Harlem, Ooh La La
By Aleksandra Neizvestnaya
Harlem has been the image of the black American community for much of the last century, but now that image is becoming more and more obsolete. Over the last decade, the streets of Central Harlem have undergone a makeover. And in years to come, it will not be just the lower east side or midtown that adventure seekers run to. Chez Lucienne on Lenox Ave. between 125th and 126th St. is one of the restaurants that has helped transform the neighborhood.
“There is a spirit here that we have never seen in all our restaurant life,” says Nadine Chevreux, owner of Chez Lucienne.
Chevreux left the Upper East Side with her husband and four sons in 2001 and moved to western Harlem’s historical Strivers’ Row, located on 138th and 139th streets between 7th and 8th avenues. In 2009, Chevreux and her husband opened Harlem’s first French bistro, replacing an old pizzeria with reasonably priced Parisian cuisine right at the heart of the neighborhood.
Chez Lucienne has seating for 60 customers for inside seating, and can accommodate 20 outside. A full sized bar also seats seven. The restaurant has a laid-back, nonchalant kind of vibe, with a high ceiling, globe lights, and a light blue couch along the wall. At night, it becomes dimly lit with mostly candles, setting a romantic mood. White tablecloths and wooden maroon chairs give the place a conservative look, yet the tattered brick wall on the inside makes it cozy and welcoming.
Smooth Jazz and R&B bands play on Saturday and Sunday nights, which is when the restaurant is at its busiest. Chevreux chose not to reveal the restaurant’s revenue, but said that on the weekends it gets so crowded that they have to start turning people away. The restaurant’s busiest months are during the summer, when the customers start to crowd the sidewalk seating. Chez Lucienne employs about 80 workers, from waiters and waitresses to bus boys, cooks and managers.
There is a Saturday Brunch fixed-price menu, and also a 50% discount of the bill for Fridays and Saturdays between 12 AM and 2 AM. The menu consists of appetizers such as Escargot, and entrees such as Coq au Vin, which is braised organic chicken in red wine, pearl onion, and mushrooms. The restaurant also serves four variations of Moules-Frites, which are mussels and fries.
Though Chevreux and her husband were entering unchartered territory, with only mom-and-pop stores in the area, Chez Lucienne was welcomed by the community. According to Manhattan Community Board 10, “while Harlem has a significant economic base, the economic potential of the area is not maximized.” Decades have shown that despite the restoration of abandoned buildings and the conversion of vacant lots for commercial purposes, public investment is still low. This is why the Community Board of Central Harlem has been so welcoming and inviting to “new dynamic business clusters” in the neighborhood.
Chevreux agreed, saying that the neighborhood needed an upscale-casual restaurant like this one. But being welcomed by the community didn’t help it bring in business from outside of the neighborhood. What “put us on the map,” Chevreux says, was the opening of Red Rooster right next door.
Marcus Samuelsson, who had the honor of cooking the first State Dinner for President Barack Obama in 2009, opened Red Rooster in 2011. Specializing in American comfort food, the celebrity chef attracted both locals and non-locals to the area. Just in the past year, restaurant chains such as Joe’s Crab Shack and Red Lobster have opened up by the corner of 8th Ave. and 125th St, just two blocks from Chez Lucienne. Soon thereafter, major retail brands like DSW and the Gap Factory Store also opened up shop in the neighborhood. Whole Food is also waiting to open on the corner of Lenox Ave. and 125th St. in 2015.
Meheret Meskel, a waitress at Red Rooster and a local since 2009, comments that the neighborhood now has restaurants with the “standard of the Upper West Side. People are coming from all over the city.” She also adds that she doesn’t see Chez Lucienne as competition for Red Rooster, adding that they complement each other. “A person may want to have a cocktail at Chez Lucienne and then walk over and have dinner at Red Rooster.”
Alongside the new ventures, businesses that reflect the neighborhood’s historical African-American culture can still be found. Past 126th St. along Lenox Ave. is a store called African Paradise; down the block is a store called Black Star Music and Video; and at the corner of 126th, is Sylvia’s Restaurant, “the Queen of Soul Food.”
Sylvia’s had its 51st anniversary in August of this year. It has been one of the witnesses of the neighborhood’s changing business environment. Judy Smith, a manager at Sylvia’s for 15 years, says that this change is good for the community. “Before people were scared of Harlem, because of things that they would see in movies, but now people are finding out that they were wrong.” And the bigger variety of stores means that she “[doesn’t] even have to go downtown.”
Smith says that Sylvia’s has not been hurt by the new competition. In fact, she loves the food at Chez Lucienne. When she isn’t managing at Sylvia’s, she runs over to eat there when she can.
Chevreux calls the customer base of Chez Lucienne, “eclectic.” But no matter the diversity of the clientele, she tries to maintain an “authentic feeling.” She compares the atmosphere of Chez Lucienne to her other restaurant, Cafe du Soleil, in the Upper West Side, saying that “this is where people are having the most fun” as opposed to over there “where people just order one drink and sit.”
Arlyn Blake, who traveled the world critiquing food as a former ambassador for the James Beard Foundation, and is now a publisher of FOODCalender, says “It’s my favorite little French restaurant in all of New York. It’s authentic and different from other French restaurants in Manhattan – I’ve tried them all.” Blake adds that even though the last time she was there, “the service was bad, and the mussels were very small and cold,” she is not giving up on Chez Lucienne. She loves the mix of interesting people that she finds there.
Many people point to the influx of wealthier, white residents in Harlem as the reason for the increase of high-end restaurants in the area. Blake countered, however, that the “white and black” obsession that started 20 years ago is over. “The migration of white people to Harlem is not new,” she says, “it is a lot more diverse now.” The Census Bureau shows that the white population in Harlem, from about 120th to 145th street, was 10.5% in 1990, and had nearly doubled by 2010.
Reka also adds that the atmosphere suddenly comes alive once the sun goes down. Another customer, Joi Frankel, commented while eating dinner with her husband, “it is a little bit of Paris in the middle of Manhattan.”