Photography by Kathy Tran
When Xamán Café opened over two years ago, they were operating at half capacity in a world with an unfamiliar future.
Now, customers fill almost every seat in the warm, lively space, as the sounds of conversation, light music and hissing espresso machines give life to the room.
Guests entering the café, located off Jefferson Boulevard near S. Bishop Avenue, are greeted with a rich, organic environment, inspired and molded by the cultures and designs of prehispanic Mexico. From warm wood seating, adobe stucco accent walls and ivy that pours from hanging containers above the bar top, it’s an adventure that’s been shaped just as much from the heritage it seeks to recreate as the customers it houses.
Friends and founders Mauricio Gallegos and Gerardo Barrera delved into the culinary, craft cocktail and coffee worlds using Gallegos’ previous experience of owning Santo y Pecadores. They also found inspiration and flavors in Mexican exploration and heritage. Manager Erick Benitez says that their creation was not taken lightly.
“Mauricio told me that we were going to take a leap of faith,” Benitez says. “It was our first concept from running a restaurant completely from scratch. We had to work everything from the start — building recipes, clientele, the plates.”
When Benitez speaks of the plates, he doesn’t just mean the food items themselves; he is referring to the actual ceramic ware. Earthy and organic-colored, the plates, cups and bowls at Xamán Café all stand out, especially the coffee mugs.
“All the ceramics are made by the Martinez family in Oaxaca,” he says, pointing at one of the signature cups, adorned with a playful face carving. “The design is having the faces, everything is handmade, all different sizes and all different shapes. It takes about six or seven months for them to have an order ready, which is time-consuming, but it’s more about exposing their artistic side — kind of like giving them props for doing all the work.”
Xamán Café’s appreciation of the art and craftsmanship doesn’t stop there. It blends and meshes with almost everything about the space, even down to the exact beans and coffee processing they use for their brews.
“We only use Mexican coffee,” Benitez says. “We work with micro lots from Guerrero, along with a natural and a washed process.”
The separation of these two types of coffee processing allows for an entirely different profile to be extracted from similar beans, giving guests a unique experience depending on their order. With a variety of selections on the coffee menu, customers can order the usual fare alongside cajeta macchiatos, horchatas with espresso and their signature café de olla — a brewed coffee spiced with cinnamon and star anise and sweetened with piloncillo.
Their food selection follows much the same trajectory.
“Mauricio and Gerardo travel a lot to Mexico,” Benitez says. “That’s where the ideas come from. When they want to introduce a certain dish, it just comes out of their mind. Once we have the idea, then we execute the recipe. We start playing around, getting involved with our chefs and cooks.”
The breakfast and brunch menu includes chilaquiles with mole, corn pancakes served with honey, and torta de birria complete with a side of dipping consomé.
As cold weather approaches, the uptick in the desire to find someplace cozy to settle in with a hot drink will assuredly rise. With that in mind, there aren’t any places better suited than Xamán Café. Whether for a cocktail, a bite to eat or a luxurious cup of coffee, it stands as more than just a coffee shop, but as a culturally enriched environment to savor.
“Mexican food isn’t always typical,” Benitez says. “Like it or not, it’s been industrialized. When you go to Mexico, it’s a kind of shock. We make handmade tortillas, our homemade mole, and it does take some work, but the outcome is very positive. As a small business, we get a lot of repetitive customers, and that tells us that we’re doing something good.”
Xamán Café, 334 Jefferson Blvd., 469.687.0005
