HOT SPOT DOLCE AMORE
What: Boy meets girl. Boy pursues girl. Boy and girl fall in love and open gelato and miniature-art cafe. That’s how it went for Kevin Cooper and Chi Cooper, who fell in love at first taste over a cone of gelato. Kevin left his jobs as a real estate appraiser and car technician in October to open this quirky cafe, gallery and romantic homage to his muse. “I talked to a lot of other business owners, and their advice was ‘Go big. Just go for it.’ And that’s what we did,” he says.
Dolce Amore offers gourmet sweet treats, breakfast, lunch and dinner, and wine and beer. Coffee beverages are made from Illy beans, and signature drinks, such as Lavender Chi Tea Latte and Spicy Maya Hot Chocolate, have gained a cult following.
The one area where Dolce Amore decided to keep it small was art. Chi, who studied fashion design at the Academy of Art, curates and exhibits miniature art in resourceful fashion. Clear acrylic cubes protrude from the wall presenting Champagne muselets twisted into elegant chairs small enough to rock in the palm of your hand. Glass bubbles suspend from the ceiling, cradling handmade Italian shoes; and tiny figurines delight customers beneath custom-made glass-top tables and counters. Magnifying glasses are scattered throughout the cafe so the hyperopic don’t miss any minuscule details. “It’s an experience rather than just a cafe,” Chi says. Who’s there: Situated on the cusp of Lower Pacific Heights and the Tenderloin, the customers are as idiosyncratic as the neighborhoods the cafe straddles: business types meeting with clients, eccentric locals, and European tourists lured from nearby hotels by the Illy coffee.
Details: Dolce Amore, 1477 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco. 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday.