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Now, we know this statement is tantamount to wearing a Che Guevara T- shirt in a Cuban-exile neighborhood, but it needs to be said: The cafe con leche at the 20-year-old, family-run Tulipan Bakery rivals any cup you’d get in Little Havana. But as a warning to those who think coffeehouse means comfy couches flown in from Seattle, this place is far from the chains. Here, there are no seats; you drink girlie sips of cortadito while leaning on the counter, which separates visitors from the team of women frothing milk behind it. Make sure to accompany those potent cups of joe with finger-shaped croquetas that burst with bits of gooey, hammy goodness. Or stuff yourself on flaky cheese pastelitos, with a caramelized coating of sugar and smooth cream cheese inside. Tulipan has moved to cleaner, swankier digs a block up the street, where it’s added churros and mortadella sandwiches to its menu of media noches and spinach empanadas; there’s also a full selection of bakery items from flamboyant wedding cakes to bags of butter cookies.
