On a rainy afternoon, a humid closeness can descend on El Cafeito's interior, the kitchen's ventilation system not quite keeping up. But it is tidy, homey, and relaxed here, Temple students laptopping, local social workers waiting on take-out, Kelsey Harro, who does art projects with youngsters at the nearby Norris Square Neighborhood Project, putting in part-time hours in the tight kitchen: "They hired me because I'm small," she says.
Speaking of the kitchen. When Olga and her husband Osvaldo DeJesus, a federal law officer, opened in May, it was a glorified coffee bar: The espresso (which is bright and good) was imported from Hacienda San Pedro, a farm they visited near Jayuya in the mountains of Puerto Rico where Osvaldo was raised.
But the sandwiches were griddled on a single hot plate, pretty much limiting the menu, and hamstringing the service if more than a handful customers happened by.
The good news: Olga, a longtime TV camerawoman, had managed to create a safe and upbeat, determinedly Puerto Rican-accented cafe in the brick confines of a downbeat onetime pool hall, adding a grace note to the faded Kensington neighborhood where she'd grown up (at Howard and Dauphin). The less-good news: She didn't have a clue when it came to cranking out the food.
Enter Lisa Padilla (nee Lombo), a former head sous chef from Jones, the Starr organization's comfort-food eatery at Seventh and Chestnut. Her mother, coincidentally, lived up the street from El Cafeito. She dropped in, loved it, saw the chaos in the kitchen, ended up helping out, then taking charge: Last fall, she became a coproprietor.
