Beloved businesses Que SeRaw SeRaw and Cafe Capuchino may leave

The new owner did not immediately respond to request for comment on the future of the building.

“We don't know what we're going to do. It's hard for us,” Aster Legesse, who owns Cafe Capuchino with her husband, said. “We don't have time to look [for] another location, because he gave us only two months.”

Legesse has run Cafe Capuchino as a neighborhood coffee shop since 1994. During that time, it’s become a meeting spot for neighbors looking to enjoy a high-quality cup of coffee, socialize and enjoy one another’s company.

“This has been a pillar of Burlingame for over [30 years] and represents not just wonderful coffee but a great place for the regulars to socialize,” resident Ted Celentino said. “It's a social club, but it's a very pro-Burlingame social club.”

Both Legesse and her husband, Giuliano Polano, bring a special touch to the business, regularly remembering customers’ names, commutes and family stories, their regulars said.

“I've been coming here probably about 20 years,” Theresa Boland said. “I used to work and take the train to the city pretty much daily, and I’d pop in here and Giuliano would see me coming and have me in and out the door in 90 seconds.”

With Polano’s health ailing and rents rising in the Burlingame neighborhood their business has called home for the past 30 years, Legesse is uncertain what the next steps will be for Cafe Capuchino.

“I don't think we can afford … another place,” she said. “I don’t think we can make it.”

Que SeRaw SeRaw, a raw food vegan spot, has been at its current location for over 20 years. Its current owner, Eric Liittschwager, took over ownership of the restaurant a year and a half ago, he said.

The vibrant small businesses that make up the Broadway area are integral to the tight-knit sense of community, Liittschwager said.

“This is what makes Broadway such a unique part of Burlingame. We like to say that this is where all the locals, the residents, kind of come,” he said. “We need businesses like this to have a community.”

Liittschwager has been looking into a second location for Que SeRaw SeRaw since before he received the notice to vacate and feels confident that the business can survive in a new iteration. But he’s worried that his neighbors at Cafe Capuchino won’t be able to afford such a move.

“We’re pursuing options [to see] whether we can try to hold off having to move so soon. For Aster and Giuliano, they definitely need more time,” he said. “If need be, I can be out of here and at the end of August. I could probably survive not working on anything for a couple months. But I’m not so sure they can.”

Customers at Cafe Capuchino emphasized that they’re concerned about what the impact of losing such a vital community space will be.

“We need face to face, and this is a place where you can come and be face to face — with not only the people that have been coming here for 30 years, but Aster and Giuliano always welcome new people,” resident Lynda Romero said.

holly@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 105