Corazón Cafe is Downtown SLO's colorful and lively answer to coffee, cuisine, and conversation with a Mexican twist
Article featured on New Times SLO by Bulbul Rajagopal
Co-owners Crescencio "Chencho" Hernandez Villar (left), Sara McGrath (center), and Pedro Arias Lopez (right) opened Corazón Cafe in Downtown San Luis Obispo to dish out community gatherings and southern Mexican-style food and drinks. By Jayson Mellon
Corazón Cafe is a fresh, bright pop of color that exploded near the corner of Higuera and Chorro streets in downtown San Luis Obispo.
Its fuchsia and electric blue interior walls are visible from the street through the glass window that bears the etching "Coffee. Community. Comida [food]. Cultura [culture]." Co-owner Sara McGrath told New Times that it's the cafe's driving motto.
"I love coming here on the weekends or during a brief lunch hour because of all the interactions that are happening every single time," she said.
On one Saturday morning in the cafe, McGrath met a man who was visiting SLO from southern England. She soon learned that he lives in the same county that her dad hails from.
"An hour later, I meet a woman and somehow one thing leads to another, and we find out that I was in a theater production in high school with her younger sister in Santa Cruz," McGrath said as the melody of regional Mexican tunes and clatter of cutlery wafted through the cafe.
Open since May 6, Corazón—meaning heart—is the brainchild of Corazón 805 Tacos owners Crescencio "Chencho" Hernandez Villar, Pedro Arias Lopez, and McGrath. The popularity of the Latin cuisine pop-up and Liquid Gravity staple created a steady buzz as soon as the plans about opening the brick-and-mortar cafe were announced on social media. In fact, McGrath said barely three weeks into opening shop, a community member reached out to her online and claimed they were regulars.
Villar and Lopez are seasoned professionals in the local culinary scene. Villar worked as the kitchen manager at Novo, and Lopez was a server and manager at Big Sky Cafe. Tag-teaming as a back- and front-of-house duo with McGrath coordinating the administrative work and event organization makes Corazón Cafe a bustling, streamlined business.
The cafe menu's main influence is southern Mexico. Villar and Lopez are from the states of Guerrero and Chiapas, respectively, and the fare reflects their ethnic backgrounds.
"Oaxaca is in between Guerrero and Chiapas. So, we're influenced by Oaxaca, Guerrero, Chiapas, the Yucatán Peninsula [cities] like Campeche and Quintana Roo," McGrath said.
With Villar leading the kitchen, some of their creations include chilaquiles with red sauce—a traditional savory dish comprising quartered and fried corn tortillas cooked in salsa. At Corazón Cafe, it can be enjoyed as breakfast with the addition of eggs, pickled onions, queso fresco, and sometimes even chorizo.
I went with the super filling shrimp tostada. The crispy tortilla base arrived loaded with Spanish rice, red and green sauces, avocados, peppers, pickled radishes, and plump shrimps. I drizzled my tostada with the Mexico Lindo habanero hot sauce available on every table and demolished it within minutes.
"Would you like a box for that?" Lopez joked as he collected my empty plate.
He deftly manages customer orders and heads the small staff out front. He served my drink of choice, a Tascalatte—the drink made with chocolate from his home state. Tascalate isn't traditionally a coffee drink, but Corazón Cafe made it a spin on the mocha.
"In Mexico, you use only water and milk for tascalate, but here I use espresso and milk," Lopez said.
Corazón's version consists of roasted corn, cacao, unrefined whole cane sugar called piloncillo, and a spice and coloring agent called achiote that's derived from anatto seeds. The iced coffee drink wasn't too sweet and was perfect for the sunny June afternoon.
"A really good friend in Mexico has a ranch, and he gives us the chocolate for the Tascalatte and the Pinole Latte," Lopez said.
The Chiapan chocolate features in several cafe recipes. Taste it in Corazón's drinks like the Mayan Mocha, Como la Flor, La Frida Sufrida, and in dishes like the "pancakes con fruta" that comes with a Chiapan chocolate drizzle.
Other partnerships are dotted throughout the menu too. The counter holds a glass shelf of pastries like conchas, dulce de leche sandwich cookies called alfajores, guava and cheese empanadas, and small pies. Those pies come from Bramble Pie Company in Atascadero. Other sweet treats like the conchas arrive fresh from SLO-based Preciously Baked. The menu is slowly expanding too.
"Now, we have quesadillas and I like it with chorizo," Lopez said. "Chencho made the chorizo."
The Corazón team hopes to host events in the cafe. They've already hosted a meeting for a letter-writing campaign for affordable housing. Potential gatherings in the pipeline include ones for the Central Coast Scottish Society and a Chicano book club meeting. For McGrath, such events exemplify the cafe's creed.
"This is the part that drives me and gets me excited," McGrath said. "Community and passion are so important to me; it makes my heart so happy."
Lopez, too, finds the joy in frequent company, especially when the cafe receives visitors close to his roots.
"It's amazing how much of our Latino community comes here, especially Latino students," he said. "They say, 'Oh my gosh, I love this place, it feels like my house!'"
Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal is ready to swap her summer iced mocha habit for chilled Tascalattes. Feel the zing at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.
