5 0 • r e s t a u r a n t d e v e l o p m e n t + d e s i g n • J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 1 5
PROJECT PROFILE
BY DANA TANYERI, Editor in Chief
I
n Cuba, "paladares" represent a
unique and much-loved form of
hospitality: Essentially, they're
small, comforting restaurants that
operate out of people's homes. When
partners Elie Weiss and Andy Him-
mel launched their frst restaurant in
Cleveland in 2007, they took the Paladar
name as a way to represent the vibrant
Latin cuisine and cultural experience on
which they wanted to build their brand.
Over the next few years, they opened
additional Paladar Latin Kitchen & Rum
Bar units — one in Annapolis, Md., one
in Hallandale, Fla., and three in the D.C.
market. It wasn't until they opened a
unit in Gaithersburg, Md., last Septem-
ber that they felt they had really gotten
the concept and the essence of the
brand right.
Reaching that milestone has every-
thing to do with the design of the Gaith-
ersburg unit, which uses a bolder, more
sophisticated prototype that Himmel says
the polished-casual concept will continue
to leverage as the brand grows.
"We had evolved aggressively, and I
fnally feel like we're at the point where
we're not evolving; we're fne-tuning,"
Himmel says. "For the original design
PALADAR LATIN
KITCHEN & RUM BAR
New Design Brings the Brand Home