ENCINITAS — After shutting its doors earlier this year, A Little Moore Café is under new local ownership with plans to reopen the popular Encinitas eatery at a new location.
Earlier this year, Encinitas natives Deon Dickey and Andy Vasquez, who both grew up down the street from the café’s original location, purchased A Little Moore, a restaurant beloved by the community for decades.
“It was an opportunity we saw,” Vasquez said. “We stepped in and took ownership, but we will have the same concept. We’re not going to change much. Just up the ante a little bit on all levels of food quality and service. We plan to preserve and conserve Leucadia in Little Moore as much as possible.”
Along Coast Highway 101, landlords opted not to renew their leases with A Little Moore Café, Leucadia Barbershop, Paw Purrfection and Hart & Honey, and the sites were later selected by city lottery as future locations for cannabis dispensaries. Leucadia Barbershop and Paw Purrfection have since relocated.
The four cannabis businesses include Siesta Life Encinitas LLC to be located at 1038 S. Coast Highway (next to Trek Bicycle Encinitas), SGI Encinitas AP LLC at 1030 N. Coast Highway (A Little Moore Café), Humanity Encinitas 4 Inc. at 583 S. Coast Highway (Hart & Honey), and Ecrencinitas4 LLC at 211 N. El Camino Real (next to Cotixan Mexican Food).
Since purchasing A Little Moore from original owner Chang Han a couple of months ago, Dickey and Vasquez have been working on finding a space for the remake of the diner-style restaurant, but “lease negotiations are at a standstill right now,” Dickey said.
When a brick-and-mortar front opens, they vowed to offer previous restaurant employees a second opportunity to work at A Little MooreCafé.
“Some of those people, this was their job for about 10 to 15 years before closure in some cases,” Vasquez said. “We’re keeping on the previous owners for a year consulting, so they’re still going to be there every day. We are also offering everyone to try to get their job back so they will get the first chance at it.”
While lease discussions are still in the works, Dickey and Vasquez have arranged A Little Moore pop-up brunch on July 9 at The Leucadian. The event also serves as a fundraiser, with 10% of all food proceeds going to The First Responders Children’s Foundation, a nonprofit providing college scholarships to children of parents who were killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty.
“We want to build rapport with the community and let them know the transfer of ownership was in good faith, and we’re not here to try to do too much,” Dickey said. “We just want to create a relationship with the community and have exposure to the new items we hope to offer. We’ll spice it up a little bit, but we also want to keep that diner feeling it once had of Leucadia’s funky vibe.”
The pop-up event is 21+ but does have an outdoor family area. Dickey and Vasquez plan to partner with other local Leucadia businesses for raffles and art up for sale.
“If we do a good enough job, we can guarantee a spot (at The Leucadian) during weekend hours as a pop-up until we finalize the lease,” Vasquez said. “We’re tired of being at a standstill, and we know the owners of The Leucadian super well, and they’re letting us do our thing and be creative. So, we’re excited about this.”
The new owners hope to reopen A Little Moore Café by the end of summer.
