Going to the same coffee shops, book stores, and galleries decade-in and decade-out can sometimes feel like one long desire path across the entire region; a cultural scar rubbed into the earth itself, made entirely of habit.
A recent art opening at Fort Worth’s Café Momento—a combination coffee shop, bookstore and gallery—was a necessary break from routine. The cafe and its small on-site book shop, Point of View, opened in 2023. The difference between Café Momento and the old standbys is apparent when stepping into the polyglottic space. It’s not cold, nor is it quaint. It bears little resemblance to the beloved shops that orbit college campuses across the United States, often built into ancient 20th century housing. There are no creaking floors, and the vinyl selection is certainly not for the aw shucks hobbyists and record shopping tourists of Bishop Arts.
Besides a lavishly produced Texas Christian University student newspaper article, Café Momento has had little coverage, which may say more about the media climate of Fort Worth than the shop itself. The spot bills itself as “the espresso shop inside Point of View.” It was founded by two sisters, Jazmin and Jeanette Ramirez, along with a partner, Esther Miller, who had years of retail and licensing experience.
Miller had worked for the powerful Dickies brand for years before more entrepreneurial pursuits. The Ramirez sisters frequented Miller’s high-end shop, Gifted. The Fort Worth-based Gifted Group is the umbrella under which all of their projects exist. Selecting the niche publications that appear in the shop is a group effort. Jeannette is also a graphic designer. Jazmin was inspired by the coastal selections of Esther’s shop while accidentally crashing a private event there in 2018.
Coffee shops often bill themselves as more than just cafes, whether it’s having an attached bar or operating as a record shop or a micro-restaurant. Whether they should do any of these things is up for debate; they are notoriously difficult features to maintain with any kind of success. The same can be said for the artwork sold in these establishments. It’s often the cheap side of camp or the camp side of cheap, or worse. (A recent visit to one particular spot in downtown Carrollton had what looked like Totenkopfs on the wall, but weirdly reappropriated as cafe art.)
While Café Momento may participate in art walks, the art it shows is not art walk-art. The art is made by artists such as SooMi Han who has shown work at alternative art fairs showcasing hyper contemporary Korean American artists and curated pieces at the Power Station in Dallas. The establishment has hosted talks such as “Harmonies of Synthesis: A.I. & The Human Experience in Design” which featured designers from The New Yorker and Wirecutter in a well-attended panel discussion.
Café Momento serves a specific coffee brand from Mexico called Buna. The Ramirez sisters have roots in Mexico City. The staff took a coffee pilgrimage to D.F. to find out more while also reconnecting with family.
“Buna is our roaster … doing regenerative work … working with Mexican farmers only,” Jazmin Ramirez says. She emphasizes that there is a lack of specifically Mexican flavors in the United States. Colombian coffee is often emphasized on menus and Jazmin argues that Mexican coffee should also be on the menu. Café Momento uses a specific espresso maker from La Marzocco that has to be ordered six months in advance. Each machine is stamped with its date of birth.
“I felt it was important for us to take a trip there and meet the owners and meet the roasters and understand everything they do … They have soil labs,” Jeanette Ramirez says. “They’re really thorough about how their entire process is. That’s more on the coffee side of things and how we decided to partner with Buna.” The export has been found in coffee capitals such as Seattle.
The Ramirez sisters grew up in the north side area of Fort Worth. Miller grew up in the south bay of Los Angeles and moved to Fort Worth to attend TCU. She worked at Dickie’s for nearly a decade before opening Gifted.
“Jeanette, Jazmin, and I are pretty well-traveled people, not only for leisure but for work as well,” Miller says. “We wanted to bring a taste of the spaces we’ve enjoyed in all of our travels to Fort Worth. It was a huge risk … We’re entry-level gallery hosts; basically we’re creating a gallery for the first time. On top of that, we were trying to merge the concept of a coffee shop within that gallery space, without making it feel too neighborhood arts & crafts art.”
