High Hat Cafe owners to open new restaurant off Freret Street, drawn from their roots

There’s always been a good Cuban sandwich on the menu of the High Hat Cafe , next to the gumbo ya-ya, fried catfish and pimento cheese burgers. But the Cuban connection at this Freret Street mainstay runs deeper than the menu.

Co-owners Fredo Noguiera and Ryan Iriarte are both New Orleans natives and first-generation Cuban-Americans. They have long talked of the possibility of opening a café together drawing on these roots, and soon that will come to fruition.

The two are now developing Café Conmigo , within sight of High Hat Cafe. It’s at 2511 Jena St., a few steps off Freret Street, in a tiny building that was previously home to the Ice Cream 504 scoop shop. The new restaurant is slated to open in early 2026.

Café Conmigo translates cheerfully as “coffee with me,” and coffee wil