August 2025
Sat in front of a rack of surfboards donning a cap that spells the name of his restaurant, Antoine quite simply fits in perfectly with the El Zonte aesthetic. “I’ve been coming here on surf trips for about twelve years,” he says, “originally it was really just the waves, the quality of the waves, the consistency of the waves, the warm water, the tropical vibes.” It wasn’t until he brought his father for a birthday trip that he made a decision that would change his life for good.
El Salvador is one of the world’s top surf spots—always has been. In the past, surfers tended to skip the destination anyway; it wasn’t worth the risk. But Antoine watched as El Salvador finally broke free from its past and caught the attention of those who’d previously stayed away, and with his father, he opted to seize the moment: “We thought it was full of opportunity. We’ve always been very passionate about the food and drinks industry, so we decided to make the move.”
Antoine, alongside his wife, dad, and two dogs, upped sticks and made a permanent home of El Zonte. In no time, they’d made friends in the area. “One of them had a little shack on the beach here,” he says, “he wasn’t really doing much with it, so he told us we could rent it. It was really just a small box. That’s why we’re called La Cajita; la cajita means little box.”
La Cajita started out with crêpes and coffee, a nod to Antoine’s French roots and the years he’d spent in California. Eventually, La Cajita adopted a burger menu: “We were doing a California-style smash burger that got a lot of attention.”
Once the restaurant began accepting bitcoin, even more doors opened. “Accepting bitcoin and being able to pay in bitcoin has been really helpful for us,” Antoine tells us, “we’ve been getting a lot more business, we’ve been able to use it to buy our groceries for the restaurant, and we’ve been trying to save as much as possible. We’re stoked to be part of the movement.”
La Cajita soon outgrew its little box. In late 2025, Antoine opened a bigger restaurant right by the waves. Now he seeks to give back to the town that has given him so much: “The community’s been terrific for us. We’ll be doing live music, DJs, and dance parties. We’re still at the beginning, but we’ll be doing all kinds of stuff that’s for the community and for us to all have a good time together.”
