French Pantry, Little Miss Ha, open at 36 Granada in St. Augustine, Fl
36 Granada features multiple concepts, including The French Pantry, Little Miss Ha, La Petite Kitchen and Cache Cache, a secluded cocktail lounge.
The French Pantry and Little Miss Ha restaurants are partnering in a new dining concept called 36 Granada in St. Augustine.36 Granada will also house La Petite Kitchen, a cooking class studio, and Cache-Cache, a cocktail lounge and event space.The French Pantry will expand its menu to include dinner service at the St. Augustine location, while Little Miss Ha will offer authentic Vietnamese cuisine.The restaurants will operate independently but share a full-service bar and offer distinct dining experiences.
ST. AUGUSTINE | In a city known as a diverse dining destination, a landmark Jacksonville restaurant and an award-winning Vietnamese restaurant are partnering in a first-of-its-kind culinary collaboration in Northeast Florida.
The French Pantry and Little Miss Ha, open Wednesday, April 23, as part of 36 Granada — a unique collaboration encompassing four distinct, elevated dining concepts in the historic former Corazon Cinema and Cafe building.
Named for its address, 36 Granada brings together The French Pantry, known for its French-Mediterranean cuisine; Little Miss Ha, which has earned accolades for its authentic Vietnamese fare; La Petite Kitchen, a chef-driven cooking class studio and private dining room; and Cache-Cache, a cocktail lounge and event space.
The French Pantry is launching its dinner menu at 36 Granada — offered exclusively at the St. Augustine restaurant. Little Miss Ha, formerly in Mount Pleasant, S.C., is making its Northeast Florida debut.
Nearly four years in the making, 36 Granada is a joint venture between veteran restaurateurs John Valentino, owner of The French Pantry, and Johnny and Janice Hudgins, co-owners of Little Miss Ha.
“The space is really about providing people experiences,” Valentino said of 36 Granada. “A lot of people who come to St. Augustine are here to experience the oldest city in the country. … Hopefully, we’re going to provide some unique dining experiences.”
Although separate, independent restaurants, The French Pantry and Little Miss Ha each showcase unique menus offering inspired and innovative dishes.
The French Pantry will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, while Little Miss Ha focuses on lunch and dinner. The restaurants share a full-service main bar featuring craft cocktails, beer and wine.
Valentino said they also want to do wine tastings, cocktail classes and other events at 36 Granada.
Shared cultural history but not a fusion restaurant
“One of the great, really unique things about this project here in St. Augustine is this kind of yin and yang of The French Pantry and Little Miss Ha being in the same building, having a lot of cultural ties, especially in cuisine between France and Vietnam,” Johnny Hudgins told the Times-Union.
Nonetheless, each restaurant stands on its own, he said.
“The thing I like about it the most is that it’s not like a fusion restaurant. It’s not taking some French elements and some Vietnamese elements and then mixing them together. They are independent restaurants that are like siblings, almost,” he said.
Hudgins noted Little Miss Ha “is more verdant and feminine and Asian, but when you’re in French Pantry, it’s kind of a more austere, French bistro-style.”
“So, instead of having like a fusion experience, you come and have independent experiences,” Hudgins said, adding that guests can eat at one restaurant for breakfast or lunch and the other for dinner. “For not only locals but tourists alike, we give them multiple opportunities to come back and try some of our experiences.”
The French Pantry’s St. Augustine menu expands to dinner service
The French Pantry has been a Jacksonville dining destination for decades. The original at 6301-1 Powers Ave. was established in 1995 by Tim and Barbara Felver.
In 2015, Valentino bought the iconic restaurant known for its lunch-only menu of sandwiches, burgers, panini and bruschetta — all made with freshly baked bread from the large commercial bakery housed in the Powers Avenue building.
The French Pantry is also popular for its gourmet salads and decadent desserts such as Wedding Cake, Carrot Cake, Pound Cake and more.
36 Granada will see the restaurant expand its menu to a light, French-style breakfast and full dinner service, as well as lunch. But the Jacksonville location will remain lunch only, Valentino said.
He said the new restaurant will offer signature dishes such as Filet au Poivre, Côte de Boeuf, Duck Confit, Steak Frites, bruschettas, fresh pasta, including a classic Buccatini, and fresh market fish.
French Pantry desserts will be a mainstay on the menu. The restaurant will also offer raw bar items, Valentino said.
At Little Miss Ha, ‘Mommy Food’ at the heart of the menu
Little Miss Ha offers a menu inspired by family recipes.
