If you’ve never enjoyed a Latin American brunch in an old tire shop, you’re missing out.
At Café Kacao, located on 33rd and Classen in Oklahoma City, the stories are as spellbinding as the handmade tortillas and orange zest latte.
Get up at the crack of dawn and join the stomach-grumblers’ line outside the building, wrapped in a stunning blue-green-purple floral mural. One Saturday morning, an unflappable café host braves the pelting rain and surging crowd. As he checks an iPad, lightning strikes nearby, illuminating tiny golden stars painted around his eye. He doesn’t flinch.
“I came from Houston,” one smiling man in a group of nine says.
“It’ll be about an hour,” says the host. The quiet understanding is, of course, that the wait will be worth it.
Inside, Café Kacao is a symphony of earthy cumin, zesty peppers and spicy tomato scents, blended with the rhythm of laughter and chatter.
Light bounces off shimmering soft salmon tile walls and crowded tables. Framed awards – including Yelp’s No. 1 Mother’s Day Brunch in the USA and Top 100 restaurants in the USA – line the walls.
“I make everything homemade like my mother and grandmother used to do,” says founder Veronica Zelada. “Maybe that’s the secret. And work, work, work. Very hard.”
Zelada orchestrates 12 kitchen workers. Each week, they cook 400 pounds of black beans, 600 pounds of potatoes and 150 pounds of tomatoes.
“It’s a lot of vegetables,” Zelada says.
She and her children, Alex, Ana and Luidgi, moved from Guatemala to Oklahoma City after stopping in California.
“Everything, all our belongings, were in that little Honda Civic,” recalls Luidgi Del Cid, her youngest son and the talent behind Café Kacao’s delectable coffees.
Zelada sold tamales from her car and borrowed from her uncle to open her first café in 2004. After selling the cafe three years later, she cooked simultaneously at Olive Garden and the Cheesecake Factory.
Still holding tight to her restaurant prayers, Zelada constantly scouted garage sales with Del Cid for discounted restaurant equipment.
“We were living in this apartment just full of equipment for years,” Del Cid says, “living right there on Classen behind the Asian supermarket.”
Del Cid nods toward a blue bar near Café Kacao’s entrance.
“People come in and say, ‘Hey, that’s where I got my tires changed,’” he says, pointing toward the former tire shop service bay.
Café Kacao launched in 2011 in a renovated yellow building once emblazoned with “Brothers Tire Shop.”
Zelada drove to work past the tire shop on Classen for four years until the morning she noticed it looked closed.
“Get over here,” she said in a call to Del Cid. “We need to go talk to the landlord.”
They shook for a lease deal on the spot.
Zelada, her uncle Tio Julio and Del Cid kicked in money. Family members spent three hard weeks busting down, building up and painting over the shop. On January 26, 2011, Zelada and her children opened their café, generating $1,000 in sales.
The one dish you’ve gotta try? The huevos rancheros. The dish starts with a handmade fried corn tortilla, topped with black beans and two eggs. Add ranchero salsa, cheese and guacamole.
“It’s like a party on a plate,” says Del Cid.
And never, ever walk out of Café Kacao without sipping an indescribable orange zest latte.
Featured photo caption: Café Kacao, an OKC Latin American restaurant, has breakfast, brunch and lunch dishes including the Motuleño Oaxaqueño (above). Photos courtesy Café Kacao
