Dine&Wine
Nestled at the very heart of NYC’s East Village, near Tompkins Square Park, is Ca- dence: a restaurant with bare brick walls, a marble-topped blue bar and only 11 pink velvet seats. And yet, as the old saying goes, less is more. Since its opening last spring, this venue has been the main topic of conversation among gourmets in this planetary capital city, but also among those merely prepar- ing to grab something tasty to eat in the Big Apple. This eatery quickly achieved critical acclaim and found itself among the city’s highest ranked venues on The New York Times’ chart for 2021, while its unique offer also enabled it to secure a place among this publica- tion’s top 50 favourite restaurants nationwide across the U.S., where- as the publication Esquire, a men’s magazine that has a tradition dat- ing back almost a century, ranked Cadence among its top 40 new res- taurants in America. And what’s the reason for all this hyped-up frenzy? The dishes included on the menu by Shenar- ri Freeman, offering intoxicating- ly delicious and uncompromis- ingly innovative variations on the topic of Southern soul food – and the story’s plot twist is that every dish is aligned with vegan princi- ples. Plant-based is like artistic ex- pression for Shenarri, and anyone New York’s new gourmet sensation Soul food with a vegan twist Shenarri Freeman is an African-American chef whose bold combinations are writing a new and exciting chapter in culinary tradition
gion, as well as Cheurlin Cham- pagne, owned by former basket- ball player Isiah Thomas. Freeman, who was raised in Richmond, Virginia, is just 28. For her large family – like most fam- ilies in such communities – food was the most important element of the time they spent together: from a hearty Thanksgiving dinner and a major barbecue to mark Fourth of July celebrations, to Christmas brunch in the family home. for She- narri, all these dishes justifiably car- ry the epithet of “soul food” and she recalls them with a sense of joy. “Everything was prepared with a lot of love and attention”. She received an opportunity to establish her own revolutionary res- taurant thanks to Overthrow Hos- pitality, an award-winning group that was founded by the experi- enced Ravi DeRossi and helps to establish vegan projects across New York. Ravi was sympathetic to her passion for Southern food from the outset, in the knowledge that ve- gan restaurants are commonplace throughout Manhattan, but that there were almost no restaurants specialising in this kind of “soul food”. And when space became available for Cadence, it was hers. More than eight months of taste-testing were required to per- fect her vegan vision. She sought inspiration in the old family reci- pes of her mother and grandmoth- er. “I’m just putting my own vegan and culinary twists on their foun- dations,” she points out with pride. Everything on Cadence’s menu qualifies as “comfort food”, but Shenarri dedicates herself to the simplicity of invigorating meals with impeccable elegance, serv- ing everything with the utmost elegance and precision of a top gourmet experience. “I wanted to design a place where people are en- joying their soul food, but get the experience of a fine restaurant,” she says. “I think that we’re defi- nitely opening up the eyes to what vegan food can be and what soul foods can be—and bridging that gap together.”
Pržena lazanja sa rikotom od pinjola je must Fried lasagne with pine nut ricotta is a “must”
Ovo je mesto gde ljudi mogu da uživaju u najboljoj hrani za dušu This is a place where people can enjoy the best soul food
who tries anything from the menu will agree with that claim (her fried lasagne with pine nut ricotta is a “must”). The wine list highlights top vintages from the Napa Valley re-
94 | Njujork » New York
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