THE AMERICA ONE NEWS
Jun 5, 2025  |  
0
 | Remer,MN
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge.
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge and Reasoning Support for Fantasy Sports and Betting Enthusiasts.
back  
topic
NY Post
New York Post
22 Sep 2023


NextImg:Pandemic street eatery Little Armenia Cafe gets permanent Brooklyn home

This sidewalk pop-up is going legit. 

Formerly located on the pavement in front of proprietor Ararat El-Rawi’s Bedford-Stuyvesant fourth-floor walk-up, Little Armenia Cafe at last has a place of its own — in Greenpoint. 

“The Gods got together and took pity on my poor soul,” the former waiter told The Post of his good luck in bootstrapping the canteen from street to lease.

The edible endeavor started in secret after El-Rawi lost his job during the pandemic. And after years in the restaurant industry working as the kitchen manager for celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern at Cafe Un Deux Trois in Minneapolis — and at top dining destinations ranging from Aquavit, Red Rooster, to, most recently, David Pasternack‘s Esca — he decided to launch his own business, The Post previously reported

So, in 2021, he began operating a takeout stand from his abode above Hancock Street — and it was a hit. 

He expanded to the curb in front of his building — plastering a handwritten flier onto a lamppost by way of signage, setting up covered tables with a mishmash of chairs and serving a $20 prix-fixe menu, plus daily specials and complimentary hors d’oeuvres.

The restaurant’s unfinished new front.
Courtesy Ararat El-Rawi

little armenia cafe greenpoint

Inside Little Armenia Cafe’s new Greenpoint location.
Courtesy Ararat El-Rawi

little armenia cafe greenpoint

A shrimp ceviche prepared by El-Rawi for the street-side version of Little Armenia.
Stephen Yang

Guests in need of a restroom were escorted to the one in El-Rawi’s apartment. 

The one-man operation proved a huge hit, but challenging to maintain during the colder, darker months — so when a friend offered to help him get the eatery a commercial venue, El-Rawi jumped at the opportunity. 

A series of thwarted near-closings with borough landlords proved disheartening, but now, more than two years since he first began slinging spinach pie and ceviche from his stoop, El-Rawi says Cafe Little Armenia is finally ready to open at its new 1035 Manhattan Ave. home early next month.

little armenia cafe greenpoint

Seating for Little Armenia Cafe during its Bedford-Stuyvesant incarnation.
Stephen Yang

little armenia cafe greenpoint

A handwritten sign advertising Little Armenia’s initial location on El-Rawi’s block.
Stephen Yang

little armenia cafe greenpoint

The new Greenpoint eatery is slated to open the first week of October.
Courtesy Ararat El-Rawi

little armenia cafe greenpoint

Ararat El-Rawi.
Courtesy of Ararat El-Rawi.

little armenia cafe greenpoint

El-Rawi smiles from one of the tables at his new restaurant.
littlearmeniacafe/Instagram

The new incarnation his restaurant will feature El-Rawi’s takes on Armenian staples he was raised on — and as a $20 prix-fixe lunch, a tightly curated beer and wine menu, even a wall of rotating exhibits by local artists.

On Fridays and Saturdays, there will be the opportunity to enjoy a seven-course menu in a cordoned-off front area he’s calling the Living Room Table — a reference to Little Armenia’s original location.

“The only thing left to do is get the gas turned on,” said El-Rawi.

And it’s a poignant opening, one stemming from pandemic-era uncertainty to the tasty success that hungry diners in north Brooklyn can soon experience.

“I’m trying to make the place almost like a history of how this came to be,” he explained. “It’s gonna be great.”