The flagship Half Price Books in Dallas has a new breakfast spot for book worms.
La Casita, a croissant shop and brunch restaurant that started in Richardson, opened Aug. 20, 2024, in the former Black Forest Coffee. La Casita Coffee sells espressos, matcha drinks and the pastries it’s become locally famous for: croissants, cruffins, muffins and the like.
Although La Casita still operates as a “low-budget start-up,” the type of place where its co-owners Maricsa Trejo and Alex Henderson can be found scrubbing, scraping and painting before an opening, the company has become one of Dallas’ prolific bakeries. Their team of more than 100 employees bake about 5,000 croissants a day, said managing partner Brianna Short.
Name an independent coffee shop with impressive pastries, and chances are, they’re La Casita’s. The company now supplies about 200 coffee shops, restaurants and hotels with croissants and other baked treats.
The company will continue to grow, with a coffee shop and bakery expected to open in Uptown Dallas in the building formerly known as the headquarters for the Richards Group later in 2024. They already have a coffee shop in Rowlett.
Before the end of the year, La Casita’s co-owners plan to turn the coffee shop into a tiki bar in the evenings. Henderson and Short, who used to work at the now-closed Small Brewpub in Oak Cliff, are working with barman Benj Pocta to create a menu of tiki cocktails.
“We want to give people something they haven’t experienced before,” Short said of the coffee shop that will become a cocktail bar.
It’s like a game of Clue: La Casita. In the bookstore. With the rum punch.
Henderson is planning on serving a menu of a dozen dinner items, including a whole chicken wrapped in banana leaves. Other food items on the evening menu will lean on La Casita’s strong suit — baked goods — and might include house-made Hawaiian rolls or za’tar pretzels.
La Casita Coffee is at 5801 E. Northwest Highway (at Half Price Books), Dallas. It’s open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. seven days a week. By mid-fall 2024, a tiki bar is expected to open in the evenings.
