Latin restaurant Café Con Leche opens in Ormond Beach

Walking up the stairs of Fountain Square Village, the smell of coffee and Latin food becomes hard to miss.

Café Con Leche opened in the Ormond Beach shopping plaza at 142 E. Granada Blvd. on May 10. The family-owned business is run by husband-and-wife team Saul Cifuentes and Norma Castaneda, along with their daughter, Julie Olague.

This is the fifth location the couple has opened since moving to Ormond Beach from Key West seven years ago.

“My goal is to get a lot of customers and to sell a lot of sandwiches and coffees,” Cifuentes said, “And maybe open another shop.”

The restaurant's menu is a mixture of Cuban, Mexican and Puerto Rican food. 

Its best-selling items are the Cuban sandwich and, of course, the cafe con leche, a Spanish-style coffee made with equal parts espresso and steamed milk, sweetened with sugar, served hot or iced.

Cifuentes and Castaneda worked in the restaurant business in Key West, running a Mexican-style restaurant that remained open until five years ago. 

Cifuentes said the drive from Ormond to Key West was too much, and, after doing it for two years, it was time to close.

Their South Daytona location is also called Cafe Con Leche, but the other locations have different names. The Holly Hill location is Arroz Con Leche, and the Flagler Beach location is Dulce De Leche.

Tres Leches Cafe was another one of their restaurants, located in Daytona Beach Shores. It was closed permanently due to severe damage from Hurricane Ian in October  2022.

Cifuentes said that if the family decides to open another restaurant, it will likely be in St. Augustine or the surrounding area.