Family-Owned Coffee Shop Brings Taste Of Latin America To UES

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — When Maria Avila and her relatives decided to open their first-ever coffee shop, there was no question which neighborhood they'd choose: the Upper East Side, where she and her husband have spent their lives.

"We are a family that's grown up in the neighborhood, we continue to live in the neighborhood, and our vision is to bring Latin American culture here to the Upper East Side," said Avila, who owns Cositas Café along with her husband Nick, her mother, and his parents.

Cositas opened its doors on Saturday at 353 East 78th St., between First and Second avenues. To call it a homecoming would be an understatement: Nick grew up in the very building that houses the shop, and his father still works there as a super.

On the menu are coffee drinks sourced largely from Colombian beans, plus Colombian pastries like empanadas (via the popular downtown shop Nadas), arepas, and cheese breads like almojábana and pan de bono.

Maria's family hails from Honduras and El Salvador, while Nick's comes from Colombia and Ecuador. While the current menu focuses on Colombian cuisine, Cositas hopes to expand its offerings across Latin America in the coming months, from seasonal dishes to drinks like hibiscus juice and horchata, Maria said.

Cositas marks the first venture into the food world for the Avilas, who own a construction company. That made it easy to build Cositas' small storefront home: formerly home to a dry cleaners, the Avilas hired themselves to renovate it, completing the work in about a month.

The shop's name translates to "little things," a reference to its menu full of bite-sized pastries and to a childhood nickname that Nick's father once gave his daughter. (East Side Feed first reported on the opening.)

Besides a snack and a tasty beverage, the Avilas hope customers come away with a slightly broader perspective on the culinary world.

"We wanted to offer a bit of us and our culture to the neighborhood that we know and love," she said.

Cositas Café is open from 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays at 353 East 78th St., between First and Second avenues. Learn more on its Instagram or website.