Pups, Pastries and Coffee at Good Boy Café

Tucked within Deep Ellum’s Hēy Konēko (a boutique offering vintage goods from clothing to ceramics hand-sourced from across Europe and America), sits the quaintest of quaint craft coffee shops: Good Boy Café.

Linda Bishop, who owns Hēy Konēko, says she was inspired to integrate Good Boy Café into Hēy Konēko, which means kitten in Japanese, after traveling abroad with her husband. She said it was not uncommon to find quirky coffee shops inconspicuously hidden inside shops and stores.
And true to the coffee shop’s name, all our four-legged good boys (and girls) of the canine variety are embraced at Good Boy Café. Ask for a complimentary “pup cup” if your furbaby is tagging along. Speaking of, proceeds from Hēy Konēko help fund Bishop’s cat rescue, A Feral Friend.

The café and Hēy Konēko's earthy interior are lush with green, from the paint to velvet seating to many plants throughout (which are for sale, by the way). It all gives the space a uniquely Pacific Northwest-esque vibe.

On the menu, you’ll find an array of lattes, coffees from espressos to cold brews, teas (dirty chai, London fog and strawberry matcha, to name a few) and pastries and donuts supplied by Doughregarde's Bake Shop and Moreish Donuts, respectively. The coffee beans, roasted by Lemma Coffee Company, are brewed via a high-powered La Marzocco Linea Classic machine, which costs as much as some cars.
We stopped by mid-morning and were greeted by a friendly barista. Our group opened with a round of coffees, starting with an Americano ($5), a regular latte with a house-made brown sugar and cinnamon syrup add-on ($8.50), and a Spanish latte ($9). Add-ons like house-made syrups or organic oat milk are $1.50 each.

The Americano was stout and straightforward. The latte with the brown sugar cinnamon syrup add-on, which we initially wanted as a mocha (they were out of mocha), was solid if unspectacular. The Spanish latte, though – was excellent. Equal parts espresso and milk, it was sweet (but not overly) and rich. It was reminiscent of Vietnamese coffee but not as strong.

If we had a complaint about our Good Boy Café visit, it would be the $17.50 we dropped on a two average-sized lattes. We’re all keenly aware that prices have reached stratospheric levels. Still, even by today’s standards, 9 bucks for a latte is steep. We also sampled several of what Good Boy Café had on hand for bites. We started with a regular croissant ($5.30), which was nicely buttery and flaky, as was the ham and cheese croissant ($6.10) that we enjoyed, although we wouldn’t have complained if there was a bit more ham and cheese in it. There were also a chocolate croissant ($5.60) and nut-packed trail mix bar ($6) that we tried but ultimately failed to resist.

Good Boy Café is charming. The space is beautiful and chock-full of character. The service was warm, the pastries were good and despite our gripes about the prices of the lattes, we’d rather get our coffees at this lovely space than Starbucks any day.

Good Boy Café, 3901 Main St., No. 110. Daily, 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.