
10

"Part cafe and part lounge, this “Guadaladelphian” mix of Mexico and Philly delivers beverages worth sampling whether caffeinated, decaffeinated, fermented, or alcoholic, with flavors that evoke rich chocolate and sweet agave. Owner Dan Suro (son of David Suro of Tequilas) channels a love of agave-based spirits into both the daytime coffee program and the nighttime bar. By day, I sip creative coffee like the Agavette ($5.50), a light espresso-and-agave mix with frothed milk, and seasonal specials such as the winter spiced pepita latte ($8) with toasted pumpkin seed and fall spices, alongside in-house pastries — the Dulce de la Jefa ($6–$8), a sugar doughnut with lemongrass pastry cream, is a standout. Don’t sleep on the $3 drip coffee; beans sourced through a partnership with Cafe Estelar, a roaster in Guadalajara, make it rich and nutty. After dark, the cafe becomes La Jefa Milpa and cocktails take over, keeping a Guadalajarian-influenced palate and leaning into Mesoamerican farming with corn and native plants; an Old Fashioned with agave cocido–infused Cascahuin blanco, koji-fermented agavezake, and bitters, finished with an orange twist, shows the level of craft." - Annemarie Dooling