Located in a former Masonic lodge building, the space is a calming synthesis of mixed woods, white surfaces and murals of florals in billowing shapes across the vaulted ceiling.
With a couple of visits under my belt, here are six early standout dishes I recommend you zero in on.
Yonette Alleyne — who focuses on dishes from her native Guyana, a country on South America’s northern coast with close cultural ties to the Caribbean — is the chef to whom I beelined in the market.
On the opposite end of the food chain: Alleyne follows a plant-based diet, and her vegan curry combines carrots, peppers, squash and other vegetables in a gently spiced coconut milk broth.
Beaten egg fuses with a crepe; crackers made from fried won ton wrappers and halved pieces of hot dog poke out; flavors of soy sauce and chile oil zigzag through every other bite.
In cooler weather, I’m feeling warmed by their version of quesabirria — the Instagram-fueled sensation encompassing a tortilla stained red-orange by beef consommé, filled with Tijuana-style birria de res, sealed with shredded mozzarella and crisped on the griddle.
For a novel spin, he throws in farro; the grain adds chew without pulling too much focus, but appealingly it almost pushes the dish into a near-complete meal on its own.
Here’s a vision of comfort food: delicate, near-collapsing meat patties over white rice with overlays of kimchi and a veneer of cheese, and a fried egg just barely oozing its yolk to complete the picture.
Stephanie writes about the ensemble of chefs bringing the restaurant to life night after night: “To watch the chefs work alongside one another simultaneously is a sight: Elbows and spoons and spatchcocked Cornish hens in one another’s orbit within a kitchen of roughly 400 square feet.