell a story.“ Cocktail Number 12 is kind of like a‘ bartender’ s choice,’ where we work with what you enjoy, and 98 percent of the time, it’ s tied to a classic,” Maldonado says.
They want Loma to be a place where everyone feels welcome.“ Being Latinos and Latinas, and trying to go to an elevated space, sometimes we’ re not fully welcomed,” Maldonado says.“ And that’ s an experience that Black and brown people have in many settings, but here, it’ s not even a question. We make sure that this is not a place where you’ re ever going to feel that way.” @ loma _ bar
News Bite
Modern Diner Seeks a New Owner
Pawtucket’ s nationally recognized landmark, the
Modern Diner, is on the market. The breakfast spot inside a 1940s Sterling Streamliner, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is looking for a new owner to take over for the family that ran it for decades. Nick Demou started working at the Modern Diner with his father, Arthur Demou, in 1985. The family, including Nick and his father, Nick’ s sister and his brother-in-law, ran it for nearly four decades.“ This is a bittersweet decision,” says Nick, who grew up in Pawtucket.“ The Modern Diner has been part of our family for generations and we’ ve loved every moment of serving our neighbors, watching families grow, and being a source of comfort and nostalgia.” During the transition, the Modern Diner will remain fully operational.— Justin Theriault
132 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY I OCTOBER 2025