Somali American restaurant Kismayo Kitchen, founded by the late Ahmed Omar, has closed at 505 Riverside Avenue in Burlington, although Omar’s widow, Anisa Mohamed, said she is looking for a new home for the restaurant. Scott Gustin, the city’s principal planner and zoning division manager, confirmed that the small red building is slated for demolition, most likely next year, as part of a Federal Emergency Management Agency hazard mitigation grant buyout.
A geotechnical assessment showed that “the property includes an unstable slope and the building is at risk of slide,” Gustin said. The plot at the corner of Riverside Avenue and Intervale Road will be converted into green space. Gustin already managed a similar buyout of 389 Riverside Avenue but said he has not heard of other potential buyouts on the stretch.
The property’s owner, Cheryl Strenio, bought 505 Riverside Avenue in 2016 and operated her Little Red Kitchen café there before renting it to Kismayo Kitchen’s late chef-owner in 2019. Strenio now makes Chef Cheryl’s Parmesan Dip on a limited basis and sells it directly and at Paul Mazza’s Fruits and Vegetables in Essex.
Serious erosion of the bank behind the Riverside Avenue building led Strenio to apply for the FEMA buyout program almost eight years ago. “The last few storms have really wreaked havoc,” she said. She declined to share the amount of the buyout beyond describing it as fair market value.
Kismayo Kitchen was known as much for its Somali coconut chicken stew and Philly cheesesteaks as it was for its owner’s warm, friendly energy and community involvement. Three months after Omar died unexpectedly in his sleep on August 13, 2023, at the age of 36, his widow, Anisa Mohamed, reopened the restaurant with the help of family and friends.
By May 2026, Mohamed had decided she needed to focus on her studies to become a pharmacist and on the couple’s two young daughters. She arranged to sell Kismayo Kitchen to husband-and-wife team Abbas Mohamed (no relation) and Mashaer Ebaid.
The couple operated Kismayo Kitchen for a few months, but “that didn’t go so well,” Strenio said. Anisa Mohamed confirmed by text from Minnesota, where she now lives, that the sale was never finalized and that she still owns Kismayo Kitchen. She said she has new operators, and there is a possibility they will reopen for the short term in 505 Riverside Avenue, but together they are looking for a new Burlington restaurant space.
“Kismayo Kitchen is for Vermonters by Vermonters. It’s here to stay,” Anisa Mohamed said. “It’s not about money; it’s about my husband’s legacy. As long as that name is in Vermont, it makes me happy.”
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Clarification, September 12, 2026 2:36 pm: This post has been updated to reflect that Anisa Mohamed plans to open Kismayo Kitchen in a new location.
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