Café Patoro: A Journey of Flavor and Home
An interview with founder Ahla Ko-Oh
By Trevor H. Smith · The Coast Press
When Julia first came across Café Patoro, a cozy Brazilian bakery tucked away in New York’s Seaport District, she didn’t expect to uncover such an inspiring story behind it. What started as curiosity about pão de queijo and other Brazilian pastries turned into something much deeper — a story of migration, resilience, and cultural connection.
Ahla Ko-Oh, the owner of Café Patoro, shared with us her incredible journey — from her roots in Korea to her upbringing in Brazil — and how that path led her to open a café that brings the warmth of Brazilian hospitality to New York.
Below is our Q&A.
Q&A with Ahla Ko-Oh
Q: Can you share your family’s journey from Korea to Brazil?
A: “My parents, in Korea, it wasn’t as developed or technologically advanced as it is today. My parents wanted to pursue the American dream… They didn’t know anyone in the US at the time, but they did know someone in South America. After a year or so [in Paraguay], my parents had visited Brazil and they fell in love with the country… So after like a brief stint in Paraguay, we moved to Brazil. And I was about three years old when we went.”
Q: The What was pão de queijo like in your childhood?
A: “It’s a very common food in Brazil… It’s almost like a PB&J or like a grilled cheese. It’s just a food that was always there. I would have it at school. I would have it in the morning. I would have it in the afternoon.”
Q: What brought you from Brazil to the United States?
A: “After high school in Brazil, around the time that I graduated, the country as a whole… there was a lot of, like, crime and violence. The crime rates were really high and there was, like, this wave of kidnappings happening… So I decided to come to the U.S. since in the U.S. you can be undeclared for a few years and then decide on your major once you have a better idea.”
Q: How did you cope with homesickness after moving here?
A: “I was very homesick because I couldn’t go see friends, I couldn’t go to the supermarket… every time I’d go back home to Brazil during my breaks, I’ll always bring pão de queijo, like the powder version, or sometimes the frozen version with me in my suitcase because I missed it so much.”
Q: What inspired you to open Café Patoro?
A: “My love for baking actually dates back to when I was in high school in Brazil. I loved baking since a teenager… In that pursuit, I decided to open a small brick and mortar that would sell pão de queijo and other Brazilian food because I thought, you know, people, New Yorkers, need to have this as well.”
Q: Why did you choose the name ‘Café Patoro’?
A: “I debated whether I should go with a very Brazilian name and logo or if I should do something slightly different… I wanted my product to feel relatable and not turn people away if they were not familiar with Brazilian food… I was looking at all these small rolls of cheese bread and they’re like, oh, you know what? They look like golden eggs… Where do golden eggs come from? They’ve got to come from a golden duck, obviously. And in Portuguese, golden duck means ‘pato de ouro’. And I just shortened that and it became Patoro.”
Q: What kinds of pão de queijo and Brazilian foods do you serve—and what challenges shape your menu?
A: “There are certain things that I can’t modify. My kitchen, for example, I cannot have a fryer. So things like coxinha… I can’t make because I can’t fry or deep fry anything. So I tried to get around that and I tried to offer some Brazilian items that are doable with an oven. The guava thing that you saw was like a corn cake… carrot cake with chocolate frosting, coconut cake, tapioca crepes… We do three flavors [of pão de queijo] at a time and we switch them seasonally. Right now, we have the original, we have the everything seasoning, and we also have an onion and chives flavor.”
Q: How do you create community in your café?
A: “The Seaport neighborhood… it’s very unique, and it’s really a community. I live in the neighborhood as well, so I’m pretty involved. I’m a big believer in Brazilian hospitality… I wanted to be able to offer that as well, for people, for customers who come to our cafe, for them to feel very welcome and to have a little taste of what Brazilian hospitality is.”
Q: Can you share a memorable customer story?
A: “We have quite a lot of customers who… I don’t think they were familiar with pão de queijo at all. …Nowadays if they are, like, gluten intolerant, for instance, they’re like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is gluten free.’ …The one story that I really like is, we once had a Brazilian family from Brazil come visit us… and on the way out, the mom approached and she said, like, our pão de queijo was actually better than the pão de queijo she eats in São Paulo in Brazil… That really made my day.”
Q: What are your aspirations for Café Patoro and Brazilian food in the U.S.?
A: “My mission is really to make the pão de queijo just as popular and well known in the US as, like, bagels and croissants are… When we eat a croissant or bagel, we are not necessarily thinking, oh, it’s something French or something Jewish. We just say, oh, it’s a yummy bread. And that’s sort of my mission—to sort of bring the pão de queijo to the same levels as those two breads.”
Closing Note
Ahla’s story — from Seoul to São Paulo to Seaport — embodies everything The Coast Press stands for: community, culture, and creativity. Her café is more than a bakery; it’s a bridge between worlds, serving a taste of home for anyone who walks through its doors.
Leave a Reply