Karen S. Kim
DOWNTOWN -- Cafe Barraca owner Harout Abrahamian wants his patrons to
spend their lazy afternoons at his shop, relaxing, sipping on a cup of
coffee, reading a book and listening to a little Dean Martin or Frank
Sinatra playing in the background.
The European-style coffee shop on Brand Boulevard opened Friday to
offer passersby a selection of coffees, pastries and sandwiches.
"There's an emptiness on Brand, and we just wanted to fill that gap,"
Abrahamian said. "We don't want to be a Starbucks or a Subway. We want to
be sort of a mom-and-pop operation but more on a professional level."
Before the shop opens at 7 a.m., Abrahamian's employees are busy
baking croissants, muffins, danishes and cookies in the kitchen. For
lunch, there are submarine and o7 paninif7 -style sandwiches available.
The cafe was modeled after coffee shops Abrahamian has seen while
visiting Venice, Paris, Portugal, Spain and Amsterdam for his other
import and export business, he said.
And Abrahamian has big plans in store for the newly opened shop. He
hopes to bring live bands, like jazz duos, into the cafe on weekends. And
in the next few weeks, Cafe Barraca will offer o7 gelatof7 , an Italian
dessert, and custom crepes made on site, Abrahamian said.
The cafe is open until 10 p.m. on weekdays and until midnight on
weekends.
"We want a lunch crowd, but at night, we want people to just come and
relax and hang out," shop manager Aphrodite Papanikolas said. "There's
not that many places like that here."
