The closure caps a brief but emotional chapter for Encinitas natives and co-owners Andy Vasquez and Deon Dickey, who grew up eating at the original A Little Moore Café and purchased the business name and intellectual property from longtime owner Chang Han after the diner lost its lease in 2023. In the interim, the pair kept the brand alive through pop-up brunches in partnership with local bars, while they searched for a permanent home in the neighborhood they’d always called their own.
They ultimately landed at 698 North Coast Highway 101, a space next door to Leucadia Barbershop, which had also been displaced from the original site. When A Little Moore Café finally reopened there on January 19, 2025, Vasquez and Dickey framed it as a community victory, salvaging the retro bar, booths, and stools from the old location and updating the menu with a mix of classic diner plates and modern breakfast-and-lunch dishes. Alcohol service, including mimosas, beer, and wine, was planned pending permit approvals.
Now, the reincarnated café has gone dark. While no public farewell statement has been issued by the owners, the business has ceased operating and a new listing from Next Wave Commercial confirms the restaurant is being offered as a turnkey opportunity. The marketing materials describe the property as a fully built-out café or fast-casual restaurant along Leucadia’s main coastal corridor, with a brand-new kitchen, furniture, fixtures and equipment, and a beer-and-wine license included in the sale.
According to the listing, the space totals approximately 1,325 square feet inside plus a roughly 780-square-foot patio, with current base rent just under $8,000 per month and about three years remaining on the lease term, along with a five-year renewal option. The brokers pitch the site as an unusually plug-and-play chance for an experienced operator to break into one of San Diego County’s most coveted beach neighborhoods, where restaurant inventory is scarce and demand remains high.
The short-lived return underscores the challenges independent operators face even in destination corridors like Highway 101, where rising buildout and operating costs can quickly outpace the optimism of a nostalgia-fueled reopening. For locals, the closure is a double blow: first losing the original A Little Moore Café when its lease wasn’t renewed, then watching the comeback effort flicker out in less than a year despite the best intentions of third-generation “local locals” who set out to keep a neighborhood institution alive.
What happens next for the A Little Moore Café brand is unclear. Vasquez and Dickey had previously expressed a long-term commitment to Leucadia and spoke openly about carrying the torch for their families and for original owners Chang and Misan Han. Whether they will pursue yet another location, pivot to pop-ups and catering again, or move on to other projects remains to be seen, but the listing signals that someone else may soon be cooking in the space they worked so hard to secure.
For now, 698 North Coast Highway 101 stands as an intriguing turn-key restaurant opportunity along the North County coast. Whoever takes over will inherit a freshly built café footprint in the heart of Leucadia, and the chance to tap into lingering community affection for a breakfast icon that once seemed poised for a second life, only to fade again almost as quickly as it returned.
Originally published on December 4, 2025.
