When you can’t find the culture you want, sometimes you just have to create it yourself. That’s what Karell Martinez and Nubia Gomez did when they decided to open KC’s newest Cuban café, Cortadito, at 400 North 18 Street in Kansas City, Kansas.
They brought their backgrounds in real estate together with both of their cultures to create Cortadito. Gomez is Mexican, while Martinez and his family are political refugees from Cuba. Together, they wanted to create a warm and inviting place for people to come and hang out with family and friends over a cup of coffee or a meal. Named after the Cuban short and sweet shot of espresso and steamed milk that’s spiked with sugar or sweetened condensed milk, the café also offers a variety of Cuban coffee drinks and sodas, along with triangular pastries or pastelitos filled with guava and cheese or coconut cream, and sandwiches made on soft Cuban bread. Once you enter the café, the sound of Cuban guitar music playing will pull you past the domino tables and down the hall. In the main dining room, guests will find iconic scenes of Cuban life painted on the wall by local artists Isaac Tapia and Rodrigo Alvarez, along with a large coffee bar and pastry case filled with treats made by Gomez’s mother-in-law, Ysabel Corcoba. Tables and chairs are scattered about, but regulars tend to fill the bar stools at the counter while they sip on coffee and talk to family members, who all take turns working the counter at the café. This is café culture everyone can appreciate.