This Cuban-Inspired DTLA Coffee Shop Was 50 Years in the Making

Farley Elliott is the Senior Editor at Eater LA and the author of Los Angeles Street Food: A History From Tamaleros to Taco Trucks. He covers restaurants in every form, from breaking news to the culture, people, and history that surrounds LA's dining landscape.

After half a century roasting coffee in greater Los Angeles, the family behind the Don Fransisco’s brand is officially moving into the physical coffee shop space. Their opening location will be called Don Francisco’s Coffee Casa Cubana, and opens to the world on August 1 in Downtown.

Casa Cubana has been a long time coming for the Gaviña family and the Don Fransisco’s Coffee brand. They’ve been in the coffee business for many decades, roasting beans from a giant facility in Vernon under private labels as well as their own that can be found on grocery store shelves, including Don Fransisco.

Now the Gaviñas are heading for Downtown’s Spring Arcade, with a stunner of a new shop opening to the public on August 1. The space sits right in the heart of the big, open pass-through, between the likes of Guisados at one end and Kai Japanese Roots at the other, with the new Blu Jam Cafe across the way. The wide footprint allows for bright tile, casual sitting spaces, and a ton of glass frontage. Meanwhile, the menu offers full food, from a pork and plantain hash sandwich to pastelitos to Cubanos and beyond. Plus coffee, of course.

The Omgivning-designed Don Francisco’s Coffee Casa Cubana officially opens on August 1, keeping hours from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Expect more locations in the future, too.

Don Francisco’s Coffee Casa Cubana
541 S. Spring St.
Los Angeles, CA