Two new restaurants bring fresh and familiar flavors to downtown Hanover

Mariella Cubillet prepares ropa vieja, Spanish for old clothes, a Cuban braised, shredded roast beef dish in the kitchen at Little Havana in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. Cubillet, her daughter Maylena Chaviano, son Ernesto Medina and family friend Yuniesky Miyar opened the restaurant featuring Cubillet’s Cuban home cooking on Dec. 3. (Valley News - James M. Patterson)

Mariella Cubillet prepares ropa vieja, Spanish for old clothes, a Cuban braised, shredded roast beef dish in the kitchen at Little Havana in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. Cubillet, her daughter Maylena Chaviano, son Ernesto Medina and family friend Yuniesky Miyar opened the restaurant featuring Cubillet’s Cuban home cooking on Dec. 3. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) valley news photographs — James M. Patterson

Chef Martin Murphy sautees garlic and chorizo on an induction range for gambas y chorizo in the Casa Brava Tapas Bistro's all-electric kitchen in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. Murphy, the former owner of Ariana's Restaurant, partnered with James Van Kirk, former owner of Candella Tapas Lounge to open Casa Brava this month. Sous chef Isaiah Johnson is at right. (Valley News - James M. Patterson)

Chef Martin Murphy sautees garlic and chorizo on an induction range for gambas y chorizo in the Casa Brava Tapas Bistro's all-electric kitchen in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. Murphy, the former owner of Ariana's Restaurant, partnered with James Van Kirk, former owner of Candella Tapas Lounge to open Casa Brava this month. Sous chef Isaiah Johnson is at right. (Valley News - James M. Patterson)

Maylena Chaviano, right, and Yuniesky Miyar, left, arrange tables before opening Little Havana, a new Cuban restaurant in Hanover, N.H., for the evening on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. The restaurant is in the former Duende space on Currier Place.  (Valley News - James M. Patterson)

Maylena Chaviano, right, and Yuniesky Miyar, left, arrange tables before opening Little Havana, a new Cuban restaurant in Hanover, N.H., for the evening on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. The restaurant is in the former Duende space on Currier Place. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) valley news photographs — James M. Patterson

Jaime Gomez, of Bellows Falls, pulls an appetizer of ham croquetas closer at Little Havana in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. The family run restaurant opened on Dec. 3 and showcases Mariela Cubillet's Cuban home cooking. (Valley News - James M. Patterson)

Jaime Gomez, of Bellows Falls, pulls an appetizer of ham croquetas closer at Little Havana in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. The family run restaurant opened on Dec. 3 and showcases Mariela Cubillet's Cuban home cooking. (Valley News - James M. Patterson)

Ernesto Medina, left, talks with Malyn Gomez, 5, after getting him a toy car to play with at the table with his dad Jaime, and mom Ziang, right, at Little Havana in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2024. The Gomez family traveled from Bellows Falls to sample the food at the Cuban restaurant. (Valley News - James M. Patterson)

Ernesto Medina, left, talks with Malyn Gomez, 5, after getting him a toy car to play with at the table with his dad Jaime, and mom Ziang, right, at Little Havana in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2024. The Gomez family traveled from Bellows Falls to sample the food at the Cuban restaurant. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) James M. Patterson

Shredded beef and other ingredients for ropa vieja, meaning old clothes in Spanish, wait to be combined on the stove in the kitchen of Little Havana in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Valley News - James M. Patterson)

Shredded beef and other ingredients for ropa vieja, meaning old clothes in Spanish, wait to be combined on the stove in the kitchen of Little Havana in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Valley News - James M. Patterson)

Casa Brava bar manager Austin Junker prepares to open the restaurant off the lobby of Six South Street Hotel in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Valley News - James M. Patterson)

Casa Brava bar manager Austin Junker prepares to open the restaurant off the lobby of Six South Street Hotel in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) James M. Patterson

Chicken tinga empanadas, foreground, and gambas y chorizo, background are on the menu of Casa Brava Tapas Lounge at Six South Street Hotel in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024.(Valley News - James M. Patterson)

Chicken tinga empanadas, foreground, and gambas y chorizo, background are on the menu of Casa Brava Tapas Lounge at Six South Street Hotel in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024.(Valley News - James M. Patterson) James M. Patterson

Casa Brava bar manager Austin Junker mixes a smoky quartz cocktail, named for the New Hampshire state gem at the restaurant in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Valley News - James M. Patterson)

Casa Brava bar manager Austin Junker mixes a smoky quartz cocktail, named for the New Hampshire state gem at the restaurant in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Valley News - James M. Patterson)

By EMMA ROTH-WELLS

Valley News Staff Writer

Published: 12-16-2024 5:33 PM

Modified: 12-16-2024 8:11 PM


HANOVER — Two recent additions to the downtown dining scene bring fresh flavors and old favorites.

A building located at 15 Lebanon St. in Hanover is now home to Little Havana, a Cuban restaurant, while a previous tenant of the space has opened a tapas spot a block away in the Six South Street Hotel.

“We’ve seen a nice resurgence since we came out of COVID of some new places opening up,” said Kieran Campion, the owner of Sawtooth Kitchen located on Allen Street. “I think anything that’ll bring more interest and more people into downtown Hanover is a good thing for everybody.”

