New Somerville cafe with Vietnamese and Hispanic coffee has culture at its core
Mydung Ha is a small-but-mighty 4-foot-11-inch Vietnamese restaurateur with eateries in Franklin Park and Florida. Arisbell Mateo is a 5-foot-7-inch-tall Dominican woman who loves to bake.
The pair don’t have much in common at first glance. But with bubbly, positive personalities, a mutual friend connected the two to help them bring a dream to life — opening a bakery and cafe with culture at its core.
That’s why Dulce Bakery & Café — which opened in late February at 196 W. Main St. in Somerville — offers everything from Vietnamese coffee to homemade tres leches to pancake puffs to chicken noodle soup.
“There are a lot of coffee shops in the area, but no one offers Vietnamese coffee or cafe con leche,” said co-owner Mateo, who goes by Belle (her friends call her "the little gypsy"). “They’re so cultural to us and we wanted to show what our culture was.”
Vietnamese coffee, traditionally served iced, is made of strong coffee beans with an espresso-like, smoky taste (it is sweetened and lightened with condensed milk). Cafe con leche, traditionally served hot, is made of equal parts strong, Hispanic coffee beans and scalded milk.
To complement the coffee, Dulce Bakery & Café offers danishes, cinnamon buns, chocolate croissants and coffee rolls. There's also slices of cake, including pistachio, red velvet, chocolate mousse and mango mousse. Other menu items include flavored teas, mint chia pudding and Cammy’s Cocoa (named after Mateo’s son’s favorite hot chocolate).
Once Dulce Bakery & Café celebrates its grand opening, likely in late April, a full menu will be released. There will be tres leches, flan, a soup of the week, salads and Penelope’s Pancake Puffs — bite-sized pillowy pancakes topped with berries or chocolate chips (named after Mateo’s daughter, Autumn Penelope).
It will be served in a space that’s a far sip from rustic-chic coffeehouses in Central Jersey, Mateo said.
“I am like an interior designer,” she said, laughing. “I have been reading design magazines since I was 10 and I get my inspiration from that. I wanted to set a space where every zone speaks to someone.”
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A brick wall, still splattered with paint splashes from its time inside Pinot’s Palette (the space's former home), is adorned with a painting of a woman strolling through downtown Somerville in a pair of pink Converse sneakers above a royal blue couch.
On the other side of the space, a bright red couch sits underneath a crystal chandelier, and a neon pink sign reads “Take a seat sweet cheeks.”
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And, if you think that mural of a woman on the wall with hair made of grass looks familiar, you’re right.
“I wanted a mural of a woman since we’re women-owned, so I found a photo of a woman whose eyes spoke and asked an artist to paint her. But behind my back, Mia asked the artist to paint me instead,” Mateo said, laughing. "So now, I style my own 'hair' everyday on the mural."
Go: 196 W. Main St., Somerville; 908-393-1088, dulcebakeryncafe.com.
Contact: JIntersimone@MyCentralJersey.com
Jenna Intersimone has been a staff member at the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey since 2014, after becoming a blogger-turned-reporter following the creation of her award-winning travel blog. To get unlimited access to her stories about food, drink and fun, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Somerville: Dulce Bakery & Cafe features Vietnamese, Hispanic coffee
