Danielle Harris keeps selling out. Just about every afternoon since Little Food Studio opened on Upshur Street at the end of March, Harris, the owner and chef, makes an Instagram post signaling they’re out for the day—but the sandwiches, sausage rolls, and scones will be back in the morning.
“I wasn’t expecting such an overwhelming response,” says Harris. “We’ve gone through 40 pounds of coffee in six days. We need to dial it back and figure out what works best as far as production schedule to keep up with demand.”
The support is a signal that the neighborhood is ready for more daytime options. The grab-and-go café, recognizable by its forest-green storefront, is simple in design. Out of a one-room set-up, Chef DMH, as Harris is known, serves breakfast and lunch, slinging homemade pastries, cookies, and sandwiches and roasting custom blends from Baltimore’s Black woman-owned Southeastern Roastery into drip coffees, lattes, and cappuccinos.
At breakfast, there are basil balsamic strawberries layered into ricotta yogurt parfaits and fennel pork sausage rolled up in flaky, cigarette-shaped croissants. Tart cherry and herbed ricotta scones, bread pudding muffins, and thin palmier cookies curled and dusted with brown sugar are available all day.
Starting mid-morning, Little Food Studio bakes schiacciata — a soft, pressed Italian bread — and mixes pistachio spread, olive cream, and pesto for sandwiches that are “our homage to Tuscan flatbreads,” says Harris. “Italian food is what got me into the kitchen as a kid. It’s my inspiration for the entire shop.”
On an average day, they’ll have five varieties available: one with soppressata, hot honey, gorgonzola, and arugula; one with marinated eggplant, basil, and tomato cream; another with homemade pesto, turkey, and prosciutto crisped up like bacon. Each sandwich is named after Harris’ biggest culinary influences — her aunts, grandmothers, and mom.
Harris started cooking around age 8 with her family members and watched Food Network when she was supposed to be in bed. After moving from Cleveland to Chicago, she worked with Top Chef Stephanie Izard at Little Goat Diner and went to design school before taking a leap on her own culinary operation, DMH and Company (the name comes from her initials).
As chef and owner, Harris manages several projects under the moniker. Her operation No Reservations does meal services for private clients and dinner parties; the full-service Movelo Café travels around on wheels; and catering project District Graze launched in 2018. Those offerings are on the back burner while Little Food Studio finds its footing, but the plan is to eventually run other gigs from the storefront.
“I wasn’t that interested in going back into a shared kitchen, especially in a pandemic,” says Harris, who worked out of Taste Lab until its doors closed in 2019. “This place has no stove, but there is an oven where we can bake everything in house and have our own version of a test kitchen — that’s kind of the vision.”
D.C. can be a challenging place to start a business, Harris told The Kojo Nnamdi Show in 2019, especially for Black women. “There’s a bridge to be gapped between sort of the start-up business in D.C., and then like established brick and mortar business in D.C. for women of color specifically,” she said on the show. “You could have 20, 40, 50 years’ experience and still not be able to open your own spot … I can’t even envision it right now.”
A year and a half later (and in a pandemic, no less), that goal is finally becoming reality. On a Tuesday morning at 8 a.m., Harris stands outside to greet and joke with a line of customers who gain entry to place orders one at a time. A sign near the outdoor walk-up window reads “Black Built. Black Owned. Black Baked. Black Brewed.” A plant grows on the indoor shelf, a congratulations gift from chef friends at Pho Viet.
Harris stresses that while she may be a one-woman business, she didn’t get here alone. She’s had support from family and friends in the industry, and pastry chef Chinnell Watson is teaming up on the baked goods.
“Come hang out with us for five minutes,” Harris says. “We’re a fun bunch. We have music going and I want to start a Tik Tok question of the week, a semi-controversial question about food, like “Is a hot dog a sandwich?” It’s mellow vibes all around.”
Little Food Studio is located at 849 Upshur Street NW. Hours are 7:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (or until sold out). Check @littlefoodstudio’s Instagram for information about daily offerings.
