After eight years operating in Riverside Ada’s Kitchen & Coffee in the restored historic post office on Riverside Ave is closing.
“Wishing we didn’t need to post this. We will be closing our doors mid-February 2024,” chef and owner Mike Pietrafeso said in a post on Facebook Monday afternoon. “We are thankful for these last few months with you and we appreciate your support.”
Pietrafeso said he was sad to share the upsetting news.
But, he said, “Unfortunately, our landlord proposed an extremely high increase in our annual rent, an increase that is well over market and would not allow me to sustain my business going forward. Through months of negotiation and my attempts to get to a reasonable place with them, we were unable to come to an agreement.”
Back in 2014, Greenwich Free Press chronicled the painstaking and historically accurate renovation of the building that originally served as a post office during the town’s horse-and-buggy-days. Prior to the renovation it had been Ada Cantavero’s penny candy and newspaper shop.
At the time, residents were overjoyed that the building was spared from the wrecking ball.
Mike Pietrafeso photographed in Nov 2014 Credit: Leslie Yager
Soon after, Chef Pietrafeso, a Greenwich native who graduated GHS, shared his dream of running his own restaurant and said he was thrilled to bring his culinary credentials and a concept for healthy, locally-sourced home cooked fare to Ada’s Kitchen + Coffee.
Since opening Ada’s by the Riverside train station Pietrafeso has opened other eateries, and in his farewell notice he said he will continue to operate Roost Kitchen + Coffee in Cos Cob and Darien with the same food and beverages served at Ada’s.
The first day of business at Ada’s Kitchen + Coffee, Jake Montgomery was the first customer. He ordered his hot breakfast in time to catch his 6:45am school bus to GHS. Feb.22, 2016 Credit: Leslie Yager
Pietrafeso’s business made it through the pandemic, reopening after 418 days of contactless service which was necessary due to the inability for staff to social distance in the small space.
The story of local small businesses closing due to rent hikes has become a theme.
Last summer we covered the final days of The Mane Event a salon that operated on Mill Street for 26 years. Fortunately, owner Barbara Finn was able to find a new space at 20 North Water Street.
More recently we stopped by the last day of business at The Haircut Place on Sound Beach Ave in Old Greenwich. The business had been in operation since 1958.
Initially the owner John Hilton explained that after his rent was set to double his barber shop and salon would run through the end of its lease on Dec 31, but later announced his last day would be Oct 21.
See also:
Peeling off Layers of History at Ada’s: A Family Project
Sprucing Up Ada’s in Riverside
Spared from the Wrecking Ball in Riverside: Ada’s Variety Shop