Uptown, they’ve got authentic cuisine down
All-day cafes are all the rage, but
does it in a way that’s distinctly Harlem. Stop in at 7:30 a.m. for a cappuccino and a pain au chocolat, or catch live jazz over dinner at the bar in back on Thursday nights.
The menu is influenced by the French-African flavors of Senegal, where owner and executive chef Fara Fall grew up. Fall, who drove a taxi and made deliveries when he first moved to New York 17 years ago, also runs Chez Lucienne down the block and Harlem Dandy near 115th St.
For lunch, try the $14 “international maffe” (photo), Fall’s riff on the Senegalese peanut stew, made with vegetables instead of meat. (It’s served with white rice and the house-made hot sauce, a thick mixture of softened tomatoes, onions, and Jamaican hot chilies pureed until soft and smooth). Another specialty is fish or chicken with yassa sauce ($16), made from a mountain of slow-cooked sweet onions.
Still more magic happens in the basement pastry kitchen, where chefs trained in the art of French patisserie back home (Senegal was once colonized by the French) make proper baguettes, tarts, croissants and dozens of desserts. The steam table at
seems to stretch for half a block, filled with salmon and oxtails, pork chops and ribs, or the crackly skinned roast pork known as lechon. Pile up a plate of those (photo right) with rice (yellow, white, or yellow with pigeon peas), stewed beans (black or red), sweet plantains, green bananas, vegetables or half a dozen other sides of your choosing. Or order a foot-long griddled sandwich like a $7 Cuban.
Tropical is the labor of love for Jose Monegro, who opened it in in 2003. He’s since added two more, one on W. 116th St. and another on E. 172nd St. Though the chef whose cooking built Tropical’s fan base retired in 2012, she passed on her tricks for things like the spice mix for the rotisserie chickens, which are skewered nose to tail and roasted for hours before being served by the quarter, half or whole. (At lunch, those are $2.50, $5 or $9).
BThere’s nearly always a line of regulars who all know how to order — take a number, then catch the eye of your favorite server — but Monegro keeps that moving dizzyingly fast.