“It’s really authentic to Vietnamese cuisine. It’s a little bit more modern. It’s not your typical mom-and-pop shop, which I love, but it’s that. It’s a little more elevated but still comfortable,” Janice said of their menu.
The restaurant pays homage to Janice’s mother, Thu-Ha, who brought her family recipes from Vietnam to Charleston, S.C., in 1979. She was affectionately known as “Miss Ha” by co-workers and customers at the old Piggly Wiggly grocery where she worked. Her mom was also known for her egg rolls, which ultimately became a staple in the store’s deli case, Janice said.
Janice said that when she was a child, her mom worked two jobs but always cooked the meals for her and her three brothers. When Janice was in college, she began cooking, but it wasn’t until she had her own four children that her mom began teaching her their family recipes — none of which were written down.
When she became a private chef, Janice said her most requested cuisine was “Mommy Food” — a phrase coined by her college roommates for the care packages of food Janice received from her mom.
“Everybody always wanted my mom’s food,” she said, noting that led her, her mom and brothers in 2012 to start doing pop-ups in Charleston featuring their Vietnamese homemade comfort food.
“I just came along for the ride. I was there to help out and to help roll spring rolls. My mom, who everybody calls Miss Ha, was really the star of the show,” she said of those days.
In early 2020, the Hudgins launched the original Little Miss Ha restaurant in Mount Pleasant, S.C. By then, the couple had established a solid following in the community via cooking private dinners, catering events and fine-tuning their menu at Charleston’s Workshop food hall.
The Hudgins’ closed the Mount Pleasant restaurant in October 2023 when its lease expired. By then, they had decided to relocate to St. Augustine and team up with Valentino to establish 36 Granada.
“My mom’s cooking was very homey, and I really wanted to elevate Vietnamese cuisine and make it a little more modern and elegant,” she said.
Janice said some of Little Miss Ha’s signature dishes reflect her mom’s cooking. Among the restaurant’s offerings are:
Imperial Rolls: Crispy rolls with seasoned pork, shredded veggies and noodles served with nuoc cham sauceShaking Beef (Bò lúc lắc): Features wok-fried filet mignonTamarind Ribs: Sweet and tangy ribs served with pickled okraYellow Curry: Coconut lemongrass curry with sweet potatoes and served with jasmine rice
French Pantry desserts will be available at Little Miss Ha. Both The French Pantry and Little Miss Ha will offer gluten-free and vegetarian options.
Valentino estimated that in general, the price point for dinner, appetizer to shared entree and dessert, at The French Pantry will be about $30 to $50 per person. It will be about $25 to $35 at Little Miss Ha. That doesn’t include wine or a cocktail, he said.
At La Petite Kitchen, cooking classes offer an opportunity to explore St. Augustine
Janice Hudgins will lead the cooking classes, expected to begin in May. The classes are designed to appeal to residents as well as tourists. It’s “a great way to introduce people” to the cuisine, her husband said.
“Cooking classes are a great thing to do when you are out in a new place,” her husband noted. “We figured, what else can we add to the community here from the tourist standpoint, and being able to offer cooking classes to both residents and tourists seemed like a great opportunity.”
Janice Hudgins previously taught Vietnamese cooking classes with their original Little Miss Ha in Mount Pleasant.
Cache-Cache means ‘hide and seek’ in French
Cache-Cache, the cocktail lounge, is tucked away toward the back of the restaurant. In French, it means to play hide-and-seek, which led to the lounge’s name. It has three doors: one each to The French Pantry, Little Miss Ha and its own outside door.
Valentino said they anticipate Cache-Cache will be popular with wedding parties looking for rehearsal dinners.
36 Granada, located near Flagler College, St. Augustine City Hall and the Lightner Museum at the southern end of the city’s Historic District, is in a building dating back to 1880, St. Johns County property records show.
Valentino said construction to renovate the building began in August 2023. The work included raising the floor about 4 1/2 feet as a precaution against flooding.
Reservations are recommended at the restaurants that have a combined total of about 200 seats, including the outdoor patio, Janice Hudgins said.
The French Pantry is open daily, offering counter-service breakfast from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. that features French omelettes, pastries, muffins, French toast, fresh roast coffee and espresso drinks. Full-service lunch is from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Valentino said.
He said a limited bar food menu will be available between 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m., when dinner service begins. Dinner service will continue until 9:30 p.m. or 10 p.m. daily, Valentino said.
Little Miss Ha doesn’t offer breakfast, but it will open at 10:30 a.m. daily with similar operating hours as The French Pantry, Janice Hudgins said.
Teresa Stepzinski is the dining reporter for the Times-Union. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @TeresaStepz or reach her via email at tstepzinski@jacksonville.com.
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