Little House Cafe in Vineyard Haven is changing hands, names and menus this winter.

Businessman Brook Katzen, who bought the 34-seat restaurant from its founding owners more than four years ago, confirmed Monday that longtime Island chef and caterer Carlos Montoya is taking over the restaurant. Mr. Montoya told the Gazette Tuesday that he and partner Sheenagh Caridi have signed a five-year lease with an option to buy the business and property.

Little House Café will close Feb. 15, with the new restaurant scheduled to open March 11, Mr. Montoya said.

“We are incredibly grateful and excited that we’ll be taking over the beloved Little House Cafe and transforming it into The Maker Pasta Shop Café,” Mr. Montoya and Ms. Caridi posted on social media over the weekend.

“Our vision is to create a warm and welcoming space where you can enjoy handmade pasta and fresh, thoughtfully prepared dishes while continuing to feel the sense of community that made the Little House Café so special,” they wrote.

Speaking with the Gazette by phone from an off-Island visit with friends, Mr. Montoya said the new eatery will sell fresh, housemade pastas, pasta kits and other prepared foods and also serve lunch and dinner.

“We are thinking that we are most likely going to do Sunday brunch as well,” he said.

A native of Colombia who grew up in New York and moved to the Vineyard in 2008, Mr. Montoya has cooked at Sweet Life, Garde East, Detente and Edgartown Yacht Club. He has cooked for two American presidents on their Island vacations and, for the past four years, has worked as a private chef and caterer.

“The Maker,” Mr. Montoya said, was a nickname bestowed on him by the two-year-old grandson of one of his private clients.

Mr. Katzen, whose parents live on the Vineyard, moved here in 2020 and bought Little House Cafe later that year. He also acquired two nearby businesses on State Road: the former Island Cove mini-golf center (now called The Cove Golf and Grill) and the building that now houses the Model Deli, across the street from Little House.

In 2021, he partnered with Jim Shane of Edgartown to purchase Mad Martha’s Ice Cream.

Speaking with the Gazette on Monday, Mr. Katzen said he had enjoyed his foray into the restaurant business but that it was time for something new at Little House Cafe, a popular, year-round eatery established in 2010 by Merrick Carreiro and Jenik Khelalfa Munafo in partnership with their husbands.

“The restaurant scene in Vineyard Haven is evolving, [with] a lot more options now,” Mr. Katzen said. “Little House, amidst all this change, has stayed pretty much the same, and what the restaurant really needs is a complete reinvention of the concept [and] a fresh start under an experienced operator,” he said. “I hope the whole community will throw their support behind Carlos.”

Little House Café will close Feb. 15, Mr. Katzen said.

Editor's note: this article has been updated to reflect that the restaurant has not been sold, but leased, and to include Mr. Montoya's comments.