From political refugees to coffee shop owners: Authentic Cuban cafe opens in KC area
Wood floors creak as customers wind past a Cuban flag, stepping toward a granite countertop.
“Buenos días,” welcomes Nubia Gomez from behind her espresso machine. A royal blue apron guards her sweater from coffee grounds.
She pulls them an espresso shot and adds a splash of frothed milk to make a cortadito, then pours it into a swallow-sized to-go cup.
The drink is a Cuban favorite, but it’s also her new cafe’s namesake.
Since Cortadito opened Saturday at 400 N. 18th St. in Kansas City, Kansas, a steady stream of customers have tried the small but potent espresso drink for the first time.
They’ve looked upon the framed ration cards, “la libreta,” and read a printed note about Cubans’ struggle for freedom. Gomez is Mexican, herself, but her husband — Karell Martinez — and his family are political refugees from Guantánamo, Cuba.
Influx of Cubans in Kansas City
Several patrons have been fellow Cubans, missing the taste of home. There’s a “big, big Cuban community now” in the Kansas City area, Gomez said.
In recent, years, Cuban immigrants have been coming into the U.S. and Kansas City, amid Cuba’s largest migration wave in history. One million people exited the island from 2022 to 2023.
Despite that fact, there aren’t many Cuban restaurants in the metro. There’s La Cubana at 5402 Winner Road in Kansas City, and Romeito at 111 N. Parker St. in Olathe.
And then there’s Posada’s Pizzeria Cubana at 1262 Merriam Lane in Kansas City, Kansas. The newly opened pizzeria supplies bread to Cortadito.
Gomez added that there aren’t many coffee shops in Kansas City, Kansas, either. At least, not as many as there are in Johnson County or Kansas City proper. There’s Splitlog Coffee Co., Kinship Cafe and a few others, but many neighbors have said they feel like Cortadito fills a void in the coffee scene.
“We’ve had a lot of community support,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of people that live a couple blocks down, and they’re like, ‘We’re gonna be here almost every day, just drinking a coffee.’ We’ve had an influx of a lot of different cultures come in.”
Touches of Cuba at Cortadito
The brick building has several seating areas, with wood benches, rocking chairs and a detached garage for overflow seating.
A domino table sits in one corner. In another, a white-haired doll with a wide-brimmed hat and cigar in his pocket: Cuban Santa Claus, Gomez joked.
A pastry case is filled with Cuban pastries — flan, croquetas, masa real (guava cake bars) and more — made by Gomez’s mother-in-law, Ysabel Corcoba.
Cortadito offers a variety of sandwiches, too. The Sandwich Cubano is a Cuban staple with pulled pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and zesty sauce. The Pan con Bistec has steak with sauteed onions, lettuce, tomatoes and mayonnaise.
Other Cuban coffee drinks include the cafe bon bon (coffee with sweetened condensed milk) and cafe con leche (coffee with scalded milk). Their beans are sourced from Cocaína Cubana, a Florida-based Cuban coffee brand with a tongue-in-cheek name, meaning Cuban cocaine.
‘That’s why we’re here in this country’
Cuba’s political and economic state is told all over the walls of Cortadito. A colorful mural painted by It-Ra Icons depicts swaying palm trees, flowering plants and tropical birds. Looming in the background of the lush scene, however, are protesters holding signs reading “Cuba libre” and “no dictadura.”
The art depicts protests that broke out in Cuba on July 11, 2021, after mass blackouts and a lack of resources mounted into open frustration with the Communist-run government. Nearly 700 Cuban citizens remain jailed over the protests despite their overwhelmingly peaceful nature, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of State published this summer.
While fostering community is a pillar of Martinez’s coffee shop, he also wants to use it as a space to educate locals about the issues Cubans face.
“A lot of people here in the U.S., they see Cuba as paradise island,” he said. “In reality, the people of Cuba … are struggling, and they are being stomped by a dictatorship.”
Martinez came to the U.S. 17 years ago. He was 15 at the time, and Fidel Castro was still president.
His father, Alberto Martinez Fernandez, had been to prison several times for speaking against the government and assisting other political prisoners by bringing them food and blankets. He spent more than eight years behind bars altogether and was labeled as “peligrosidad,” or a danger to the state.
“They make things up that are not politically related to put you in jail,” Martinez said of the government.
His mother, Corcoba, was jailed for about a month for opening a children’s library in her home.
Because of their political defiance, they weren’t able to find jobs. Corcoba began making and selling pastries to survive — many of the same recipes at Cortadito today.
One thing he won’t take for granted today, Martinez said, is his freedom of speech.
“People are afraid in the past eight years of saying who you voted for,” he said. “If you voted for Trump, if you voted for Kamala, if you voted for Biden, that’s why we’re here in this country, because we have that freedom … That’s why we have democracy here, and I love that.”
‘Truly a family business’
Martinez’s nephew works at the coffee shop, as do members of Gomez’s family.
“It’s truly a family business. My sisters were just here, working together,” Gomez said. “We’ve had a lot of community support.”
Martinez’s father, who now lives in the Kansas City area, is one of Cortadito’s biggest fans.
“He’ll be on social media: ‘I’m so proud of you! That’s the best job!’” Martinez said, mimicking the typing motion with his thumbs.
Cortadito is open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. They plan to host community events, even salsa dancing lessons. You can follow them on Instagram @cortadito_kc.
This story was originally published November 21, 2024 at 5:00 AM.