If co-owner Reda Alsukhon hadn't been injured in the Persian Gulf War, the cafe might not have happened. If Alsukhon hadn't met his wife, a Cupertino native, at a blackjack table in Lake Tahoe, it might not have happened. While a number of events had to take place for Alsukhon and his sister, Ruba, to open the cafe, it seems as though its July 3 opening was exactly what was supposed to happen on this occasionally desolate stretch of road.

"We saw the space in January, and my wife has known the landlord since she was a year old," Alsukhon says. "The only thing the area needed was a coffee shop, and now, neighbors are meeting each other here for the first time." Alsukhon, his sister and his wife, Lynn, operate the cafe together and say that since they opened, local residents have been coming by to sample their espresso and peruse their selection of gelato.

The attention even preceded the cafe's opening. One neighbor across the street would check in every day during the space's restoration, and another would use his own method of encouragement. "He would tease us with a cup from Coffee Society, saying we needed to hurry up and finish," Alsukhon says.

Not only are the local residents neighbors of the cafe, but they're neighbors of Alsukhon's as well. He and his wife and two daughters live up in the hills of Monta Vista, where the children attend Montebello School—as fifth-generation students. Lynn's family arrived in Cupertino in the early 1900s, and she's heard that her grandfather, Sylvester Mikulaco, is listed on a plaque at the California History Center at De Anza College.

Lynn met Alsukhon at a blackjack table at the Horizon Casino Resort in 1994, on a weekend when he hadn't even planned on being there. He had come to California to visit his sister, and Ruba had fled to Lake Tahoe, afraid of a predicted earthquake occurring in the Bay Area that weekend.

Alsukhon and Ruba are of French and Russian descent but grew up in Kuwait. The siblings fled the country in 1990 during the Iraq invasion. "The young generation had to escape, and some were killed trying to get out," Ruba says. She came to California, and she currently lives in Los Altos with her daughter, Yasmeen.

Alsukhon, however, remained to fight in the war. He sustained multiple fractures in his legs and retreated to Jordan and France to recover. It was in France that he first started thinking about cafes. "I grew up in the cafes," he says. "There's something so specific about coffee and espresso—you want to have your own taste."

His fateful visit to California in 1994 led to marriage, and when he moved to the United States, he worked as a hairstylist and as an accountant. But while he was recuperating from surgery to repair his injuries, he started thinking about opening his own cafe. Ruba had recently lost her job as a human resources recruiter in the area's economic downturn, so the timing seemed right for a partnership. "Owning my own cafe was a dream," Ruba says.

Their space at 10631 Foothill Boulevard had previously been a florist's shop and a video store, but it was the vacant sign that caught Alsukhon's eye when he passed by in January. "It turns out that my grandmother had known the landlord," says Lynn, who works in retail sales. The partners were able to finance the purchase and opening themselves, and after a renovation, the Coffee Bean Café opened in July. The owners' three young daughters chose the name, which was likely the easiest part in the process.

"It [opening the cafe] was way more complicated than we thought it would be. There's definitely a [steep] learning curve," Ruba says. "We're so glad we went for it, though."

One of the more difficult decisions was over which brand of coffee to offer. "We were looking for real coffee," Alsukhon says. "We developed a taste over the year." But now, the chosen brand is pleasing customers—and Ruba says a cup of the cafe's espresso and a cup of espresso gelato is now her ideal dessert.

In addition to coffee drinks and Italian sodas, the cafe also serves a small lunch menu, pastries and the Italian version of ice cream. "We've already had to reorder some of the flavors three times," Ruba says.

While the three haven't embarked on much advertising beyond a few neighborhood fliers, they hope the start of school at Monta Vista High School just down the road will bring a flood of new customers. The walls are already displaying artwork by local residents, and Alsukhon would like to have art students at De Anza help create a mural on the wall just outside the front door.

But even with their plans for the future already in place, the partners are happy with the response they've received so far—one they didn't exactly expect.

Neighbors are bringing by out-of-town visitors, and Alsukhon and his cohorts find themselves keeping the cafe open later and later so they can chat with their customers. "The regulars are becoming our friends," Ruba says. "We've lost the art of socializing, so we're serving that purpose for our customers."