Local chef Michael Rafidi, whose new restaurant Albi opened in Navy Yard in February, always had a two-part plan for his restaurant business.
He aimed to open a separate cafe and bakery inside the Middle Eastern restaurant, which was on DCist’s list of the most anticipated restaurant openings of 2020, only to have the coronavirus pandemic shut D.C. down in March.
Rafidi, who was previously the executive chef of Requin and Arroz, considered holding off on the idea, which he’d been developing over the past two years. Last week, however, he decided to go for it. “I could have stalled it out more,” he says. “But the idea of offering this for the neighborhood and for D.C.—people to come by and just grab pastries and coffee—it just made sense.”
Rafidi will open Yellow, a new Levantine-inspired cafe and bakery inside what is Albi’s private dining room at night, for takeout this Saturday. Like Albi, the menu draws on his Middle Eastern heritage, with roots in Jordan, Palestine, and Lebanon.
Yellow is more casual than its nocturnal sister. The menu will feature breakfast and lunch fare, including baked goods from pastry chef Gregory Baumgartner, who also oversees pastries at Albi and who Rafidi has known for a decade.
The sweet and savory treats marry French technique and Middle Eastern flavor, from za’atar and labne croissants to chocolate chip cookies with halva. The cafe will also serve bagels flavored with urfa, a Turkish pepper, and topped with smoked fish on weekends.
Later in the day, Yellow will offer a variety of mezze, including batata tots and tahini salad with summer vegetables, as well as four types of sandwiches served in wood-fired pita, including one with soft shell crab, spicy cucumbers, and a North African herb-based paste called chermoula that they mix with Old Bay. “You get a little bit of the Mid-Atlantic meets North Africa,” he says.
The cafe will also serve a range of coffee drinks, with such specialties as coconut-cardamom cold brew.
Albi is open for carryout service—and Rafidi says they are working on plans for adding outdoor seating now that Mayor Muriel Bowser has said restaurants can serve customers outside. Opening Yellow has allowed him to hire some new employees, he says.
The whole concept was designed with joy in mind, including the name, which Rafidi says was chosen because it “implies happiness and sunshine.” The cafe will be open Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and customers can pre-order online beginning Saturday.
He hopes Yellow is a bright spot for locals in an otherwise gloomy time. “Come in, get a coffee, croissant, go sit by the water,” he says. “It’s really just a way to make people happy.”
Yellow is located inside Albi, at 1346 4th St. SE. Opening May 30. Open Wednesday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. with carryout service.
