Cafés in Juárez & Cuauhtémoc

Plaza Washington and Calle Dinamarca

The plaza is named after a statue that no longer stands there. The United States government gave Mexico a George Washington by the Italian sculptor Pompeo Cappini late in the Porfiriato, and Francisco Madero unveiled it in 1912 at the junction of Dinamarca and Londres. It was vandalized after the US invasion of Veracruz in 1914 and moved to the second section of Chapultepec in 1970 to ease traffic at the crossing.⁴

Cicatriz, on the plaza’s edge at Dinamarca 44, opened as one of Mexico City’s first wine bars, and The Infatuation’s 2024 review sent readers there for an American menu of key lime pie, seasonal pumpkin pie and biscuit sandwiches.⁶ It opens daily from 09:00 to 00:00, the latest close around the plaza.

Chocolate and espresso on Londres, Marsella and Havre

La Rifa Chocolatería, across the street at Dinamarca 47, is a workshop, café, shop and dining room created by Daniel Reza Barrientos. Its drinking chocolate is made from washed or fermented cacao, with water or organic milk, and can be flavored with cardamom, chile, coffee or vanilla.⁸ It opens daily from 08:30 to 21:00.

Pulso, at Londres 56, serves specialty coffee with guest beans that rotate by season and come from different Mexican regions, alongside small snacks and pan dulce.⁵ It opens at 07:00 from Monday to Saturday. Ella y Gatsby, at Marsella 14, grew out of Manuka, a delivery-only kitchen of healthy desserts its owner started during the pandemic.⁵ Chez Vous #Timecafé, at Marsella 81, stays open until 22:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.

Calle Havre was the heart of Juárez’s French community.¹ Café Nin, at Havre 73, pairs a kitchen with an artisan bakery, and Food & Pleasure singled out its guava roll in 2022.⁵ It opens at 07:00 from Monday to Saturday and at 07:30 on Sunday.

Bucareli and Café La Habana

Bucareli began as Empress Carlota’s road from Chapultepec Castle to the center. After the empire fell it became Paseo Degollado, and President Lerdo de Tejada widened it between 1872 and 1876 before it opened to the public in 1877.¹

Café La Habana, at Morelos 62 on the corner of Bucareli, was founded in 1952 by a Spaniard who had come from Havana. Roberto Bolaño put it into Los detectives salvajes under the name Café Quito, and the menu runs to about 20 hot coffees, with the carajillo and a cappuccino with a shot of rompope (an eggnog liqueur) as house specialties.⁷ It opens daily from 08:00 to 00:00.

The Zona Rosa and Calle Génova

The Zona Rosa takes up 24 of Colonia Juárez’s 99 blocks, between Reforma, Varsovia, Insurgentes and Avenida Chapultepec. The painter José Luis Cuevas named it in the 1960s, calling it too naive to be red and too frivolous to be white, and so pink.² Most of the city’s roughly 9,000 Koreans live in or near it, and the blocks around Hamburgo, Praga, Berna and Biarritz are known as Pequeño Seúl (Little Seoul).²

Calle Génova, a pedestrian mall, leads into the district from Insurgentes Metro.² Café Bar Génova opens there daily from 07:00 to 23:00. L’Claire Café, at Hamburgo 327, opens at 07:30 on weekdays, and niddo café on Praga at 07:30 every day.

Getting around Juárez and Cuauhtémoc

Juárez is served by the Metro stations Sevilla, Cuauhtémoc and Insurgentes, and by the Metrobús stops Hamburgo and Glorieta Insurgentes.¹ North of Reforma, Metrobús Line 7 stops at La Palma, El Ángel and La Diana, and Calle Río Lerma has become a restaurant row.³

On the river streets, Sal y Dulce Artesanos, at Río Amazonas 62, opens at 07:00 from Monday to Saturday, and Lunch Garden and Chiquitito are both on Río Lerma. Nice Day Coffee, at Río Pánuco 165, closes at 17:00 on Sundays.