Dine&Wine 94 | Njujork » New York Nestled at the very heart of NYC’s East Village, near Tompkins Square Park, is Cadence: a restaurant with bare brick walls, amarble-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 themain topic of conversation among gourmets in this planetary capital city, but also among those merely preparing 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 onThe New York Times’ chart for 2021, while its unique offer also enabled it to secure a place among this publication’s top 50 favourite restaurants nationwide across the U.S., whereas the publication Esquire, a men’s magazine that has a tradition dating back almost a century, ranked Cadence among its top 40 new restaurants in America. And what’s the reason for all this hyped-up frenzy? The dishes included on the menu by Shenarri Freeman, offering intoxicatingly delicious and uncompromisingly innovative variations on the topic of Southern soul food – and the story’s plot twist is that every dish is aligned with vegan principles. Plant-based is like artistic expression for Shenarri, and anyone New Yor k ’ s new gourme t sensat i on 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 Champagne, owned by former basketball player Isiah Thomas. Freeman, who was raised in Richmond, Virginia, is just 28. For her large family – like most families in such communities – food was themost 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 Shenarri, all these dishes justifiably carry 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 establishher own revolutionary restaurant thanks to OverthrowHospitality, an award-winning group that was founded by the experienced Ravi DeRossi and helps to establish veganprojects acrossNew York. Ravi was sympathetic to her passion for Southern food fromthe outset, in the knowledge that vegan 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 perfect her vegan vision. She sought inspiration in the old family recipes of her mother and grandmother. “I’m just putting my own vegan and culinary twists on their foundations,” she points out with pride. Everything onCadence’smenu qualifies as “comfort food”, but Shenarri dedicates herself to the simplicity of invigorating meals with impeccable elegance, serving everything with the utmost elegance and precision of a top gourmet experience. “I wanted to design a place where people are enjoying their soul food, but get the experience of a fine restaurant,” she says. “I think that we’re definitely 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”).Thewine list highlights top vintages from the Napa Valley re-
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