Now that New York City’s Restaurant Week has ended, businesses in Harlem are gearing up for a similar event specific to their neighborhood.
The first ever Harlem Restaurant and Retail Week will begin Feb. 15 and last until March 15. It will feature $20.10 prix fixe meals from participating restaurants and $20.10 specials at various stores ranging from bakeries to bike shops.
The event, which will last one month, is the third major initiative put on by Harlem Park to Park, a merchant association formed in September 2009. Nikoa Evans-Hendricks, one of the association’s founders and owner of N Boutique, said that the idea for the event came from what she perceived to be New York City Restaurant Week’s snubbing of Harlem.
“I think you can count the number of Harlem restaurants in New York City’s Restaurant Week on your fingers,” she said. “So we decided to create our own.”
Evans-Hendricks said that the Harlem week will largely follow the model of the citywide Restaurant Week, except that dinners will be $20.10 as opposed to $35, to reflect varying average prices in the areas.
But Evans-Hendricks said the goals for the week go beyond mimicking the upscale culture of other parts of the city. These plans, she said, figure into a broader redefining of the area.
“When people think about Harlem, they tend to think ‘soul food and church,’” she said. “We want to show that Harlem is actually filled with really young, hip, progressive residents and businesses. People tend to think of Harlem as just a place to live—we’re trying to market ourselves here as an alternative means of entertainment to downtown.”
Participants acknowledged that any publicity is good for business. “We want to give people a value, so that they can see the changes in Harlem that are going on,” said Brian Washington-Palmer, the owner of Native restaurant on Lenox Avenue and 118th Street, which will participate in Restaurant Week. “I hope all the newer people in the neighborhood will begin to discover us.”
Paula Coleman, the director of the Renaissance Fine Art gallery and a member of Park to Park, said that there is something of a divide. “I think it’s mainly the newer restaurants that are participating in this event. I know a lot of the restaurants on 116th Street, the West African restaurants, aren’t involved, probably because they are already established,” she said.
Employees at the Africa Kine restaurant and La Marmite restaurant said they had no comment regarding the Restaurant and Retail Week.
Some members of “Old Harlem” established landmarks don’t seem too concerned, as shown by the well-known Sylvia’s Restaurant decision to participate.
“I’m proud of our iconic status, but I also like that it’s still ‘cool’ to go to Sylvia’s,” said Trenness Woods-Black, president of communications for Sylvia’s and granddaughter of the restaurant’s founder. “Sylvia’s now is becoming a good blend of nuevo and traditional, so I think we’re very much in our league here with Harlem Park to Park.”
The biggest challenge for the business alliance appears to be spreading the word that such an event exists at all. The event’s original posters directed readers to a nonexistent website, and it is still unclear exactly which businesses are participating.
A list of participating restaurants can be found at www.harlemparktopark.com/particpant, not at the www.harlemrestaurantandretailweek.com site advertised on the poster advertising Harlem Restaurant and Retail Week. The advertised website provides a link to the Harlem Park to Park site, which contains the list of participants.
This week, many Harlem residents and other business owners said they hadn’t heard about the event.
“I have never heard of it before,” said Diamond Oliver, a Harlem resident. “I think it’s a good idea though, giving people a value in this economy,” she added.
Samuel Hargress, owner of the Paris Blues Bar & Club on Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard, said that he wasn’t contacted to be a part of the restaurant week. “I haven’t talked to anyone about it, and no one came to tell me about it,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with it though.”
Many of the stores participating in the Restaurant and Retail Week were particularly excited by the inclusion of businesses other than restaurants.
“Harlem Park to Park is a really eclectic alliance, and I think this event really puts on a different spin on a ‘restaurant week’,” said Aliyyah Baylor, owner of the “Make My Cake” bakery on St. Nicholas Avenue and 116th Street, also a participant in Restaurant Week.
Oye Carr, the owner of MODSquad Cycles on Frederick Douglass Boulevard, said that he hopes this event will allow his neighbors in Harlem to see the quality of their own local businesses. “I think that this event will show Harlem that if they want good quality and selection, they can find it here now.”
nicholas.bloom@columbiaspectator.com
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