Chef Preeti Mistry Closes Second Restaurant, Emeryville Cafe Navi Kitchen

Chef Preeti Mistry and wife/partner Ann Nadeau have closed their casual Emeryville cafe and restaurant Navi Kitchen, which they opened in April 2017 to complement their Temescal hit restaurant Juhu Beach Club. The closure leaves fans of Navi Kitchen’s Indian pizza and playful dishes like tikka masala mac and cheese and fried chicken doswaffles without a place to immediately get their fix of Mistry’s cooking: Mistry and Nadeau closed Juhu Beach club in January after a five year run.

Nadeau designed Navi Kitchen, located in first floor retail space of a new development at 5000 Adeline Street, the Bakery Lofts. Beyond feeding customers in a low-key setting, the business espoused and supported political causes: A menu section titled “Comforting” contained items whose sale sent $1 to charitable organizations.

As Preeti and Ann wrote in their goodbye message to customers, the restaurant raised thousands for the ACLU, Destiny Arts, and Black Lives Matter, among others.

“I like to party all night but [my wife] has taught me to leave when the party is good,” said Mistry said upon the closure of Juhu Beach Club. It’s sad to leave another party — Eater SF has reached out to Mistry for details on what’s next.

Updated July 2, 12:30 p.m.:

According to Mistry, the decision to close Navi Kitchen is partially to take a needed break from the crunch of running a small business, and to pursue other opportunities outside the kitchen. But, it’s not the end of the restaurant road for Mistry. Down the line, fans of Juhu could expect to see an evolution of the popular Temescal restaurant that closed last year.

“If we bring Juhu back it wont be the same, it’ll have some level of evolution,” says Mistry. “I love feeding people and I have so many things i want to do beyond what I’ve already accomplished with Juhu. I want to challenge myself to do more and do better. I’m excited.”

Mistry says she and Nadeau will move out of the space in the coming weeks; the management company will start the process of finding a new tenant. “I think it’s a great space,” said Mistry. “I just don’t think what we were doing was working there.”

Stay tuned for details on Mistry’s future projects, and news on new tenants for Navi’s old space.

Ellen Fort contributed reporting to this article.