Photography by Kathy Tran.
El Portón translates to “the gate.” To Bruno Bianchi and Isabel Amaya, the name represents the gates at the entrances to coffee farms in El Salvador, their home country.
“El Portón embodies the significance of creating new ways to enjoy coffee,” Bianchi says.
Coffee has always been a part of Bianchi and Amaya’s lives, as they have family ties in the coffee industry. Bianchi’s brother-in-law is a fifth-generation coffee producer. In 2017, during their first year of marriage, Bianchi and Amaya moved across the world to Italy. There, Bianchi completed a master’s degree in business while Amaya worked as a barista. Living in Italy allowed Bianchi to try different kinds of coffee sourced from all over the world and learn about the coffee market.
“The world just opened itself,” he says. “I tried coffee from Honduras, Costa Rica, from Ethiopia, from all across the world.”
El Salvador is a prominent coffee-producing country, but most coffee growers don’t sell domestically, he says. After a year and a half immersed in the Italian coffee industry and learning everything they could, opening their own coffee shop seemed like a feasible dream.
“We had talked about opening a coffee shop since we started dating,” Bianchi says.
The time was right; their only question was, “Where?”
They considered Europe and El Salvador, but Dallas called to them. The specialty coffee industry in Dallas has been growing over the past few years, and they were familiar with the area, Bianchi says. They were frequent visitors for many years because of friends who lived here.
“Dallas has always felt like home to us,” Bianchi says.
El Portón opened in 2019, while Bianchi and Amaya supervised from El Salvador, where they still lived. Their coffee shop was entrusted to temporary managers and family friends who were hands-on while they couldn’t be there. They went back and forth as much as they could, until the COVID-19 pandemic slowed everything down. That made it difficult to implement all their ideas, but handing over responsibilities to their staff was easier than they expected.
“We learned how to delegate better and to trust our team,” Bianchi says.
Bianchi and Amaya moved here permanently this past January.
El Portón prides itself on its globally-inspired coffee. A staple item is Salvadoran horchata cold brew, but they also have a taro latte and Italian cold brew. Cold brew growlers and bags of coffee are also for sale, so El Portón’s taste can be enjoyed from home as well.
Empanadas are a highlight of the food menu.
“Empanadas are widespread in Latin America. Almost every country has their own variation,” Bianchi says. “With empanadas, we can represent many cultures at once.”
Brewing the coffee is just as important as where it is sourced. Amaya’s experience as a barista gives her the knowledge and skills to make sure every cup is the highest quality.
While Amaya manages the baristas, Bianchi strives to make El Portón not only a cafe with incredible coffee, but a space for the community as well. Recently they hosted a Christian Open Mic for local musicians, and they have a “mercadito,” an area of the cafe that sells jewelry and goods from local businesses. Currently in the works is an entrepreneur workshop, so other people can learn how to turn their own dreams into reality.
El Portón’s cozy vibe is a perfect place to get some work done, have a relaxing morning, or just try something new.
“Specialty coffee means the best standard every step of the way, but nobody has the ‘perfect’ coffee,” Bianchi says.
A cup from El Portón comes pretty close.
