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Even Jon Gray admits that explaining what Ghetto Gastro is can be hard to do, given its multitudes and intersections. Founded in the Bronx in 2012, the culinary collective made up of Gray, Malcolm Livingston II (Noma, Per Se and WD-50) and Pierre Serrao (Cracco in Milan and Rouge Tomate) has had its hands across various mediums—food, art, performance and fashion, sometimes all at once. Their past body of work includes hosting events at Paris Fashion Week and cooking for the late Virgil Abloh to producing a part-cookbook, part-manifesto that mingles recipes with political essays and poetry to feeding over 100,000 people during the pandemic, Black Lives Matter protestors and those who were food insecure alike. Over the years, many asked, does a restaurant fit into Ghetto Gastro's many folds? According to Gray, that was never in the cards, as the group's flexibility worked well alongside his “catch me if you can” mentality. But as someone who credits his personal growth to frequenting culinary spaces, Gray wanted to create his own to inspire the next.
“I was able to be a patron to La Esquina, The Box, Beatrice Inn—all of these different cultural spaces that really shaped who I am, and the possibilities that I understood. So now it's my job and the gang's job to create those spaces,” says Gray. And as of this April, Ghetto Gastro has done exactly that, debuting Gourmega, a community kitchen and cafe by day, and a "speakeasy clandestine dining experience" by night in Greenwich Village.
Wait, Greenwich Village and not the Bronx? Gray admits that while scoping for space, even he was priced out of the area, citing the closure of the collective's previous Mott Haven-based culinary labyrinth and HQ during the pandemic. However, Gourmega's residence shines a light on another side of New York history. The restaurant's new address resides in an area once known as the Land of the Blacks, one of America's first free Black communities, and was home to black and tan clubs in the 1920s. Designer Miriam Issoufou wove this context with a touch of Afrofuturism into the fold, as Gourmega's moody, black limewashed walls contrast with a swinging, yellow-toned glass door that evokes the power of the African sun. A circular, interlocking alabaster table that separates during the day and comes together at night serves as the centerpiece of the room, accompanied by various art pieces from Black artists, including bronze inserts from Nifemi Marcus-Bello that evoke traditional facial scarification. This celebration of the diaspora nods to Gray's initial vision of queendom, referencing Nefertiti to modern-day figures such as Angela Davis and Maya Angelou. His goal was to make "a space of rest and welcoming for Black women." Why? Because for Gray, "Black women always introduced me to all the fly shit that I know."
As for the food, the menu tackles the tall order of encompassing the collective as a whole, blending inspiration from the group's shared travels and the cultural tapestry found in the North Bronx with a little bit of, "selfishly," Gray says, "the food we like to eat." What results is an Afro-Asiatic Americana cuisine overseen by Lester Walker, previously of Eleven Madison Park, Per Se and Spice Market. With this in mind, Walker welcomes guests with an introduction of Potlikka, turning the leftover liquid made from preparing greens into a dashi mixed with uziza pepper oil, a type of West African herb. Meanwhile, his bluefin tuna dish intermingles with West African red rice while his take on piragua, the Puerto Rican shaved-ice dessert, is flavored with bissap and finger lime. The seven- to ten-course meal is priced at $307 with an additional beverage pairing that features wines from Black-owned vineyards and Japanese sakes for an additional $70. Currently, the only way to get a table is via DM.
But it's not all fine dining here, as the restaurant follows Ghetto Gastro's founding mantra of "everybody eats." Existing inside the chef-led nonprofit, Rethink Food, by day, you can find the Gourmega team just beyond the yellow glass door, producing over 3,000 meals a week for the sustainable community kitchen. That and every dollar spent here goes to feeding a neighbor in need, as 100% of net proceeds funnel to the organization. In line with reaching all price points of the community, the first iteration of Gourmega has also included a short-lived, three-course experience dubbed Nappy Hour and a weekend cafe that currently operates on a pop-up basis, most recently collaborating with Rockies Matcha.
Much like the worldly reach Ghetto Gastro has had, Gray sees future Gourmega's on an international scale with possible locations in Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro. But for now, Gray and team will be doing what they do best in NYC: building community and bringing the Bronx to the larger stage.
"We want to be able to like really build community and rock with people on the reg, you know?" says Gray.