Cafe El Gringo

Our friend, Byron, recently opened a coffee shop in Santa Ana.  It is Santa Ana's newest and only coffee shop.  At first, Byron served coffee and smoothies.  I promise that strawberry smoothie made with orange juice could be addictive.  Maybe it already is. 

Each week, Byron is adding something to the menu to make it more a restaurant than just a coffee shop.  There are pastries and cakes.  Some homemade and some from PriceSmart.  He has added spaghetti, hamburgers, quesadillas (Haley's favorite) and french fries, among other things.  I like the fish.  Tilapia is good, but when I am fortunate enough to be in the cafe the days there is tiburon (shark), then I consider myself very lucky.  Fried shark is a heavenly treat I never thought I would find myself enjoying. 

Cafe El Gringo is right in the middle of downtown Santa Ana.  Which means it is in easy walking distance from Casa de Esperanza.  Nicole and I are forming a Sunday afternoon habit of walking to the cafe and having a smoothie or coffee.  Marc and I are forming a two-or-three-evening-a-week habit of walking up there.

One Tuesday, Nicole, Matt and I walked up there for lunch.  After we ate, we began suggesting new flavors for smoothies.  Since Byron had the ingredients on hand, he began to make some of the them.  I must say, Nicole came up with a winner when she suggested a banana pudding smoothie.  

Cafe El Gringo is becoming quite the social place in Santa Ana.  I have run onto Karol and Kelin, John Baird, Richard, and of course, we see Byron and Pamela frequently.  We even saw Karen and Dorian up there one evening and had a nice long visit, something we rarely get to do here at Casa.  I think a  new logo could be, " Cafe El Gringo, where everybody knows your name."  Oops!  I think the last part of that has already been used. 

Cafe El Gringo may become the Dairy Queen of Honduras, a place where all the world's major decisions are discussed and solved.  

Congratulations to Byron on the success of this new venture. 

Terri