Calabash

Calabash is chef-owner Camari Mick’s Afro-Caribbean bakery and brasserie in New York’s West Village, where breads, dinner and art share the same address.

At 183 Christopher Street, Mick’s first restaurant of her own draws on her Jamaican American heritage and French culinary training. With chef de cuisine Tajeh Porter, she traces connections among West Africa, the Caribbean and the Eastern Seaboard of the United States through dishes that give familiar ingredients a different frame.

Daytime service brings naturally fermented breads, laminated pastries and a neighborhood brunch menu. The opening offerings include cornbread pancakes with salted maple sabayon, suya steak with maduros, and marinated sardines tucked into Trinidadian bake with tomatillo chow.

Friday and Saturday evenings turn toward a prix-fixe dinner. On the opening menu, Hoppin’ John becomes dolma wrapped in collard greens; chicken liver pâté meets sorrel; and crispy pork belly arrives with tahdig jollof, green mango chow chow and bitter greens. The beverage program is alcohol-free, with house-fermented mocktails and nonalcoholic wines extending the kitchen’s interest in ingredients and tradition.

Art belongs to the restaurant’s story, too. A collection curated by gallerist Cierra Britton brings work by Black and brown artists into the dining room, designed by Drummond Projects. Calabash has also announced plans for monthly Pay What You Can dinners, with reservations to be released to its email subscribers.

For a West Village itinerary, Calabash offers two distinct ways to make time for the table: a daytime bakery and brunch stop, or an evening built around Mick and Porter’s cooking.

Photography: Gentl and Hyers. Pictured: Calabash’s bakery counter; Camari Mick, left, with chef de cuisine Tajeh Porter.