Little Havana is calling it quits—for real this time. The Cuban restaurant in Columbia Heights announced Wednesday that it will close on Saturday, just 13 months after opening and five months after a previous closing announcement.
Chef Alfredo Solis will replace his Little Havana with another restaurant, Anafre, expected to open this fall. According to a release, the restaurant is named for the Spanish word for a portable clay oven, which Solis’ mother used to cook meals in his childhood home. Many of the dishes—including chicken, ribs, and fish brushed with green mole, the Mexican flatbread tlayuda—will be cooked in an open kitchen over charcoal. Even a deep-fried lobster will be finished on the grill.
Solis initially planned to replace Little Havana with Anafre in May, telling DCist at the time that his first Cuban restaurant “hasn’t had the support of the community that it needs.” But Solis said that after he announced the restaurant’s closure, he received calls from fans and community members who urged him to keep Little Havana running. Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema—who had recently awarded Little Havana the No. 9 spot on his list of best new restaurants—also reached out to discuss the decision. Just a few hours after announcing the restaurant’s closure, Solis told DCist he’d changed his mind, and would keep the restaurant open “indefinitely.”
And once again, it appears Little Havana might yet have another life. Solis tells Sietsema in the critic’s weekly live chat that he may relocate the Cuban restaurant somewhere else in the District. A representative for Solis said he didn’t plan to comment further.
Solis previously told DCist he wants Anafre to be different from his other Mexican restaurants, El Sol and Mezcalero (also housed on the same block as Little Havana): Where those spots serve traditional dishes cooked in the style of Mexico City, this new restaurant will feel more like a backyard barbecue.
When Anafre arrives, it will be the third Mexican restaurant on a celebrated block of 14th Street NW, joining Mezcalero and Taqueria Habanero, which was recently named to Michelin’s Bib Gourmand list.
Lori McCue