Little Havana, which opened Dec. 3, serves up traditional Cuban comfort food.

“These are dishes you’ll always find in Havana,” co-owner Maylena Chaviano said.

Chaviano left Cuba 18 years ago when she moved to Canada for school. The other three owners, her mother, Mariela Cubillet; her brother, Ernesto Medina Cubillet; and close family friend, Yuniesky Miyar, moved to the Upper Valley from Cuba 2½ years ago, and Chaviano met them here.

“This is our place to reunite,” Chaviano said.

Chaviano came across the floor above the restaurant at 15 Lebanon St. while searching for locations for the Upper Valley Salsa club to use and fell in love.

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Then, in September, the four Little Havana owners bought the assets of the previous restaurant, Duende, and began renting the space, with the hope of eventually acquiring the floor above as well for fiestas and salsa nights.

It was never any of the four’s plan to open a restaurant. “I wanted to do a coffee shop but apparently mojitos are better,” Chaviano said.

The owners decided to open a restaurant with their “own food and identity,” she said.

The menu includes ropa vieja, a dish of shredded beef cooked in a rich tomato sauce with peppers and spices, served over congri rice and sweet plantains. Also on the menu is a classic Cuban sandwich layered with roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard, on homemade bread.

Cubillet cooks all the food. She has no previous professional cooking experience, but often cooked at home. Her a professional background is in chemical engineering.

“I hope enough people will appreciate our way of eating and who we are as people,” Chaviano said.

One of the biggest challenges they’ve faced is sourcing the “right ingredients for the tropical taste,” Chaviano said. They tried many different plantains before landing on the ones with the right taste and texture.

With the exception of Mariela Cubillet, all of the owners still have day jobs. There are only three staff members besides the four owners, to serve up to 49 people.

“It’s very hard when you have responsibilities at your other job and then you have to figure out how to fix everything here,” Miyar, who works at Upper Valley Haven, said. “Every day we try to smile even if we feel tired.”

Chaviano is grateful for the positive response from the community so far and hopes she and her co-owners can serve as an inspiration for other immigrants in the area.

“We are risk-takers, otherwise we wouldn’t even be here,” Chaviono said. “Immigrants are presented as working in certain sectors but there are so many different pathways.”

Tapas on South Street

A three-minute walk away inside the Six South Street Hotel is Casa Brava Tapas Bistro, which opened Dec. 6.

The bistro is a collaboration of James Van Kirk, the owner of the former Candela Tapas Lounge, which opened in 2013 and closed in 2022 in the space now occupied by Little Havana, and Martin Murphy, the previous owner and chef of Ariana’s Restaurant located in the Lyme Inn.

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Van Kirk’s parents bought a place in Quechee in the ‘90s to escape the heat of the summer and fall on the island. After his father died in 2009, Van Kirk came to Quechee to decide whether to sell the place or not. He’s been in the Upper Valley ever since.

For his part, Murphy moved to the Upper Valley 18 years ago from Florida, “I love it up here,” he said. “It’s been the longest address of my life.”

The two men met when Van Kirk dined at Ariana’s shortly after it opened in 2011. “We just clicked,” Van Kirk said.

“We’ve been friends for a long time and have always wanted to do something together,” Van Kirk said. “I have a following and he has a following and it’s like Ariana’s and Candela got together.”

Casa Brava Tapas Bistro emerged from a confluence of events.

In 2022, Van Kirk decided not to renew his lease at 15 Lebanon Street and planned to leave the restaurant business. He had been traveling and was even considering moving out of the Upper Valley when Murphy also decided not to renew his lease at Ariana’s.

Meanwhile, the management team at Six South Street Hotel had been brainstorming options for their restaurant space since it re-opened after renovations in the spring of 2022.

Etna resident Jim Rubens, a former New Hampshire state senator, knows Murphy personally and connected him with the team at the hotel.

In terms of downtown Hanover, the duo’s rent at the hotel is “reasonable,” Murphy said. He also appreciated that the kitchen was a “turn-key situation.” To top it all off, the dining room has the “perfect” capacity, according to Van Kirk.

“It’s a win-win situation for both of us,” Van Kirk said.

The restaurant can seat up to 57 people, including the bar. There’s also a patio, with an additional 25 seats, which the team plans to open in warmer weather.

Kathy Decker, general manager of the hotel, said once people caught wind of the partnership they were stopping her in the streets to ask about it.

“The response has been incredible,” she said. “It’s their following.”

When it came to the menu, Van Kirk always knew he wanted to do tapas, and Murphy agreed.

“I’ve always loved the idea of a tapas restaurant,” Murphy said. “People are willing to be more adventurous, so I can be much more creative.”

The menu ranges from tomato soup and grilled cheese, to chicken empanadas, to bao buns.

“I love doing food from lots of different cultures. We’ll have flavors from all over the world,” Martin said. “And just when everyone’s comfortable, we’ll mix it up.”

Little Havana is open 5 to 10 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Casa Brava Tapas Bistro is open 4:30 to 10 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.

Emma Roth-Wells can be reached at erothwells@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.