A tasting menu \u2014 or even a prix fixe \u2014 can feel like a hostage situation, with all the fuss and formality and time involved. But not at Reverence Phoenix, the centerpiece of the new Unity Market at the top of Central Park on Saturdays through October 31. You take a spot at a standup table in a tent overlooking the Harlem Meer and whip through a succession of dishes assembled in a tiny, hyper-efficient kitchen and served with a straightforward explanation of components: \u201ccorn custard, trout roe, mini tomato salad and nasturtiums.\u201d Fifty-five dollars and you\u2019re over and out, unless you\u2019ve opted for the nonalcoholic beverage pairing for an extra $35. The cooking has the rigor of haute cuisine\u2014 the portable grill sits alongside a sous vide bath \u2014 but the experience is high-end picnic, with glass vases filled with herbs lined up amid the single-setting compostable flatware and bowls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike in a traditional Michelin kitchen, the chef himself is literally standing by to engage, in his black ball cap, imposing apron, high-top sneakers. Russell Jackson, whose brick-and-mortar Reverence in Harlem had a cult following for its emphasis on food over fine-dining conventions, will not only explain how the ballotine of French hen was put together but offer to sell you the chicken and prep it if you want to come back next week and pick it up from his Provisions\/Boucherie kiosk. (He also sells beef, sausage and other meats plus South Carolina rice from his favorite purveyors as well as a whole line of fermented products and condiments like Saint Fauci hot sauce.) And if you like any of the produce in his dishes, aside from the herbs he grows himself, at his home in Washington Heights, he will direct you to the Norwich Meadows stand just steps away \u2014 can\u2019t do that in a Greenmarket. One of his coups in curating the market in collaboration with the Central Park Conservancy, after all, was enlisting the farm that supplies so many of the highest-end restaurants in the city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSome chefs just want to cook,\u201d Jackson says. \u201cI like to feed people and see the reactions.\u201d He grew up in a Southern California beach town and learned to cook and run restaurants in that state, so his style is his own. \u201cI used to eat at Chez Panisse every Sunday. Dominique Crenn is godmother to my son.\u201d He also writes a column for Kolor \u201cto connect African-American food to what I do and give a greater idea of chefs of color than the pretty narrow view.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite my resistance to tasting menus, I booked a spot on Tock faster than you can say \u201cdegustation\u201d after reading a review in the Amsterdam News. And not least because there was no \u201cyour table is not ready\u201d nonsense when I got there early, and it was such an uplifting experience, I went back a few Saturdays later to watch how Reverence Phoenix and Unity Market all come together for a bustling few hours once a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 8:30 in the morning Jackson and a helper were wrestling the 30- by 10-foot black tent up and anchoring it and setting up the kitchen and kiosk. He and his crew of three roll in coolers full of prepped ingredients and drinks and all the accoutrements to put on what is almost a cooking show in the park. (Jackson was a contestant on both \u201cFood Network Star\u201d and \u201cAmerica\u2019s Culinary Cup,\u201d so passersby will excitedly say \u201cI know you!\u201d and request a selfie with him.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Reverence Phoenix takes form, with banners out front and on 110th Street, other vendors roll in and set up on the asphalt on a bend in the road into the park at Farmers Gate. All were chosen by Jackson to serve and advance one of the more economically and racially diverse neighborhoods in the city, so you can pick up Harlem honey from BeeFlavored, focaccia and muffins from Artisanal Bakes by Chef Jessica, tamales and burritos from La Palapa in the East Village and West African dishes from Gracey\u2019s Culinary Specialties from the Bronx, among other products. Sugar Hill Creamery, with neighborhood cred, is one of the anchors of the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson takes pride in deviating from the city\u2019s Greenmarkets, which he says have a different audience: \u201cUnion Square and Grand Army Plaza are hard-core institution-level products built around chefs and tourists and locals. There\u2019s nothing else around here \u2014 everything\u2019s haphazard. I have a chance to make a difference in my community.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Phoenix meals always start with a small selection of fermented vegetables like carrots and beets; dessert might be a madeleine made with fig leaves or a cornbread-miso blondie with big chunks of Tcho chocolate. Jackson posts each week\u2019s menu on Instagram on Thursday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throughout the day, one patron might wander up and be tempted by the Petit Provisions takeaway dish of the day, with corn over miso tofu crema and black barley mole topped with Mexican tarragon and paired with grilled pain de mie. Another might be coming from another farmers\u2019 market with a huge bunch of sunflowers, check the menu and say: \u201cI\u2019ll take a quick three.\u201d (Reservations are not required.) Two joggers will stop to check the menu and say \u201cwe live four blocks away \u2014 how did we never know about this?\u201d Then one remembers she once ate at Reverence and \u201cit was one of the most amazing experiences I\u2019ve ever had \u2014 we\u2019ll be back.\u201d Another two women indulge in the full menu and decide to book Jackson\u2019s Underground Restaurant (a whole other story, but he says the first question is always \u201cwhere is it?\u201d) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Late in the day, Jackson is joined by his Bulgarian wife, Lora, with whom he owns a farm in her home country, and 7-year-old son, Bowie, who makes the paper fans sold at the standup table as \u201cexotic cooling implements.\u201d They and his crew all take apart the restaurant and kitchen around 4, right down to the stainless-steel sink hooked up to a fire hydrant; everything goes back in storage in a shipping container hidden in the trees nearby.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson says he originally thought of opening only Provisions in the park but \u201cdecided to go whole hog and make something truly unique.\u201d He crowd-funded Phoenix, including with contributions from J. Lohr Vineyards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a spectacular location; people come by and see it and next week they\u2019re in the reservation book. People think we\u2019re a food concession. But Phoenix is a standing restaurant.\u201d And it will be back next season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson ran Reverence on 138th Street for six years. \u201cI was doing great until the pandemic. I put everything into it to keep the staff alive and dug a generational hole, but money\u2019s money \u2014 you can always make it back. What matters more: Are we making a difference?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It tastes that way. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A tasting menu \u2014 or even a prix fixe \u2014 can feel like a hostage situation, with all the fuss and formality and time involved. But not at Reverence Phoenix, the centerpiece of the new Unity Market at the top of Central Park on Saturdays through October 31. You take a spot at a standup… Continue reading