“A woman’s place is in the House ... and the Senate,” read the sign once carefully placed on your way to the sprawling outdoor terrace of El Atelier. This paladar is located upstairs in a Spanish-style mansion built in the late 1800s. It is near the Melia Cohiba and Habana Riviera hotels, just off the illustrious Paseo Avenue. The paladar’s successful entrepreneur owner, Niuris Higueras, is a vivacious woman who was one of a select few Cuban cuentapropistas (self-employed entrepreneurs) invited to President Barack Obama’s town hall-style meeting during his visit to Cuba in March 2016. Although Niuris and her paladar were already highly regarded and well known before this historic presidential visit, when First Lady Michelle Obama dined with her mother and daughters at El Atelier, the paladar’s reputation soared even higher.
