The menu at the Coffee Place on 5580 South Parker Road in Aurora is a crossroads of culture.
Whether it’s a perfectly frothed latte made with date honey and cinnamon, a flaky Eastern European puff pastry filled with sausage and cheese known as a “burek,” or a Mediterranean hummus plate that tastes like it’s straight from a vendor at an Israeli market, accompanied by soft fresh-baked pita bread and topped with homemade stuffed grape leaves.
Owners Katerina and Nisso Larden’s moved to Aurora from Israel three years ago to raise their children, and they started the eatery as a way to connect with their neighbors amidst the big box chains that inhabit the Pioneer Hills shopping center at Parker Road and South Chambers Road. The Lardens make everything in the store fresh to order which customers who can’t eat gluten or wheat often appreciate, as Katerina can adjust most dishes to particular diets. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Owners Katerina and Nisso Larden’s moved to Aurora from Israel three years ago to raise their children, and they started the eatery as a way to connect with their neighbors amidst the big box chains that inhabit the Pioneer Hills shopping center at Parker Road and South Chambers Road. The Lardens make everything in the store fresh to order which customers who can’t eat gluten or wheat often appreciate, as Katerina can adjust most dishes to particular diets. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
A Mediterranean hummus plate offers soft, fresh-baked pita bread and topped with stuffed grape leaves for customers Sept. 2 at the Coffee Place near South Parker Road and South Chambers Road in Aurora. Owners Katerina and NIsso Larden’s moved to Aurora from Tel Aviv and their coffee shop offers cuisines from around the world. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
An Autumn salad is piled with greens, chicken, almonds, cucumbers, red onions, tomatoes and goat cheese and is one of many meals available for customers Sept. 2 at the Coffee Place near South Parker Road and South Chambers Road in Aurora. Owners Katerina and NIsso Larden’s moved to Aurora from Tel Aviv and their coffee shop offers cuisines from around the world. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
A borsch soup full of cabbage, beets and sauerkraut is served with sour cream Sept. 2 at the Coffee Place near South Parker Road and South Chambers Road in Aurora. Owners Katerina and NIsso Larden’s moved to Aurora from Tel Aviv and their coffee shop offers cuisines from around the world. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Owners Katerina and Nisso Larden’s favorite coffee drink is a macchiato with a side of sparkling water and it is just one of many coffee combinations available for customers Sept. 2 at the Coffee Place near South Parker Road and South Chambers Road in Aurora. The Lardens use two roasters, one in Commerce City which makes most of the store’s eight blends, and one in Buena Vista that produces an organic blend for their coffee supply. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Owners Katerina and Nisso Larden’s favorite coffee drink is a macchiato with a side of sparkling water and it is just one of many coffee combinations available for customers Sept. 2 at the Coffee Place near South Parker Road and South Chambers Road in Aurora. The Lardens use two roasters, one in Commerce City which makes most of the store’s eight blends, and one in Buena Vista that produces an organic blend for their coffee supply. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
A frothy latte made with date honey and cinnamon is one of many coffee combinations available for customers Sept. 2 at the Coffee Place near South Parker Road and South Chambers Road in Aurora. Owners Katerina and Nisso Larden use two roasters, one in Commerce City which makes most of the store’s eight blends, and one in Buena Vista that produces an organic blend for their coffee supply. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
A frothy latte made with date honey and cinnamon is one of many coffee combinations available for customers Sept. 2 at the Coffee Place near South Parker Road and South Chambers Road in Aurora. Owners Katerina and Nisso Larden use two roasters, one in Commerce City which makes most of the store’s eight blends, and one in Buena Vista that produces an organic blend for their coffee supply. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
A ham, cheese and egg breakfast sandwich is served in a freshly baked croissant Sept. 2 at the Coffee Place near South Parker Road and South Chambers Road in Aurora. Owners Katerina and NIsso Larden’s moved to Aurora from Tel Aviv and their coffee shop offers cuisines from around the world. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
A ham, cheese and egg breakfast sandwich is served in a freshly baked croissant Sept. 2 at the Coffee Place near South Parker Road and South Chambers Road in Aurora. Owners Katerina and NIsso Larden’s moved to Aurora from Tel Aviv and their coffee shop offers cuisines from around the world. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
The warm atmosphere and friendly baristas make it not uncommon to see customers camped at tables with laptops. Others linger over their last sip of cappuccino to talk to owners Katerina and Nisso Larden about goings on in the neighborhood.
The couple, who moved to Aurora from Israel three years ago to raise their children, started the eatery as a way to connect with their neighbors. They missed having a local cafe amidst the big box chains that inhabit the Pioneer Hills shopping center at Parker Road and South Chambers Road.
“In Tel Aviv, on every corner there’s a good coffee shop,” Katerina says of the Israeli metropolis they used to live in. “It’s always a neighborhood meeting point. It’s fresh and there’s always some kind of food.”
Katerina, originally from Latvia, is a born chef, according to her husband Nisso. He recalls how his wife would visit a restaurant in Bulgaria or Italy, and then come home, break down the ingredients in a dish, and improve upon them.
The Lardens take pride in everything at the Coffee Place being made-to-order. “Nothing comes from a box,” Katerina says. It’s something she says a customer who can’t eat gluten or wheat often appreciates, as she can adjust most dishes to particular diets.
The Lardens are experts when it comes to all of their inventory, including the coffee. It comes frothed in large glass mugs or tiny glass ones accompanied by sparkling water, depending on whether you order a mocha or a macchiato.
“We spent six months looking for the right roaster,” Nisso says of the coffee beans sold by the bag near the register. “The challenge was most of the roasters did trendy coffee, light roast, like the big chain with a green logo. Which didn’t make sense to us.”
The couple eventually settled on two roasters for their beans, one in Commerce City which makes most of the store’s eight blends, and one in Buena Vista that produces an organic blend for sale.
“We were just trying to get that coffee smell, coffee taste, coffee experience that we remember from home,” Katerina says. Nisso himself comes from a rich coffee culture, having grown up in Turkey. Turkish coffee is also on the menu.
The Lardens say they don’t only want the cafe to be a replica of their favorite coffee shops in Tel Aviv. They want it to be a place where Aurora residents feel at home too. So far, they’ve made good on that promise.
After only a year of being open, the Coffee Place was ranked best coffee shop in Aurora by Denver’s 2014 A-List and was ranked third out of all coffee shops in the metro region.
“One aspect is the food, the other is the culture. Local artists feature their art and music here,” Nisso says. In June, the couple hosted a fundraiser for Downtown Aurora Visual Arts with Colorado artist Daniel Sorenson. Nisso says he would like to do more events with Aurora community groups, and have the eatery serve as a performance hub for local artists and musicians.
Katerina says she is just glad they proved the naysayers wrong. “I was told in the suburbs, you can’t have good coffee and fresh pastries,” she says.
Coffee Place
5580 S. Parker Road
303-699-1122
coffeeplacecafe.com
Monday through Friday — 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, Sunday — 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Related
Thank you Rachel for a great article!
Love this place!
Best Moca in town!