This GoFundMe is being set up on behalf 

of Ararat El-Rawi, owner and chef of Little Armenia Cafe (LAC). Over the past three years, we've watched Ararat pour his passion, time, and heart into serving his customers, making LAC the one-of-a-kind New York City restaurant it is today.

Little Armenia Cafe began as a passion project during the pandemic. When the restaurant where Ararat worked closed, he started cooking the Armenian food he grew up with and serving it outside his Bed-Stuy apartment, bringing together decades of fine-dining experience with the food and traditions of home.

Ararat noticed something surprising for a city with almost every cuisine imaginable: there was no Armenian restaurant in New York City. So he decided to create one.

That passion project eventually became LAC's permanent home at 1035 Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint. Today, LAC welcomes people who grew up eating Armenian food and those trying it for the first time. It's earned glowing reviews and recognition from publications including the Armenian Weekly and Untapped New York, but what stands out most is the experience Ararat creates himself.

Ararat works roughly 13-hour days to keep the restaurant running. He cooks, serves, pours wine, explains the food, and gets to know his customers. He'd probably kill us for making this GoFundMe. Ararat isn't someone who asks for help, he's someone who gives it. 

Anyone who frequents LAC knows that when you arrive, he greets you the same way: "Welcome home!" That is the embodiment of Ararat.

He works to provide fine-dining-level service while keeping LAC accessible. We've watched him take money out of his own pay to feed people who were struggling. But running a small restaurant in New York City has become incredibly difficult. Costs keep rising, and Ararat has been sacrificing his own income to keep LAC going. At this point, the restaurant cannot survive much longer without support.

We believe it's worth fighting for. For Armenians, LAC represents a place in New York City dedicated to Armenian food and culture when there simply wasn't one. For everyone else, it's a chance to experience a cuisine still relatively unknown in the city, prepared by someone who has spent his life mastering both Armenian cooking and fine-dining hospitality.

Above all, LAC is Ararat's life's work. He built it from a pandemic-era passion project into a real restaurant, and he runs it by treating everyone who walks through the door with warmth and generosity. Now he needs that same generosity returned.

All funds raised will go directly toward keeping Little Armenia Cafe open.

If LAC has ever made you feel at home, introduced you to Armenian food, given you a meal you still think about, or simply given you a place to feel welcome, we're asking you to give back if you're able. No donation is too small, and if you can't donate, sharing this fundraiser helps too. Ararat has spent years taking care of his customers. Now we're asking his customers to take care of him.

Thank you for taking the time to read Ararat's story, and for supporting Little Armenia Cafe.

Welcome home.

A window into Little Armenia

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