Cafe Corazón, A Beacon of Culture in KC
Caffeinating and sustaining the community while leading with heart.
On the corner of Bell and 43rd Street/Westport Road sits a brilliant space, encased in art and culture. The first of three metro locations, Café Corazón is a unique concept, caffeinating and sustaining the community while leading with heart, as the name might suggest. The story of how the family-run business landed in this space is wild as well, and involves owner Curtis Herrera - who owns the space with his wife and daughter - taking a chance on the storefront as it sat in near ruin.
All photos by Meredith Schneider
Dulcinea Herrera, the CEO of Café Corazón, explains: “One day, my dad - who is a builder - happened to be walking past our Westport location and a car had driven through it and demolished it. It was a total mess. But he went in there and met the owner and said, ‘Hey, I will fix this if you let me rent this space out.’ The rest is history.”
Together with his daughter and wife, Miel Castagna-Herrera, Curtis built the space where they would nurture community from scraps. “Everything in our cafes - the tables, a lot of the chairs, the walls - everything you see, my dad built,” gushes Dulcinea. “He’s artistic.”
And he’s not the only artist in the family. In fact, by trade, Dulcinea is a talented painter. Her art - as well as the concept for their business plan - originated with the same person: her grandfather. She explains:
“Interestingly enough, what got me into painting was my grandpa, who was a painter. Once he passed, I started to paint a lot. I feel like he gave that part of himself to me. And now I feel really good when I paint. Even more than usual, it’s my therapy. He’s actually one of the reasons why we started this café. He’s from Buenos Aires, Argentina and he loved yerba mate. And we’re the only place in the midwest that offers it the traditional way.”
The menu boasts an array of incredible caffeinated beverages, featuring exciting flavor profile like churro, horchata, Peruvian cacao, panela, and other spices. I sat down with a fan favorite, the iced Dulce De Leche Latte. It had a balanced, bright, creamy caramel flavor to it, and was deliciously well blended all the way to the last drop.
You can also choose from mochas, cold brew, cortados, cappuccinos, and more.
You can get more than a boost of caffeine in this community-driven space: freshly roasted beans, books and periodicals focused on Latin culture and food, tools to make beverages, salsas, and more. Each café features caffeine-alternative beverages like hot chocolate, Latin soda, and teas. You can also chow down on delicious empanadas, tamales, desserts, and burritos, among other snacks.
Clearly, heritage is celebrated here, and you can see that almost immediately in not only the specialty beverages, but in the art that adorns their walls. Some, of course, originated with Dulcinea. However, the Herrera family finds community in celebrating local artistry.
“At all of our locations, we offer free vendor spots, we don’t charge a commission,” says Dulcinea. “In our crossroads location, people can display their work in this gallery room. They take full commission.” Creating opportunity for artists in this city where the city itself has historically failed to makes their spaces even more intriguing.
But there is also a focus on uplifting service workers in Kansas City through their endeavors. In explaining her family’s mission, Dulcinea highlights: “The more we uplift, the better our employees are treated. They get paid better, we get paid better, it’s an ecosystem. And then we can give back to the community even more. So, that’s how I like to see it. Big picture, big growth.”
While each Café Corazón has been curated with the same heart and sense of community, they do vary slightly. Explains Dulcinea: “[The Brookside location is] a little more Argentinian inspired. Westport is more Latin American, and Crossroads is more Indigenous. It’s based on different parts of our heritage.”
The idea that her family is able to take each piece of their culture and really honor it in its own unique space is a concept bordering on poetic.
The new Brookside storefront, located at Main and E 59th Street, is a truly beautiful experience. They just celebrated their grand opening, introducing a slew of Argentinian-inspired options to the community. A highlight of their menu? A merienda. “[It’s] a beautiful platter stacked with pastries, empanadas, wine, coffee, juice,” explains Dulcinea. “It’s a cute little brunch. We also have a bunch of different cocktails, wine flights, beer. The whole nine yards.”
As at their other locations, the Herrera family hired local muralists Rodrigo Alvarez and Isaac Tapia to contribute their work to the walls of Café Corazón. The mural at the new location might look more familiar than others, as it is actually a painting of Dulcinea– a fact her mother proudly exclaims while we visit during their soft opening.
If there is limited space inside – which you may find to be the case, especially on the weekend – there are several options for outdoor seating at all three spaces. A cute tables and chairs sit out front of all three; the Westport location also has a back deck, which is accessible through a door to the right of the counter.
As the Café Corazón team focuses on their wholesale distribution, there is a feeling of contentment within the community they are cultivating. With ease, Dulcinea explains, “At the end of the day, the world would end and they’d still want their coffee.” And she is entirely correct.
