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If you&rsquo;re going to open a business during a pandemic, Yahaira Rodriguez said, it helps to be &ldquo;a little bit crazy.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;Not only in a pandemic, but it was the beginning of January,&rdquo; she said with a smile, reflecting on her first days at the helm of the Latte Da Coffeehouse in Wilkes-Barre. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s cold. It&rsquo;s snowing. Everybody stays home.&rdquo;
				But as word spread about the mouth-watering baked goods, sandwiches and Puerto Rican specialties at Latte Da, customers started to brave the cold &mdash; and post such comments as &ldquo;Love this place,&rdquo; &ldquo;So delicious&rdquo; or, simply, &ldquo;Yum&rdquo; on the coffeehouse&rsquo;s Facebook Page.
				Some of those customers have specifically praised the blueberry muffins, the pumpkin flan, and the cinnamon buns.
				But the bakery cases offer so much more. On a recent weekday morning there were cheesecake bites with colorful fruit toppings, cherry tarts with latticework crusts, pastelillos de guayaba, which are pastries stuffed with guava; and a bizcocho that Rodriguez described as &ldquo;a vanilla cake, a little bit moist, flavored with almond extract.&rdquo;
				Her specialties also include quesitos, which are pastries stuffed with cheese, and Tres Leches cake which is made extra rich with &ldquo;three milks&rdquo; &mdash;evaporated milk, condensed milk and heavy cream.
				For people who are following the low-carb Keto diet, Rodriguez also offers Keto muffins that use a monk fruit sweetener.
				&ldquo;We had been trying to get my mother to do it (open her own business) for a long time, It&rsquo;s all she ever wanted,&rdquo; said Rodriguez&rsquo; daughter Yinaira Valentin, a 20-year-old pre-law student at Penn State University who also helps out behind the counter.
				&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been baking since I&rsquo;m 13,&rdquo; said Rodriguez, noting she lived in Puerto Rico and New Jersey before her husband&rsquo;s job as a science professor at Luzerne County Community College brought the family to the Wilkes-Barre area.
				On weekends her husband, Ramon Torres, lends his culinary skills to Latte Da, so if you visit on a Saturday you might find he&rsquo;s been cooking a savory entree such as mofongo, which includes shrimp, pork or chicken cooked with plantains and criolla sauce.
				Other meaty fare at Latte Da includes a variety of empanadas (including Pizza Empanadas) as well as quesadillas filled with veggies, sauce, cheese and pulled chicken or pulled roasted pork or both (with two meats, it&rsquo;s the Quesadilla Duplex).
				Sometimes the menu features a special such as a Matamonchi breakfast sandwich of eggs, ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayo, or perhaps Papas Jibaras, which are fried plantains loaded with meat, mayo, ketchup, cheese and sour cream.
				Of course, Latte Da sells lattes among its collection of beverages, which includes bustelo, macchiato, cappuccino and iced coffee as well as tea and soda.
				And, Rodriguez has plenty of other ideas for expanding the menu. As of April 1, she intends to offer frappes, including some flavored with Oreo cookies and some with Ferrero Rocher candy. Eventually, there will be drinks made from strawberries as well.
				&ldquo;In Puerto Rico this is a very big drink for the summertime,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It is refreshing.&rdquo;
				For now, most of the business is drive-thru &mdash; although there are a few tables for indoor dining. It&rsquo;s possible to order food through GrubHub and DoorDash, or to simply call Latte Da at 570-821-0463. If you enter the building, which is located in a former bank building near the corner of South Main and Hanover streets in Wilkes-Barre, across the street from Main Hardware, just remember your mask.

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Latte Da offers baked goods, sandwiches, Puerto Rican specialties