Lost Cuban Kitchen closes again in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Lost Cuban Kitchen has gone missing again.

After reopening in downtown Cedar Rapids in April 2024, the ghost kitchen popular for its Cuban sandwiches has again closed without notice. Third-party delivery apps are no longer accepting orders.

It’s unclear when the restaurant, which served sandwiches for carryout only, closed. Its last social media post was Feb. 9.

Its latest opening in Third Street Bodega, 312 Third St. SE, was owner Jess Streit’s third stint. Its convenience store host has also closed, with new signs now in its windows advertising the space for lease.

The Lost Cuban first opened as a full-service option in downtown Cedar Rapids in 2012, closing seven years later.

After closing, Streit pioneered The Lost Cuban as a ghost kitchen concept — a delivery-only restaurant that runs out of a stand-alone kitchen or another restaurant’s kitchen — in Pasadena, California. He said the concept grew to about 25 locations in California before he sold it.

He later moved back to Cedar Rapids to be near family, including his grandmother, who wrote his recipes.

The Lost Cuban had a brief appearance on delivery apps in Cedar Rapids in 2021, when it cooked out of the kitchen at Rock Bar American Grill. Streit told The Gazette in 2024 that the concept needed more space.

“This is a continuation of that concept,” Streit said. “Every time I went out, people would be asking about it. We had quite a following, and people are passionate about it.”

He said the latest opening would be a proof of concept he hoped to grow over time. With a model that runs out of existing retailer’s kitchens and accepts orders on third-party delivery platforms, he hoped to replicate what he did in California throughout several Iowa markets.

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.

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