Menu: This menu embraces both traditional coffee flavors as well as newer ones. The Spicy Goat Latte uses goat milk and cardamom spice for a kick, while the Lavender Honey Latte is a softer, more herbal taste and the Señor Fahrenheit is a Mocha Latte Spiced with Chipotle & Ancho Peppers.

The pastry menu changes daily but has previously sold Middle Eastern-inspired treats like Vegan Date Almond Dark Chocolate Bites, Pistachio Cheesecake with baklava crust, rose cream and ruby chocolate and Sweet Tahini & Pistachio Cinnamon Bun with a touch of Rose.

Pictured above is the Iced Hawaij Coffee — pronounced “huh-why-edge” — a Yemeni spice blend cooked into light roast coffee. The ancient warming spice blend embodies delicate, aromatic flavors with cinnamon, ginger, clove, and cardamom with a flavor similar to “chai”.
Seven Daughters unique blend has notes of orange, pomegranate and rose.

Drinks range from $3 for a shot of espresso to $6.25 for the Spicy Goat Latte.

Location: Chicago

Concept: Created by Bobby Schaffer — formerly the pastry chef at Michelin-starred Blue Hill at Stone Barns and three-Michelin-starred Grace — this pastry shop opened to fanfare on Dec. 30 when it sold out within hours in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago.

Designed to serve as a neighborhood spot, Schaffer wanted to imitate European cafes where the pastry shop was the center of the neighborhood and a place to enhance daily life — especially necessary during the cold Chicago winter paired with a pandemic.

The name was inspired by Schaffer’s “lost” last name of Larson and this location is the second for the brand. The original Lost Larson opened in Andersonville in 2018 and is still operating.

Menu: The majority of the menu at the Wicker Park location remains similar to the Andersonville location, with Scandinavian-inspired treats like loaves of limpa (traditional Swedish loaf with warm spices of fennel, anise, orange peel) and seeded spelt, to princess cake (vanilla sponge, raspberry, almond crunch, green marzipan served by the slice) and their famous cinnamon rolls.

This location is expected to have Smørrebrød on the menu soon as well as some new unique menu items to be determined.

Drinks include coffee and espresso from local roaster Half Wit — Schaffer’s sister Bree was trained at Stumptown and crafted the drink menu, ­ but the location will not feature the alcohol as at the Andersonville location as there is no liquor license there.

Location: Silver Spring, Md.

Concept: Catering to specific diets has been a trend for several years — gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, keto — but Schmaltz Brothers is catering to a more specific audience: kosher.

And this isn’t any ordinary kosher restaurant. It’s a food truck specializing in Nashville hot chicken sandwiches and other trendy comfort foods like fried matzo balls.

Most of the items are fried, a nod to the truck’s Yiddish name meaning “golden.”

The co-owner Yehuda Malka draws inspiration from food trends outside the kosher world and makes them kosher, like adding vegan cheese to a hamburger for a juicy cheeseburger (kosher does not allow meat and dairy to mix).

The truck moves around D.C. and the Maryland suburbs with announcements of the location and daily menu on their Instagram. The truck has been a perfect COVID solution, especially for two first-time restaurant owners without the funds to run a kosher operation (higher costs to be supervised by a rabbi and supply chain needs).

In 2021, Schmaltz Brothers is scheduled to open a location at the George Washington University’s Hillel location, its first brick-and-mortar.

Menu: This menu takes traditional Jewish foods — brisket, matzo balls, pickles — and incorporates them into modern food options.

Bubbie’s BBQ Brisket Sandwich is made of thick-cut slices of beef slathered in carrot jam and a sweet concord grape steak sauce and packed into the challah roll. Matzo ball bites are quarter-sized balls based in unleavened breadcrumbs spiked with hot honey schmaltz and served with pickled onions.

And no Jewish meal is complete with Babka layered with chocolate swirls, also found on the menu.

Location: Miami

Concept: A quick-service-style outpost of Miami’s popular nightlife spot and taco brand, Bodega Taqueria y Tequila, builds on the brand’s taco portion with a robust menu and colorful atmosphere.

Bodega Taqueria — which has three locations planned for 2021 — loses the speakeasy that its parent brand has, but brings the entertainment in other ways. Menin Hospitality’s co-founder (Menin operates Bodega Taqueria) Jared Galbut described the aesthetic as “garage chic,” seeing as how each location will sell tacos out of an Airstream trailer while the interior is adorned in graffiti and guests sit on picnic tables.

This look is a nod to the original Bodega Taqueria y Tequila which is well-known among the locals for the Airstream sticking out of its kitchen.

As with many independent quick service restaurants, Bodega Taqueria falls between quick-service and fast-casual, but the counter service gives it the accessibility of a quick service restaurant set to succeed in a post-COVID world.

Menu: Not surprisingly, the menu is chock-full of tacos and burritos and stick with many of the customer-favorite items from Bodega Taqueria y Tequila’s menu, like the barbacoa tacos, coconut shrimp tacos and the California burrito.

The tacos range in price from $3-$4 each and the burritos range from $11-$15.

Location: New York

Concept: A third-wave coffee brand, El Condor has a lot to fight against opening up in New York City where there are thousands of coffee shops — but El Condor believes it will succeed.

This roaster and cafe concept aims to turn the cult of coffee into a lifestyle by using sustainable methods. El Condor employs a “full-circle” coffee experience meaning there is no wasted product. Sustainability and transparency are two of the brand’s top tenants along with hospitality and comfort.

El Condor is part of the Wilcuma hospitality group, co-owned by former director of operations at Groupe Alain Ducasse, Nicolas Simon, who also serves as CEO.

El Condor is also giving people a chance to get involved with the business through its crowdfunding investor center. For as little as $100, people can become investors in the business and receive dividends.

That crowdfunded initiative indicated that the brand plans to grow as well as move into consumer packaged goods, music, fashion and more.

Menu: The menu is set to be released shortly but will include classic coffee drinks and pastries.