One of the most well-known local pastry shops in Dallas-Fort Worth is expanding into coffee. Maricsa Trejo and her husband Alex Henderson have taken over Rowlett coffee shop The Modern Well and will reopen it as La Casita Coffee later this month. Trejo is a James Beard Award semifinalist, and she and Henderson are owners of La Casita Bakeshop. The Dallas Morning News first reported the expansion.
Trejo told D Magazine that she always hoped to branch out into coffee. When the opportunity arose to purchase a coffee shop, she and her husband jumped on it.
“I’ve always wanted to be in little communities and be a part of them,” Trejo says. “Me and my husband, Alex, we thought it was a natural first step to start with coffee.”
The baristas at The Modern Well will stay on the team, Trejo says. She loves coffee but doesn’t know much about it, so her plan is to lean on them for guidance on the drink menu. Trejo does have one drink that she hopes will make it onto the menu: café de olla, a traditional Mexican coffee beverage made with raw brown sugar, cinnamon, and other spices.
“It’s one of my favorite coffees,” she says. “But it’s very sweet—I gravitate more towards the sweet coffees.”
For those who don’t have the same sweet tooth, Trejo says La Casita Coffee will have its usual offerings of lattes, americanos, and other espresso- and coffee-based drinks. She already plans to add Turkish coffee—a brew flavored with a spicy black pepper syrup—which has been a hit at La Casita Bakeshop.
The coffee shop will have plenty of pastries, too. Almond croissants will be filled with almond paste, and the churro “cruffins”—croissant muffins—will be filled with dulce de leche paste, Trejo says. (La Casita Bakeshop fulfills wholesale orders for bakeries around D-FW, and those pastries usually aren’t filled for those orders.) And certain bread, like sourdough, will be offered daily at the coffee shop, as opposed to only on the weekends in Richardson.
La Casita Coffee will be the first venture outside of Richardson for Trejo and Henderson. A soft opening is planned for Jan. 14, and a grand opening is slated for Jan. 21. 3837 Main St, Rowlett.
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