For six years, the building that once housed The Coffee Cup, a beloved neighborhood diner in St. Paul’s North End, sat empty.
A devastating fire nearly took the building out, and eventually the owners reopened with the same menu on Randolph Avenue in the Macaclester-Groveland neighborhood. But neighbors had lost their hangout and place for a morning coffee and generous and inexpensive breakfasts.
Juan Lopez, whose family owns a Mexican grocery store and the taqueria Tromperia el Zac nearby, said his crew saw the void and hoped to fill it. And after three long years of renovations and raising money, The Perfect Coffee has opened its doors, serving breakfast and lunch staples and a few Latin dishes as a nod to their own Mexican heritage.
“We took out the Greek dishes, because we don’t want to appropriate anyone’s culture, but added some of our own Latin spin,” Lopez said.
Staff at The Perfect Coffee, from left, Jennifer Vasquez, Melecio Galaviz, Jose Patiño, and Juan Lopez pose behind the counter. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)
Dishes like huevos rancheros, chilaquiles and a breakfast torta are being served alongside classics like the Denver omelette and turkey club.
Lopez said part of the delay in opening was because the family financed the restaurant out of their own pockets.
“Interest rates for restaurant financing are sky high,” Lopez said. “Unless you’re in Shoreview, Eagan, Edina, those kinds of places — you can get a lower rate.”
Huevos rancheros at The Perfect Coffee on St. Paul’s East Side. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)
But Lopez and his family believed in the North End and wanted neighbors to regain their gathering spot. So they took things slowly and opened the restaurant they wanted to see.
“We saw the opportunity of bringing this place back to life,” he said. “It wasn’t cheap. It wasn’t easy. But we wanted to make sure it was a staple of the community. We hear on a daily basis that people have been coming here since they were kids, and that means something.”
The space looks a bit different — the large, U-shaped counter has been taken out and replaced with a simple counter with a few seats. Behind it are several cornerstones of the new restaurant — an orange juicer, which pumps out fresh-squeezed orange juice to go with your eggs, and an espresso machine for fancy coffee drinks. The staff is also making fresh lemonade and house-made Arnie Palmers, and the drip coffee comes from local purveyor Peace Coffee.
Lopez said using as many local producers as possible was important to the family. In addition to Peace Coffee, they work with Main Street Bakery in Edina; Swanson Meats, which provides them with hormone- and antibiotic-free meat from Minnesota; and Hope Bakery in St. Cloud.
“We’re trying to keep it as local as we can,” he said.
While the restaurant is not affiliated with The Coffee Cup in any way, the family is trying to stay true to what it used to be. So much so that they hired Jose Patiño, formerly a sous chef at The Coffee Cup, to be head chef at The Perfect Coffee.
The restaurant is open seven days a week from 6 a.m. until 3 p.m., for now. Lopez said they’re considering opening a few nights a week for dinner, adding American diner staples like fish fry, turkey dinner and meatloaf.
“There’s so much tradition here,” Lopez said. “We didn’t want this place to be torn down and rebuilt by some corporate person who doesn’t know the neighborhood.”
The Perfect Coffee: 1446 Rice St., St. Paul; 651-348-2971; theperfectcoffeemn.com
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