It’s taken a while for Fathima Dickerson to admit that her family’s business has really reopened.
Welton Street Cafe closed in 2022, after two decades in an aging space that it had outgrown. The family hoped it would take 18 months to move into a new location a few blocks away — still on Welton Street — but they ran into setbacks with contractors and paperwork as they renovated a century-old building. The metamorphosis took three years.
The restaurant technically reopened in October, with a soft launch that slid into months of solidly booked reservations. Dickerson was still talking about hosting a grand opening in January, weeks after the place had hit its stride. Her employees laughed it off, but she was serious.
She had downplayed things for so long, even avoiding press interviews, because the restaurant needed to be ready before her family could let its guard down. The last three years had been hard, and they worried most they would let down the community that was feverishly waiting for their return.
The stress and the work were worthwhile, Fathima said. They knew who they were doing it for…