Café Jon Is Chicago’s Snazziest New Coffee Shop

The founders of Jon Basíl Tequila have opened a new coffee shop in Pilsen, in partnership with neighborhood artist and entrepreneur Ruben Mandujano, formerly of Ruben’s Auto Service. Café Jon and Galleria, which began opening for weekend-only service in July, will host its official opening this Sunday, September 6. The cafe will serve as the flagship location for the tequila company that was founded in Chicago. 

Café Jon will serve as a daytime cafe and private event space. Coffee is provided by Monday Coffee Company, and Monday’s co-founder, Felton Kizer, runs the drink menu. House specials drizzle in honey-rosemary and brown sugar vanilla syrups. Pastries are made in-house through Saints Bakery, a baking residency housed under Café Jon.

The 6,000-square-foot cafe on 18th Street and Damen Avenue was formerly Mandujano’s auto repair shop, which he operated for 30 years. Born in Mexico, Mandujano has lived in Pilsen for 40 years. He closed his auto shop two years ago and became a co-owner and partner of Café Jon and Galleria.

The cafe space oozes retro Chicago cool. It’s decked out with memorabilia sourced from Ruben’s Auto Service — a Yamaha scooter mounted to the wall, vintage parking signs and license plates, and a car engine repurposed as a coffee table. Chicago Bulls momentos from the 1990s are sprinkled throughout the communal space against the backdrop of the towering vinyl wall.

Pilsen and its 18th Street corridor are a central point in conversations regarding displacement and gentrification across Chicago. Pilsen, a hub of Mexican culture and the first majority-Latino neighborhood in the city, has been the battleground between longtime residents who face increasing costs of living and threats from new developments hoping to cash out on prime real estate over the past 30 years. Between 2005 and 2020, the number of residents around Pilsen paying over $1,000 in rent increased from 32.5 percent to 51.5 percent, according to a 2023 report by the University of Illinois Chicago. 

As a witness to Pilsen’s changes, Mandujano turned down a number of offers to buy his property from developers that “wanted to push [him] out,” but entering the collaborative partnership with Umolu and Taher provided a unique opportunity.

“We had been getting offers to buy, but I’m very excited to stay, to grow, to bring new generations together, to bring new ideas, and to implement more diversity,” says Mandujano, who also owns the nearby Xoco House Gallery. 

Jon Basíl Tequila co-founder Uduimoh Umolu, a Rogers Park native of Nigerian and Ghanaian heritage, met his business partner, Belall Taher, who was born in Palestine and later moved to the Bridgeview area, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2015, the duo set out to create their tequila brand, Jon Basíl Tequila, crediting their proximity to Mexican cultural influences growing up in the Chicago area. 

Through 11 years of official operations, Jon Basíl gained traction through word-of-mouth investments and community contributions. Jon Basíl Tequila sells blanco, reposado, and añejo tequila produced in Jalisco, Mexico. As of 2026, the brand is available at over 900 locations across Chicago and has secured national distribution partnerships, according to Taher. Café Jon marks the brand’s first foray into a physical space; the founders are aiming to connect with diehard brand loyalists while offering a community gathering spot.

The owners intend to host art galleries by local artists, tastings, and brand activations in the near future.  

Café Jon and Galleria will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.