One small spot on Upshur Street NW in Petworth has been home to some of the best restaurants of recent memory: Crane & Turtle, Himitsu, Magpie and the Tiger, and, most recently, the closed-to-soon Little Vietnam. Now chef Danielle Harris, who earned a devout following for Little Food Studio across the street, has taken over the space for Almeda. The Afro-American dinnertime concept she calls “a celebration and an exploration of the diaspora” opened on Halloween with 18 seats indoors and another 16 on the patio.

Almeda takes its name from the 2019 Solange Knowles song of the same name celebrating Black culture. “She’s really inspirational to me,” says Harris. “She’s a badass, very talented, and I like her energy and vibe. Her music has gotten me through a lot.”

The idea for the restaurant was sparked by a 2021 collab dinner Harris did with Underground Kitchen at Fort Monroe, in Hampton, Virginia, an event serving as a fundraiser to build a monument commemorating its history as a port of entry for enslaved Africans. As a part of her preparation, Harris watched the first season of the Netflix series High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America, which traces the influence of African cuisine on American culinary culture. “I basically created a menu based off it as I tried to internalize everything I’d seen,” says the chef, who worked for Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard in Chicago.

The menu is arranged from small starters to large platters, all designed to be shared. Many of the dishes trace their roots to two distinct parents. The tostones doubles, which mash up island traditions by using chana masala spiced chickpeas to create crispy fritters, then get kicked up a couple of notches when dunked in pepper sauce. Then there are Korean-style short ribs, except they’re spiced like Ethiopian tibs. And you can’t overlook the West Africa meets Italy jollof risotto topped with charred savoy cabbage and cubes of pickled plantain. Call it josotto, or perhaps rillof.

One dish hewing to its original incarnation, popular in the Midwest and South, but probably foreign to anyone without deep roots in either place, is fried catfish and spaghetti. Don’t judge it before you try it. For the tubular twirl of noodles, Harris spikes the marinara with Calabrian chilies and Honeycrisp apples for a little sweetness. Meanwhile, the fillet is dredged in a mixture of cornbread crumbs and panko, creating a satisfyingly crunchy coating that turns dark gold in the fryer.

For those who need to end on a sweet note, there’s raspberry-kissed coconut Bundt cake wallowing in a coconut fudge sauce. Though it doesn’t look fancy, diners who choose to share it will find themselves clacking their spoons together in a race to get the last tropical-inspired bite.

During the day, Almeda becomes Little Food Studio Café. Aside from the addition of a hummus platter and seasonal winter drinks, the menu remains the same, so fans of their sausage rolls can breathe a sigh of relief. (The original location across Upshur Street NW is now a production kitchen currently not open to the public, though Harris is exploring the idea of doing pop-up events there.)

The two-for-one concept is part of Harris’ plan to make her newly expanded operation financially viable in the long run. “That’s a part of the curse of this space: It’s hard to turn tables,” she says. “On a Friday or Saturday, we can’t get three full turns based on how people trickle in. We could do it if we stayed up until midnight, but we’re not doing that.”

I hope Harris can break the curse, because Almeda deserves time to shine and soar. Almeda, 828 Upshur St. NW. almedarestaurant.com.