Café Con Leche Con Amor

The Espanola is the drink to ask about. Cafe Con Leche Con Amor sits on San Benito St in downtown Hollister, family-run and Nicaraguan and Latin American at its core, with a kitchen that puts out gallo pinto and arepas alongside the espresso menu. The mocha lands on the not-overly-sweet side, which is increasingly rare and the right call.

Inside there are couches and tables, a shaded patio outside, and a bathroom regulars keep mentioning because it's clean enough to bring up by name. The honest catch is recent and significant. The shop has shifted to a self-order kiosk and to-go-only service, and the personal table-service feel that built the original following has cooled. People who'd been coming for years feel it and don't pretend otherwise. New customers may not notice what's missing, but anyone who remembers the older rhythm will, and the warmth that used to be in the room has been replaced by a screen.

The food is the differentiator and the reason to push past the new ordering setup. Gallo pinto, arepas, a Latin American breakfast menu that doesn't pretend to be something else or apologize for what it is. Pair it with the Espanola or the mocha. Couches make this a workable spot to spread out for a couple of hours if you can adapt to the kiosk, and if you can ignore the fact that nobody's coming to refill your water.

Go for the family-run kitchen and the food the rest of Hollister isn't doing. Go for the Nicaraguan and Latin American breakfast that put this place on the map in the first place, which the kiosk hasn't changed. Skip it if what you want is the table service of the previous era, because that's not the operation anymore and won't be again. The bones of a great small cafe are still here. The shape has changed.