An artisan coffee shop from Dallas is expanding northward: Palmieri Café, known for its authentic Italian approach to coffee, is brewing a location in Plano at 2024 W 15th St. #G, in a former Starbucks, where it will open in late summer.

Palmieri was founded by owner Corrado Palmieri, a native of Italy who opened the first location at the Dallas Farmers Market in 2016. He takes a classic approach to the concept of a coffee shop, providing amenities like on-site seating, as well as an array of sweet and savory pastries and gelato, all made in-house.

It's a departure from the direction coffee has been headed in the past few years. DFW has been besieged by an influx of chains offering drive-thru only with an emphasis on convenience — names like 7 Brew, Black Rock, 151 Coffee, Dutch Bros., PJ's, Scooter's, and Human Bean. Even Starbucks, the gold standard, has shifted away from cafes where you can go and sit and towards more drive-thrus.

That's how Corrado ended up scoring the location: Starbucks closed it to open another one nearby that has a drive-thru option.

"Part of my plan has been to open more than one location and bring what we do to different neighborhoods," he says. That included opening a second location in Bishop Arts in 2022. Plano felt like destiny, he says.

"What brought me to Plano is that my wife has family there, so we lived in Plano for a few years right near that Starbucks, and I would pass the location every day," he says. "It was always on my mind."

When it became available, he met with the landlord who supported what Palmieri Cafe was about. "He came to see my other locations and understood what I was doing," Corrado says.

Palmieri Cafe is noted for its old-school hospitality as well as its policy of making everything, including his Italian-style menu items, in-house. Corrado doesn't spend much time on social media or marketing his place — he keeps his focus on overseeing operations day-to-day.

The menu includes coffee, espresso drinks, gelato, and pastries, including their signature pasticciotto, a short-crust pastry stuffed with a warm custard, originally from Galatina, Corrado’s hometown in Puglia.

"Authenticity is one of the values of Palmieri Cafe and everything has been thought with that in my mind and heart, including making everything naturally, without preservatives or chemicals, and making everything — pastries, gelato, and coffee — from scratch," he says.

There are calzones with different fillings including tomato sauce and mozzarella, beef with parmesan, and chicken with spinach and green olives; as well as the Rustico, another puff pastry with tomato and mozzarella, or ricotta and spinach.

He's currently outfitting the 1,650-square-foot space with multiple tables, a couch, and his tasteful decorative flair - "it will be a place where people can spend time," he says.