{"id":335267,"date":"2026-09-01T21:34:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T21:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/335267\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T21:34:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T21:34:29","slug":"nyc-chef-camari-mick-is-opening-new-afro-caribbean-restaurant-calabash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/335267\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Chef Camari Mick Is Opening New Afro-Caribbean Restaurant Calabash"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City is familiar with Camari Mick<\/a>\u2019s pastry work \u2014 she was whipping out rum cakes and beef patty croissants during her role as executive pastry chef of the Musket Room<\/a> and Raf\u2019s<\/a>. Now the four-time James Beard Award semifinalist<\/a> in the Outstanding Pastry Chef category is ready to go out on her own<\/a> with a brasserie and bakery dedicated to Afro-Caribbean cuisines and communities. Calabash<\/a> is opening in the West Village at 183 Christopher Street, near Weehawken Street, in the fall.<\/p>\n

The new name stems from a double-sphered gourd that was dried and used as a musical instrument or vessel, often throughout the African diaspora. She grew up seeing calabashes in her home in Pennsylvania, and during her research and development travels across Africa and the Caribbean, they kept appearing.<\/p>\n

Calabash\u2019s daytime menu will showcase Mick\u2019s pastry skills, with laminated pastries, fermented breads, and savory dishes, like the cornbread pancake with a salted maple sabayon. The coffee is sourced from across Africa, and the tea is from Kenya. At night, the restaurant switches to a prix fixe dinner menu.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Camari Mick. Clay Williams<\/p>\n

On the food lineup, the suya steak frites is Mick\u2019s take on the Nigerian grilled meat skewer. She\u2019s making long, deep-fried fries from ripe plantains; using whatever cuts of steak are available from Prince Abou\u2019s<\/a>, a Black-owned halal butcher shop in Harlem; and fashioning an au poivre sauce based on suya spices, all topped with peanuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in Michelin-starred restaurants, you\u2019re cooking somebody else\u2019s story,\u201d Mick says. \u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t I want the opportunity to cook mine?\u201d She grew up in Pennsylvania; her father is Jamaican, her mother is from Brooklyn, and she recently discovered that she\u2019s part Nigerian. \u201cIt\u2019s time to learn about my own culture and be able to put that on the plate,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Mick talks about working on goat ragu with pappardelle and spicy pomodoro sauce, paired with a hard goat cheese. There\u2019s also marinated sardines on a Trinidadian bake with a tomatillo chow<\/p>\n

For desserts, she\u2019s turning gizzada, a Jamaican coconut milk tart, into a sticky bun. The chocolate chip cookie is being baked with single-sourced chocolate from One One Cacao<\/a> in Jamaica. She\u2019s also bringing back that iconic beef patty croissant.<\/p>\n

Camari previewed<\/a> dishes during a pop-up at Riviera Maya hotel restaurant Et\u00e9reo<\/a> in early August. That menu included grilled fish with collard greens salsa verde, crispy pork belly with jollof, and a smoked cheesecake.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

The Hoppin\u2019 John dolma at Calabash\u2019s August pop-up in Mexico. Courtesy of Calabash<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

The grilled fish with collard greens salsa verde at Calabash\u2019s August pop-up in Mexico. Courtesy of Calabash<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no liquor. Instead, Calabash will serve fermented drinks, nonalcoholic cocktails, and adaptogenic beverages using lion\u2019s mane mushrooms and vitamins.<\/p>\n

The space will feature art by Black and brown artists, curated by gallerist Cierra Britton<\/a>. Mick excitedly talks about pairing specific bites of food to each artwork; the staff will be trained to talk about both the dishes and the art. \u201cI want them to leave feeling that they learned a little bit more and that they can take whatever they got from here and put it into their own work,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

D.C. architecture firm Drummond Projects<\/a> designed the 1,300-square-foot, 30-seat restaurant. The space was Heermance Farm\u2019<\/a>s New York City event space, and actually, Calabash is a collaboration with the upstate New York-based farm. She\u2019s even asking them to grow specific produce for her, teasing sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

Mick originally named her venture L\u2019Atelier Eben\u00e8<\/a>, but decided to switch gears because it didn\u2019t fit. She wanted to \u201cdecentralize European standards,\u201d she says. \u201dIt was almost an identity crisis. \u2018If we\u2019re doing this for us, shouldn\u2019t the name represent us more?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Calabash\u2019s smoked cheesecake at a pop-up in Mexico in August. Courtesy of Calabash<\/p>\n

This iteration of Calabash is what Mick calls a \u201cproof of concept,\u201d where she has the space for some time until she figures out what works, what doesn\u2019t, and where the brasserie and bakery will ultimately land.<\/p>\n

For Mick, Calabash is only the beginning. Once it rolls out, she\u2019ll grow the hospitality group that she\u2019s creating, centered on uplifting Black and brown chefs. \u201cI\u2019m trying to build something legendary,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that I am really proud of, as a Black woman,\u201d Mick says, which goes for the rest of her Black women team. Chef de cuisine Tajeh Porter joins from Nura<\/a>; Jasmine L. Pierce is her hospitality brand consultant.<\/p>\n

Calabash will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with daytime service Thursday through Sunday. Then the prix fixe dinner is served on Friday and Saturday. When the restaurant opens, book reservations on OpenTable<\/a>.<\/p>\n