Give tourist-trampled downtown a rest this holiday weekend and check out Lenox Avenue — central Harlem’s historic main drag, which is morphing, in fits and starts, into uptown’s most enjoyable boulevard.
Any emerging dining-and-drinking zone is more fun before it’s stampeded by frantic foodies and tourists. Right now, Lenox Avenue (a k a Malcolm X Boulevard) has settled into the short-lived “sweet spot” between neighborhood embrace and global discovery.
It isn’t yet culinary heaven. Red Rooster’s Marcus Samuelsson is the only “name” chef to plant his toque so far.
It isn’t a “restaurant row” like Frederick Douglass Boulevard two blocks west. Lenox’s many churches make it hard to find locations for liquor licenses.
Yet, the stretch between West 118th and 131st streets now boasts 20-odd friendly bistros and bars. Most offer outdoor seats on Manhattan’s deepest sidewalk. Legendary Sylvia’s, early 21st-century pioneers Red Rooster and its downstairs club Ginny’s, Settepani, Chez Lucienne, Il Caffe Latte and Jacob have been joined by a batch of brave new arrivals.
Just 15 years ago, empty storefronts blighted the avenue. Now, cuisines include Italian, Southern, soul, Latin-American, Senegalese and French. Prices are lower than downtown. Attitude is nonexistent.
Customers migrate from place to place — “A very common thing to do is to start at Barawine at 120th Street and walk uptown, maybe with a stop at Corner Social,” says Alexandra Lerner, who co-owns the Serengeti tea boutique nearby.
Because many of the cafes are widely separated, going from one to the next entails a pleasant stroll through Lenox’s evolving streetscape, replete with beautifully restored landmark buildings.
Much more’s coming: a new Lenox Lounge, Richie Notar’s unnamed music club at the old Lenox Lounge site, and a bakery by “Beasts of the Southern Wild” star Dwight Henry. Go now, before Hollywood takes over — and tell your friends you knew it when it was still Harlem.
Barawine
200 Lenox Ave. (at 120th Street)
646-756-4154
Fabrice Warin, a veteran of Le Cercle Rouge and Orsay, launched this long, stylish wine bar and bistro in August 2013, across the street from his home. Its 114 indoor and outdoor seats are full of preening beauties, cooing couples and cute babies. The al fresco patio’s a joy in warm weather. “You can’t beat the corner. It gets afternoon and evening sun,” says regular customer Alexandra Lerner.
Inside, it’s pure modern French bistro, with lots of brass and tile, cozy banquettes and walls of wine — 200 smartly chosen bottles and 25 choices by the glass. The menu’s strong on garden-fresh salads and bistro classics, such as hanger steak and a perfectly turned out branzino provençal adorned with black olives, asparagus and tomatoes.
Pa-paya Seed
171 Lenox Ave. (between 118th and 119th streets)
347-625-6306
A Harlem original opened last summer, this bright and cheerful stop for self-serve frozen yogurt (made with vanilla almond milk) also offers breakfast and smoothies.
Chéri
231 Lenox Ave. (between 121st and 122nd streets)
212-662-4374
In two pretty, romantic rooms with just 45 seats in total, Paris-born chef and owner Alain Eoche offers only a two-course nightly dinner for $32. There’s no choice, you get whichever “table d’hôte” appetizer and entree strike his fancy.
The other night it was a crab-avocado compote to start, followed by boneless pork loin in ginger-shallot sauce and mashed turnips.
The place is gorgeous, with a salonlike front room anchored by a fireplace and piano (and a good player) and an airy, glass-roofed greenhouse.
“I want to cook every day with the same attention as if for friends coming to my home,” says Eoche, who lives upstairs.
Each night, he chooses “something that 99 percent of customers like.” A salad or a brie burger can be substituted for the stubborn 1 percent.
“It’s not really a restaurant,” Eoche chuckles. “It looks like a restaurant, but I designed it like a house.”
La Bodega 47
161 Lenox Ave. (at 118th Street)
212-280-4700
Owner Brian Washington-Palmer turned his former bistro Native into a rum-focused, speakeasy-style social club that looks like a bodega from the outside. In addition to 47 rums and killer cocktails, there’s a short American menu with hummus bowls and grilled calamari.
BLVD
239 Lenox Ave. (at 122nd Street)
212-678-6200
Since turning the former Boulevard Bistro into BLVD in March, chef Carlos Swepson and his sister and business partner Joi have been gradually converting a previously indistinct menu into a “crafted American soul” lineup relying on well-sourced ingredients — including meat from well-regarded butcher Harlem Shambles on Frederick Douglass Boulevard.
Customers enjoy fried turkey meatloaf, seafood gumbo and Mississippi cornmeal-crusted grouper in 36 indoor seats, many in cozy booths, and 12 al fresco seats at picnic tables in a sunken sidewalk terrace. I loved killer shrimp and grits. House-made bread’s served with cane sugar-blended butter. The coffered-looking ceiling is actually wallpaper, but the warmth is the real deal.
Harlem Shake
100 W. 124th St.
212-222-8300
Since it opened last year, this sweet, retro snacks-and-dessert spot has become more than just a kids’ place.
Musa Jackson, a producer and events planner who’s also president of the West 120th Street Block Association, says, “It branded Harlem, as well as brought in the retro feel. It looks like it’s been there forever. It’s a meeting ground for everyone. Grandma can bring her grandbabies, and there’s a nice cross-section.”
Set your dietary scruples aside for old-fashioned burgers, hot dogs and melts, and for monster shakes made with New York state organic milk and Blue Marble ice cream.
Astor Row Cafe
404 Lenox Ave. (at 130th Street)
212-491-2566
A funky coffee house opened by Venezuelan couple Manny and Rose Pena in 2012, at the foot of West 130th Street’s block of landmarked, front-porched rowhouses, Astor Row Café is more than just a spot to share java and sandwiches at communal tables — “It’s a great social networking place,” says enthusiastic customer Musa Jackson.
If killer-strong, Mexican-spiced hot chocolate doesn’t make you sweat, paintings of young women amorously groping — including two nude in a toilet — might do the trick. There’s occasional live music and a monthly paella night. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has dropped in.
Lenox Sapphire
341 Lenox Ave. (at 127th Street)
212-866-9700
New partner Frederic Chirol is transforming owner Fall Fara’s formerly all-Senegalese Les Ambassades into a French bistro with a few spicy Senegalese dishes on the menu. He’s also doubling its size by adding a full-scale pâtisserie that will share the same corner as the bistro’s 35-odd sidewalk seats.
Chirol, a veteran of La Goulue, oddly says they’re not open yet. But the bistro portion certainly was alive the other day when I popped by for lunch along with other customers (things are still a little mysterious on Lenox) and enjoyed mussels in a tingling, spiced Senegalese sauce for just $10.