After running a bakery in their native Brazil for more than 20 years, Ubiracy and Raul Goncalves wanted to open something similar, but on a different scale, when they emigrated to the United States six years ago.
In São Paulo, they had a staff that extended beyond their immediate family. When they moved to the metro Atlanta area and settled on an East Cobb location last year, they went looking for a physical space ideal for the new concept:
A European-style coffee house with homemade baked goods, aimed at luring pedestrian traffic.
“We didn’t want to necessarily have a Brazilian bakery,” said their daughter, Clara Goncalves, who along with her sister Ester helps out at the Vanilla Café e Gelato, which opened last week at The Avenue East Cobb.
It’s located in Suite 1010 (in the original Olea Oliva space), near the East Cobb mural. Indoors are five tables—room for 10-12 people, and two more outdoor tables near the entrance.
As she did in Brazil, Ubiracy makes all the baked goods—cakes, brownies, pastries, cookies and more—some of them from traditional Brazilian recipes. Ester Goncalves, her other daughter, took a course in gelato-making in Brazil and oversees that part of the operation.
The coffee comes from Bellwood, an Atlanta-based roaster, and there’s also a premium on locally-sourced food ingredients.
The aim, Clara says, is to entice customers to linger after shopping or a meal nearby.
“This area calls for a different kind of a coffee shop,” she says.
There aren’t many indie coffee shops in the East Cobb area—Mzizi Coffee Roasters, on Johnson Ferry Road near Shallowford Road—is an exception.
Vanilla Café opens as The Avenue East Cobb will soon be overhauled with more restaurants and events.
It’s part of a reimagined “socially magnetic” and “modern gathering place” undertaken by North American Properties, which is managing the retail center after developing Avalon in Alpharetta and renovating Colony Square and Atlantic Station in Atlanta.
Vanilla Café is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Saturday and from 12-6 p.m. on Sunday.
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