Kabawa is everything.
And your Weekend Buzz too!
Good morning friends,
Before we get to the Weekend Buzz, I want to briefly share an exceptional dining experience I had recently in case you’re looking for something that will knock your socks off. You’ve no doubt been reading about how wonderful it is, but I felt I needed to remind you and suggest, err, insist, you go. The restaurant I’m speaking of is Kabawa, chef Paul Carmichael’s place.
No doubt you’ve read about Bar Kabawa, a romp of rum and reggae, where stunning rum-and-lime soaked daiquiris are poured over hand-cranked shaved ice – an adult slushy that has already become my official drink of summer. While you drink and eat, sharing plates of pickled okra with salt cod in xo sauce, passing around baskets of patties stuffed with curry crab, or short ribs with conch, pepperpot duck and foie, or the eggplant raclette (a sleeper hit), pick up the dice, the set of dominos, or the checkers laid out on the tables and play for a while. Have another round of everything.
Then, if you’re inclined for a more elaborate adventure, go next door to Kabawa, a restaurant that’s smashing and amazing and joyful and fantastic and everything. Paul’s doing something altogether new to fine dining – making it a fizzy, fun, rum-soaked party (oh, there are great wines too).
That Paul can cook is a given; his pedigree is aces. He began cooking in New York after moving here from Barbados; he’s done stints at Aquavit and wd~50, and joined the Momofuku group, first cooking at Má Pêche in midtown and then opening Seiobo in Sydney, before rising to become culinary director of the entire company and opening Kabawa. But he’s doing more than cook at Kabawa, he’s creating an entire vibe. If I could put the energy in a bottle and spray it around the city, heck around this broken world of ours, I’d do it. Kabawa is more than a restaurant, it’s a state of wonder.
His prix fixe menu ($145 per person) here spans the Caribbean and is full of magic. Curry and spice and heat and butter and history and fire come together on the plate to ignite something as close to nirvana as you’ll find in the East Village these days. The roti with chutneys and hot pepper jam served at the start of the meal would be enough, but then there are plump ruby red shrimp coated in pepper the color of Takis, and there is the braised goat with spicy scallop creole, and for dessert, the Matrimony – a festival of bright juicy tart sweet citrus in a pool of cool creamy condensed milk. Yes, please, again and again.
As I’ve said already, Kabawa is not just about the excitement of the menu that sways with island breezes in ways you’ve never felt before. It’s about the love! Paul radiates love, and the staff echoes his joy. You will feel not only welcome, but like you’re in a big warm hug; you’ll never want to leave. Honestly, if there were a beach-side bungalow attached to the restaurant, I’d have checked in. Then there are the details he’s chosen, placed around the restaurant like breadcrumbs, little windows into his childhood, and his life growing up in Barbados: he menu is hand-written by his mom (“Love yuh self. Eat yuh guts full” is her commandment), and it’s decorated with beautiful line drawings by his partner. But there’s more.
There are also the bathrooms: one is decorated like his grandma’s house and plays a speech given by the President of Barbados, and the other is a tropical rainforest with the sounds of birds and frogs indigenous to the islands. There is reggae and hip hop playing, and the energy is full of joy. It’s like a holiday. And yes there are paper umbrellas for the drinks.
Please go! Tell Paul I sent you.
Now for the Weekend Buzz we have an amazing ice cream and cookie collab, live music in Red Hook and a new place for backgammon and wine! Don’t forget that paid subscribers get access to The Strong Buzz restaurant help line and access to The Strong Buzz Salon; intimate events that offer sneak peaks at new restaurants and bars before anyone else! I hope you’ll get on the list.
xx
andrea