Susana’s Cafe

Sometimes, a change in one letter can make all the difference.

That’s the case with Susana’s Cafe, a beloved Latin American breakfast spot across from the courthouse in downtown Kissimmee. For 20 years, in the old house in which Susana’s Cafe now stands, a woman named Susan served breakfast and lunches in a restaurant called Susan’s Courthouse Cafe.

In 2022, Susana Martinez bought the cafe, along with her husband. She added an “a” to the name to make it her own, then remodeled the interior, placed a new focus on coffee, and hired Venezuelan cooks to make a distinctly Latin American menu. Now, the old white Floridian house, complete with a porch and original windows, is a favorite for everyone who appreciates healthy, flavorful food and good coffee, from international tourists to local attorneys who have just stepped out of the courthouse.

Martinez says that her place of origin—she’s originally from Ecuador—gives her an appreciation for good, healthy ingredients. So does being a mother. She strives to use fresh ingredients in the food she cooks for her kids, and she does the same in her cafe. She and her staff buy fresh produce for the cafe every day.

She orders coffee from Oluí, a Kissimmee-based company that sources beans from Costa Rican farms. Baristas brew the coffee in a Vandola, a clay device made by a Costa Rican coffee enthusiast named Minor Alfaro. The device’s clay composition keeps the coffee piping hot as it brews, and the perforated handle oxygenates the drink, imparting it with more complex flavors. Alfaro himself came to the cafe to train baristas in using it. The process takes about 15 minutes.

“It takes time,” Martinez said, but since the coffee is brewed completely by hand, it comes out differently from the java at your average cafe. “It's fresh and unique.”

The cafe uses only medium-roast rather than dark coffee beans, to preserve the drink’s subtle flavors—which can include, she says, everything from chocolate to strawberry to citrus fruits.

Martinez sources a dry fruit tea from her home country that she sweetens with stevia. 

Martinez’s cooks ran a Venezuelan food cart selling arepas, tequeños, and empanadas before they joined her staff. They now prepare delicious renditions of all of those dishes for the cafe’s guests. “We have noticed that it doesn’t matter” what someone’s ethnic background is, she said. “They love the arepas.”

The stuffed, griddled cornmeal breads come with combinations of chicken, pork, cheese and avocado, or, in the breakfast arepa, with scrambled eggs, cheddar, and bacon or sausage. They all come with a house-made garlic sauce that, according to Martinez and guests, puts the arepas over the top.

When it comes to pastries to munch on with a cup of joe, in addition to cheese tequeños, Venezuelan cheese sticks wrapped in pastry dough, with or without guava jam; the cafe makes a variety of empanadas, zucchini bread, banana bread, and carrot cake. They also make a mean breakfast combo, which includes classics like bacon, eggs, pancakes, and hash browns.

As a result of their warm service, artisanal coffee, and delicious food, Susana’s Cafe has become a staple in the neighborhood. She says that some couples who have just gotten married in the courthouse come by the cafe for food and coffee. “They come here with the white dress, with the suits,” she said. “It’s nice that they can enjoy with us.”