Artist SooMi Han’s exhibition at Café Momento was a year in the making and helped elevate the establishment on the regional arts radar. Titled “Bear 15,” the opening night event had the shop packed almost shoulder to shoulder. In addition to the usual wine and cheese platters endemic to gallery openings, espresso drinks were served alongside the famously pink packages of doughnuts that are specific to Asian shops on the West Coast.
Working long hours at the Dallas Makerspace in Carrollton, Han became fixated with transforming malleable teddy bear balloon figures into solid forms.
“It speaks to our own experiences in our own bodies,” Han says. “We are so temporary and deflating and dealing with osmosis in our environment also, this shared experience with the bear. I became obsessed with the idea of continuing to translate the form.”
The slip casting process had Soomi babysitting the bear shapes for eight hours at a time and marking time stamps for each. There were multiple issues. A gypsum shortage led to being placed on a waitlist for pottery plaster for half a year. Han created 40 bear sculptures before getting the times correct. The endless Texas humidity that has extended the super summer into a nonexistent fall made things even worse.
Han is glad people can spend time with their work in a way that doesn’t require gallery appointments.
“You know when you go to grab your coffee and it’s part of daily life,” Han says. “To be able to send people who then bring their own friends there and spend time with the work. You’re encouraged to do that in a space like that.”
Elitism is not Café Momento’s approach, even if its chicness stretches from wall to wall in the small space.
“Jeannette and I focus on the curation of the books and all of the artists that come through,” Jazmin Ramirez says. “We want it to feel very approachable, the art; approachable—but also meaningful for our community. That’s what has guided us, the music portion, which is the records. That’s fairly new and again, we work with a local vinyl DJ who curates all of that music.”
What is so special about a cafe in a hip part of town that happens to have books and records and art? There are several ways to make this case.
The problem with having records as a feature is people think simply having them on a shelf is enough. It’s similar to bookstores that serve lukewarm coffee in paper dentist office cups. It’s like comparing the dry, factory style sandwiches sold at a 24-hour gas station in the Cedars to a labored-over Muffaletta from Jimmy’s Food Store. They are both sandwiches, technically. It’s the same with art. It’s the same with coffee. These things unto themselves are not enough.
The level of attention to detail in art, coffee, books, and music here is what separates Café Momento. One good book or zine in a place means more than a store full of thrifted throwaways.
On the subject of music, there is also such a thing as coffee shop music, be it the counterintuitively wounded folk of the contemporary tech bro or the clean sounds of the American nonprofit radio network. The records at Cafe Momento are the kind found at collector’s conventions. They are not for everyone.
The records here add up to a lean and high-priced inventory not meant to be played on a Crosley starter kit from Target. There was an $80 copy of Grauzone’s “Eisbear” in the racks. You won’t find 10 copies of Bachman Turner Overdrive dollar-bin trash that is now price gouging a generation too young to know that such common classic rock albums should never cost that much. As Jazmin Ramirez mentioned, the records are hand-selected by DJ CV Fields. Sometimes performances take place in the store. Everything here does have its own brand; the modest record section is called Resort.
There are plenty of art world elitists who would advise against showing work in a coffee shop. Han’s approach to art is that of a mischievous and densely layered conceptualist, even if there is an accessibility to some of the items they sell. Han also has mugs for sale in the shop and the willfully splattered style is not something you would necessarily give as a mother’s day present. There are also 3D-printed bear keychains for sale reminiscent of the bears on the wall. Much of this particular concentration has a tongue-in-cheek Koons-ian aspect to it.
“I thought of the keychains because when I was looking at the history of the teddy bear, they didn’t become a kitsch thing until they made mini bears to send with soldiers during World War II,” Han says. “So I wanted to make my own little version to send off.”
What horrible places will today’s bears be sent to?
“Academia,” Han says.
Cafe Momento, 1200 6th Ave., Fort Worth.
Author
