CORRECTION APPENDED

The family behind Felipe’s—the Cambridge taqueria known for late-night burritos and quesadillas—has cooked up two new establishments, one opening soon in the Square, and another sister restaurant in New Orleans that opened a year ago.

Marley J. Brush—daughter of Felipe’s co-owner Thomas J. Brush—and partner Liza Baer-Kahn will be opening a coffee shop called Crème Café in Harvard Square come April. Mr. Brush’s cousin, Rob Stumm, opened a Felipe’s Taqueria near the Tulane campus. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW]

Crème Café is moving into 27 Brattle St., a storefront near the intersection of Brattle St. and Mass. Ave. that was formerly occupied by an Au Bon Pain. The owners say Crème Café will be an alternative to national chain coffee shops in the Square, because the proprietors plan on getting to know their customers intimately.

“We want it to feel warm,” Ms. Brush said. “We want it to be the kind of feeling when you enter a friend’s kitchen or living room.”

Baer-Kahn added that she envisioned a coffeehouse where “there’s fresh cookies and muffins coming out of the oven.”

Brush and Baer-Kahn met in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they went to college together. There, they said, they found a vibrant culture of coffee shops where they enjoyed studying. But here in Cambridge, Baer-Kahn said, they found a “lack of that culture,” .

Over the past few months, they said they have extensively researched the local coffee industry.

“We want to bring our knowledge and experience in the coffee industry to our customers,” Ms. Brush said.

Beyond a neighborly atmosphere and coffee, Ms. Brush and Baer-Kahn said they will also be serving up fresh pastries from an in-house bakery, sandwiches, soups and tea.

DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI

Down in New Orleans, Stumm, along with his partner, Elio Tedaro, have taken the menu of Felipe’s and given it a Big Easy style.

Unlike Puritan, legalistic Cambridge, where businesses close at 2 a.m. and liquor licenses are rare, New Orleans gives owners more free rein, Mr. Brush said.

“There’s nothing like it,” he said.

Felipe’s is especially popular with the Mexican workers who came to work on the reconstruction of the city after Hurricane Katrina, Brush said.

Overseeing the food at the New Orleans outpost are co-owner Felipe Herrera’s brothers.

“They do a good job,” Herrera said of his brothers, who used to cook in the Cambridge taqueria.

The menu in New Orleans is identical to the Cambridge menu, but it also includes shrimp and fish tacos.

According to Mr. Brush, the New Orleans branch also has the benefit of a full liquor license.

“It’s a common place to go and hang out,” said Nicholas M. Cassidy, a Tulane sophomore. On Thursdays, he said, they offer 50 cent beers and discounted burritos.

Mr. Brush said they have been able to close two blocks of Miro Street—right across from Tulane’s campus—for special events like Cinco de Mayo parties, whereas closing two blocks of Mt. Auburn street for an iced-margarita party is almost laughably unlikely.

He said he’d love to see the Cambridge restaurant open later—it closes at 2 a.m. on weekends and midnight on weekdays—and he’d be open to a partnership with the other Harvard Square Mexican restaurants like Border Cafe, Qdoba, and the incoming Chipotle to host a Cinco de Mayo party like the one in New Orleans. But he says he’s not overly optimistic about the chances of something like that happening here in Cambridge.

So for now, Cambridge residents can look forward to the new neighborhood coffee shop—even though their local Felipe’s won’t be offering happy hours anytime soon.

—Staff writer Gabriel J. Daly can be reached at gdaly@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Hee Kwon Seo can be reached at hkseo@fas.harvard.edu.

CORRECTION

The Feb. 13 story "Felipe's Spawns Sister Stores" reported that the name of the store being opened by Marley J. Brush and Liza Baer-Kahn will be "Crème Café." In fact, the name will be "Crèma Café."