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COMMUNITY

Little House Cafe
Two Couples, One Cozy New Restaurant

What happens when four friends, each from completely different backgrounds, join forces to create a new dining experience on the Vineyard? The answer is contained in a lovingly restored vintage Cape at 339 State Road in Vineyard Haven.

Little House Café is the brainchild of Merrick Carreiro, Steven Carreiro, Jenik Khelalfa Munafo and Hocine Khelalfa. Merrick, a former chef at Café Moxie, her husband Steven, a house painter, Jenik, an artist, and her husband Hocine, a roofer, pooled their ideas and resources to purchase the former antiques store just across the street from Tisbury Farm Market. Each had worked in the restaurant business during their careers.

“We’d talked about it for a long time,” explains Jenik. “Hocine and I had run our own café in Ecuador and Merrick and I are good friends. We’d always wanted to own a restaurant here.”

The foursome considered the space that used to be occupied by Louis’s Restaurant on State Road but noticed that a former antiques shop on the opposite side of the street was up for sale. They purchased the building this past June and were up and running by July 25 following an extensive renovation.

Their concept, as Jenik explains it: “We wanted to create something different. A welcoming, casual restaurant with fresh, homemade food and ethnic flair. The environment was important to all of us. We want our customers to feel at home yet recognize that they’re some-where else.”

Open for breakfast and lunch every day but Sunday, Little House Café borrows from North Africa and the Middle East to lend what Jenik calls a “Little House twist” to the afternoon menu. To start the day, homemade granola, German apple pancakes and a fried egg sandwich with cheese on a freshly baked ciabatta roll provide a hearty start. Jenik’s home-baked scones, muffins and cookies are perfect choices for breakfast on the run.

At lunchtime Little House is hopping. Customers line up to place their orders for the subtle curried mango chutney chicken salad with grapes and pecans in salad or sandwich form, hearty soups, classic falafel sandwich, lamb burger served with grilled eggplant and tzatziki sauce, and vegetarian pressed sandwich with grilled vegetables, pesto, fresh mozzarella and balsamic vinaigrette. It’s clear that Little House is on to something: fresh, high quality ingredients, imaginatively prepared, plus a children’s menu featuring tried and true choices – grilled cheese, hot dogs, and pasta with butter. It all adds up to a formula that’s packing the ample parking lot from 7am to 3pm six days a week.

On a recent weekday at noon the line moved smoothly (customers place their orders with the counter clerk and the staff delivers food to the table) as bright sunlight streamed into the cheerful dining room. The freshly painted maize-colored walls, crisp white trim, hardwood floors, wood tables and chairs, beamed beadboard ceiling, and fireplace create a charming, homey atmosphere. Original art from some of the Island’s noted artists, including Jenik, Doug Kent, and Belden K. Radcliffe adorn the walls and contribute to Little House’s warm, inviting vibe.

While the energetic owner-operators are finding that running their own business is all-consuming, Jenik says that they are delighted that so many Vineyard residents and visitors are discovering them and becoming regulars. They hope to add dinner to their schedule in the not-so-distant future, as well as the possibility of expanding to seven days a week.

“We’d like to make Little House available for private parties and to possibly offer catering,” Jenik says, “but we’ll probably have to staff up before we can add any too many new functions. We have lots of ideas for growth but we’re busy just running the restaurant right now.”

Little House Café, located at
339 State Road, is open from 7am to 3pm Monday through Saturday. Take-Out is available. Call 508-687-9794.