Visit UPTOWNflavor.com

April 26, 2006

Where to Eat???

Harlem Is Rising, but Where to Eat?

By CAREN CHESLER

"Harlem is one of the few places in Manhattan where you can find a 1,000-square-foot two-bedroom apartment with a pear tree in front, a magnolia out back and an oak fireplace in between, all renting for about $2,100.

But it comes at a cost: food. Aside from some renowned soul food, Harlem is relatively underserved in terms of restaurants.

The Zagat restaurant guide for 2006 has 119 listings for the East Village, which spans only 14 blocks. For Harlem, which spans 47 blocks, the guide lists only 18, and the roster includes a Papaya King and a Starbucks. New York magazine’s online restaurant listings show 205 entries for the East Village, compared with only 27 for Harlem.

Michael Whiteman, a restaurant consultant based in New York, attributes the scarcity of restaurants in Harlem to the relative lack of high-density office buildings and of tourism, compared with other parts of Manhattan. Areas that depend almost entirely on residents generally have fewer restaurants per capita than mixed-use urban districts, Mr. Whiteman said."

To quote my blog cohort Rachel of Bagel in Harlem,  "this reporter is not yet familiar with UPTOWN flavor."
 
The Times article goes on to talk about the problems restaurants have with obtaining liquor licenses due to the number and proximity of churches and schools uptown. Another issue was that a new restaurant would likely have to start from scratch "because Harlem has never had the volume of restaurants that exist below 96th Street." Of course there are loopholes that help owners get around the prohibitive state zoning laws that prevent restaurants from obtaining liquor licenses resulting in the opening of several popular uptown eateries like Native.
 
Surprisingly, another complaint is the price of rents being "unusually high — as much as $80 a square foot annually, approaching rents in some desirable areas farther downtown that have the advantage of much more foot traffic."
 
This seems all the more reason to support the restaurants that have managed to open and thrive in Harlem. 
 
Read the whole article in the New York Times [website] 
Related: Curbed [website] 

Cat: 
    General | Time: 8:29 pm (UTC+8) 

Comments »

The URI to TrackBack this entry is: http://uptownflavor.blogsome.com/2006/04/26/where-to-eat/trackback/

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>


Links:

  • 102 Brownstone
  • 22 West
  • Bayou
  • Boma Coffee & Tea
  • Charles' Southern Style Kitchen
  • Cherry Lounge
  • Chocolat
  • Citarella
  • Copeland's
  • Creole
  • Curbed
  • Dinosaur BBQ
  • Earl Monroe's
  • Emperor's Roe
  • Ginger
  • Harlem Grill
  • Harlem Park
  • Harlem Tea Room
  • Harlem Vintage
  • Hip Hop Soda Shop
  • Hush Tours
  • IHOP
  • Lenox Lounge
  • Londel's
  • Make My Cake
  • Maroon's
  • Mo Bay
  • Moca Bar & Lounge
  • Native
  • NYC Nosh
  • Perk's
  • Revival
  • Saurin Parke Cafe
  • Settepani
  • Spoonbread
  • St. Nick's Pub
  • Sugar Hill Ale
  • Sugar Shack
  • Sylvia's
  • Terrace in the Sky
  • Brownstoner, The
  • Den, The
  • Wimp's Sky Cafe & Bar
  • Max SoHa
  • Kitchenette Uptown
  • Amy Ruth's
  • Eater
  • Harlem Club
  • Harlem World
  • Figure Skating in Harlem
  • Diner's Journal
  • Rao's
  • Harlem Lanes
  • Phat Cribs
  • Uptown Renaissance
  • Soup Man
  • Pier 2110
  • Hop Stop
  • Raw Soul
  • Maroons
  • Daily Candy
  • Baton Rouge
  • Soul of America
  • Toast
  • Carne
  • Heights, The
  • Panino Sportivo
  • Add Your Own
  • Hamilton Heights
  • Harlem One Stop
  • West Harlem
  • Sole to Soul
  • Bill's Place
  • My Harlem
  • Mama Foundation
  • Eat In Harlem
  • Melba's
  • Society
  • Halstead Property
  • National Geographic
  • Meet Up
  • Radio Perfecto
  • Sugar Hill Inn
  • Yelp.com
  • WHCR
  • Strictly Roots
  • New Leaf Cafe
  • Cotton Club
  • Orbit
  • Uptown Juice Bar
  • Piatto D'Ora II
  • Cafe ego
  • Annie Mae's Cheesecakes
  • Taste of E. Harlem
  • Mannas
  • Shameless Restaurants
  • NYC Inspections
  • Park Terrace Bistro
  • Harlem Wing & Waffle
  • Billie's Black

Categories:

  • 125th Street
  • About UPTOWN flavor
  • Above 125th
  • Advertising
  • Below 125th Street
  • Cafes
  • Closings
  • East Harlem
  • Eat in
  • Exhibits & Events
  • Flavor Guides
  • Formal Dining
  • General
  • Hotels/Inns/B&Bs
  • Informal Dining
  • Lounges
  • Multi-use
  • New
  • Notes from the Editor
  • Profiles
  • Real Estate
  • Recipes
  • Reviews
  • Specialty Shops
  • Theatre
  • Uptown/Downtown
  • Weekend Guide

Site Related:

Archives:

  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006

Most Recent Posts

  • We've Moved!
  • Location Location...
  • Thank You!
  • Living in Harlem
  • August Events
  • Nice & Spicy
  • We're Back and...
  • 4th of July...
  • If You Can't...
  • Mini-Review: MoBay
  • Uptown Fine...
  • Up Above Uptown
  • The Eastside...
  • Fur Favorite...
  • Architectural Porn
  • Open For...
  • Sweettooth...
  • Hip+Hop+...
  • harlem is...MUSIC
  • Weekend Guide v. 7

Most Popular Posts

  • Best Bakery in Harlem: 24
  • MMMM...Toasty: 14
  • East Harlem: 12
  • Harlem's Got the Juice!: 11
  • The Love Experience: 10
  • Fur Favorite Makes the Voice: 9
  • We've Moved!: 7

Other:

  • login
  • register

Meta:

  • RSS .92
  • RDF 1.0
  • RSS 2.0
  • Atom
  • Comments RSS 2.0
  • Valid XHTML

Get free blog up and running in minutes with Blogsome
Theme designed by Chetan Kunte