The creation of Santi Araujo and Mariela Torres, Cien Palmas is a combination of accommodations, a restaurant bar, and a store in the heart of Todos Santos. Several years ago, the couple went on a vacation to Spain and loved it and wondered why they were spending their time in Los Angeles. As a result, they sold everything, bought an RV, and started to travel the southwest looking for a place in the desert to settle. They decided to take a trip down the Baja and arrived in Todos Santos and fell in love with the place.
Both Santi and Mariela are photographers and so they started a blog about Todos Santos and its businesses and wrote stories about the local places they found. After a while, they decided rather than covering other businesses it was time to start their own. After a very short time, they had found a very large lot, overgrown with a palm grove and three casitas that had been built by the two previous owners. The bought it and in April 2020, just as COVID got underway, they took possession. The property needed a lot of renovation and so they parked their RV on the side of the lot and got to work. There are two two-bedroom casitas and one studio casita on the property. The clean them up, renovated where necessary, painted and went to work on the property. The first thing that they needed to do was clean up the palm grove that was completely overgrown. Some additional landscaping was added to provide a privacy area for the guests of the casitas. Guests check in digitally; are given codes for the main gate and for the lock box on their unit. I was able to tour one of the two-bedroom casitas. It was very large with a big kitchen, combined living, and dining room and the two bedrooms, each with their own bath. The furniture, artwork and details made the place even more comfortable.
On November 17th, 2023, the couple opened the cafe on the property. A building was added for the kitchen, a pergola covered seating area and a store area as well as restrooms attached to one of the casitas. There is still lots of extra room that can be used in the future as an event space.
An important part of the development and opening of the cafe was having the right staff. The head mixologist from the Todos Santos Inn, Carlos Gonzalez approached them as he was looking for a place to have a bar. Carlos was joined by an assistant mixologist, Felipe Cruz. Their chef Malia Loaiza has spent time at Jazzmango. Chef Javier Plascencia, a family friend of Santi’s recommended her. The team was filled out with a passionate barista, Sarahi Gonzalez. This provided Cien Palmas with the ability to offer brunch and coffee in the morning (8:00 am to 1:00 pm) and then open as a bar and restaurant for dinner at 6:00 pm. The cafe and bar/restaurant are only open from Wednesday to Sunday.
Gustavo at La Tinajas Winery and Raul Monroy had both highly recommended Cien Palmas. Raul described a Thursday night event with a DJ attended by about 300 people from the local community with great drinks and tacos. I visited about noon and so, I had the opportunity to sample the brunch menu. The top item on the menu was Banana French Toast. I had to try that. Santi said that he would also like me to try a more traditional Mexican dish – the Sopa Santos. Felipe asked me what I would like to drink. My standard Coca Light was not available and so he made me a ginger-based drink with fruit juice that was amazing. While I was waiting, I watched Mariela setting up to photograph some of their menu items – a latte and chilaquiles and so I took some pictures. The presentation was amazing.
My French Toast arrived and what a sight. The thick piece of bread was covered with icing sugar, two large slices of banana, bacon and some fresh fruit. It also came with a small cup of caramel sauce with a little salt. The flavors were amazing. It couldn’t stop until I finished the whole dish. The Sopa Santos was quite a contrast. The chef, Malia came out to explain it to me. A nixtomalized sope in a bed of tomatillo green sauce with a black bean purée covered with scrambled eggs with nopales and cheese and topped with a leafy green hoja santo. I was so full that I couldn’t finish it but again the flavors were amazing.
I was asked if I wanted another drink. At that time Mariela, and Filipe were photographing another drink, which was gin based and asked if I would like to try it. So, this cocktail was a perfect accompaniment to the Sopa Santo. The brunch menu had several other items on it including pesto avocado toast and a Pina Acai Fruit bowl and a Breakfast Smashburger. The dinner menu offers interesting variations of traditional Mexican dishes.
Cien Palmas is definitely a place to visit or stay if you are in Todos Santos. It is located at 81 Calle Cuauhtémoc and more information is available on their website https://www.cienpalmasmx.com at or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cienpalmas
