CarLa Carte- Harlem Edition

Methodology –

To conduct this project, we would go to a variety of different restaurants all across Harlem with the hopes to ask them questions. We hoped that through our interviews, we would be able to gather more information about the neighborhood, its residents, and the relationships of these restaurants to Harlem itself. We did not restrict the restaurants we chose and tried to get interviews anywhere. Prior to seeking an interview, we would dine at the stores in the hopes of gaining the trust of the people we would seek to interview. We would attempt to either video or audio record whenever possible as well as take field notes while at the restaurants. When at the restaurants, we would start with a couple of pre-planned questions but try to change our interview questions based on the answers we got. We wants our interviews to be very casual and natural.

Tentative Research Questions –

To the restaurant owner/manager/etc.:

1. Can you tell us about the history of this restaurant (any historical events worth mentioning?)

2. What kind of population eats here (demography and socioeconomic status)?

3. What the pros and cons of this location?

4. What kind of stories do the customers here paint?

To the customers:

1. What led you eat here today?

2. Are you a regular?

3. Can you tell us about yourself?

4. Can you tell us what this meal means to you?

5. What are the pros and cons of this location?

6. What kind of stories do your fellow customers paint?

Amy Ruths –

113 West 116th Street, New York, NY 10026

Overview: 

– Amy Ruth’s was an example of a restaurant that has been in Harlem for a long period of time having to adjust to the increasingly gentrified neighborhood around it.

– The gentrification has benefited the restaurant due to the increasing amount of tourists and wealthier patrons. It has also benefited the attitude people have about the neighborhood as people are now less fearful of it.

– You have to wonder though if gentrification has actually fixed the issues plaguing the neighborhood or simply displaced the people in the neighborhood.

– We noticed that restaurants that had been in Harlem prior to gentrification were much more wary of us and less willing to get interviewed. They very much viewed us as outsiders and as a result, we had to go to these locations multiple times.

Deli & Food Pantry Field Notes – 

– During our time in Harlem, we also went into several delis throughout the neighborhood. Our experiences there were very similar to that of Amy Ruths. We were viewed as outsiders and neither employees nor customers wanted to get interviewed.

– We noticed that the wave of gentrification in the neighborhood was destroying the casual relationships that these deli’s had with their regular customer bases, as many of moving out of Harlem.

– We also attempted to get an interview at a food pantry in Harlem. However, almost immediately we were seen at outsiders. People kept deflecting responsibility and we waited a long period of time before we found someone willing to talk to us. Even then, we were told that the pantry might call us back for the interview and the worker we talked to instead spent her time trying to convince us to volunteer there.

Jimbo’s Hamburger Palace –
535 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, NY 10037

Overview:

– Owner considers gentrification as a commodity to her business. “Cleaner Streets” provide a better clientele, and a safer environment around the store.

– Reasons she views gentrification this way can be related to the fact that she herself does not live in Harlem. She has an objective point of view, instead of being an active member in this community. The area changing, in her words, brings her better business, but she is mainly unaware of how gentrification is affecting the people who actually live in the area. Her side of this change in the neighborhood doesn’t focus on any negative effects, such as low income families being forced out of their homes, or a neighborhood that has been around for so many years suddenly changing, and losing its heritage.

Bier International – 

2099 Frederick Douglass Blvd, New York, NY 10026

Overview – 

-Bier International is the newest and most modern restaurant we visited. It was more trendy and lively than the other restaurants. It is the most “gentrified” of all the locations we interviewed. Bier International looked as if it would fit in well in the East Village or Williamsburg.

-The menu at Bier was also the most expensive of the restaurants we went to in Harlem; however compared to places in the rest of Manhattan Bier’s prices are lower-mid range.

-The crowd at Bier looked to be mostly of the 20s-40s white demographic. There were a few customers of minority ethnicities.

-The owner was immediately welcoming and open to answering our questions; at other locations where we attempted to interview, the owners were not present and the store clerks were apprehensive or disinterested.

-The loud and lively atmosphere of Bier made it more comfortable and approachable. As interviewers we felt more at ease as we fit more into the demographic at Bier – young college students and professionals. This is telling of leftover racial tension in modern society.

Harlem Shambles –
2141 Frederick Douglass Blvd, New York, NY 10026

Overview:
-Energy of Neighborhood? Vibe? NO HALAL?! HIGH QUALITY?! “Don’t want to force out”, “they were looking for”- This is all business talk. Tim Forrester used to be an equity analyst which is a person who closely analyzes small groups of stocks in order to provide insightful investment ideas and recommendations to a firm’s sales force, traders, directly to institutional investors and increasingly to the general investing public.

-If he really meant all his talk about vibe and “not forcing out” he would accommodate to the whole Harlem population rather than being a person who serves non-Halal products to an Islamic neighborhood. The prices were also ridiculously high for the people who live there and halal/kosher meat can be “high quality”.

Red Rooster
310 Malcolm X Blvd New York, NY 10027

Overview:

-Hass the Avocado or Hassan the Waiter? On our receipt, the waiter’s name was spelled Hassan which is considered an Arabic name. My surprise arose because he even spelled out his name as H-A-S-S for me even though I knew it was Hassan. Why did he change his name? Since he is very welcoming of gentrification could this be his “change of identity” as the neighborhood changes? Does Hass sound like something a man with Justice Clarence Thomas’ ideals would think?

-“So on and so forth”. A common phrase of Hassan’s. What does this discourse provide? Reminds me of how Tim and Poly brushed over the dilemmas of gentrification with their own vague phrases.

-I was confused that he thought Harlem’s past was a con of the location. In my written field notes during the interview, I actually put the “civil rights mecca” aspect as a pro!

-Red Roosters’ gentrification brings back the Red Rooster restaurant of the past while also establishing a Jazz Club, Ginny’s Supper Club, in the basement. Can this revive Harlem’s culture? Will a “tasteless” Harlem be prevented?

– Samin and I stood on line for the single bathrooms, we managed to speak to some friendly drunk customers who came from places such as Pennsylvania and Connecticut. They come often but there was no correlation between race and attendance at Red Rooster. About a third of the people were African American, half were white or Asian and the remainder was Hispanic. The amount of customers in the restaurant fluctuated but at first it was 1/3 African American, 1/3 Hispanic and 1/3 other.

Do you guys see any connections between our project and yours?

Why do you think we were unable to get interviews from Harlem “natives”?

Do you guys think that gentrification is affecting the food of Harlem, just the customer base or both? What about in the future?

What are the downfalls of gentrification with regards to food?

Can gentrification actually be beneficial if it’s used like how Red Rooster is functioning?