Every year the fine eateries in Harlem open their doors to a special celebration of food and culture. Already in its third year, Harlem EatUp! is a four-day festival offering an exciting sampling of Harlem’s sights, flavors and sounds, from artists of the kitchen, canvas, stage and streets. Enjoy Dine In Harlem, Eat Up’s signature one-night-only multi-room dinner party experience, featuring Harlem’s hottest restaurants and chefs hosting some of the biggest national culinary stars in their kitchens. Get your eat on as you spend the day Uptown at The Harlem Stroll, where food, art and culture will converge all in the backdrop of one of the neighborhood’s most beautiful parks. Watch Harlem and national top chef cooking demos on the EatUp! Main Stage. It’s a celebration of culture and good eats you won’t want to miss! On May 19 Resident indulged in their Dine In at Lolo‘s Seafood Shack hosted by owners Leticia “Skai” Young & Chef Raymond Mohan with Guest Chef Dale Talde of Talde Brooklyn that satisfied the foodie in us all.
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Owner Leticia “Skai” Young stated, “We’re so proud to join with Harlem EatUp. Lolo’s Seafood Shack is really inspired by the Caribbean, it’s a travel-inspired brand. My husband and I, we both lived in Anguilla in the British West Indies for a year. And we would visit the Lolos which are these little seaside shacks. When I saw the space, we had just moved here from Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We bought a brownstone up here in Harlem and I said this space could be Harlem’s own little lolo. So that’s what we did here at LoLo, we’re a Cape Cod and Carribean mash-up. We like to tell people that your next island getaway just got that much closer. It’s so great to have something like this here in Harlem. I’m from Harlem, born and raised, on 106th Street right on the cusp of the Museum Mile and the Harlem Graffiti Wall of Fame. It’s just a really great time for Harlem right now. It’s definitely in its second renaissance. We’re just so happy to be a a part of the festival; that brings forth the culture, the art, the music and what Harlem really is. I think it’s a perfect match because that’s what we do here at Lolo’s Seafood Shack.”
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“We’re here tonight to eat up. We’re here to celebrate the culture and the love that is Harlem. Thank you so much for bringing yourselves here to Harlem. Harlem is all about community, it’s all about family and it’s all about love. Harlem loves you and thank you guys, enjoy.”Greeting to all guests- “We’re here tonight to eat up. We’re here to celebrate the culture and the love that is Harlem. Thank you so much for bringing yourselves here to Harlem. Harlem is all about community, it’s all about family and it’s all about love. Harlem loves you and thank you guys, enjoy.”
Chef Raymond Zamanta Mohan, chimed in, “The culture of Harlem is international. I’ve traveled the world on culinary research from Thailand to the Caribbean and it brings me back here every time to Harlem because it’s the place where I want to do my work. I love Harlem EatUp, I love the whole festival. The camaraderie of the chefs and working with Marcus (Samuelson), contributes to the whole neighborhood of Harlem. Everything the music, the food, it brings different people to the neighborhood. And thanks to all the sponsors that generously donate so we could do this.”
And Celebrity guest Chef Dale Talde who was thrilled to participate this year stated, “For us Harlem EatUp was a really good opportunity to get into Harlem. I’m not familiar with it, for me Harlem represented some of my favorite hip hop ever; Big L, Dipset, Killcam. Musically I understood Harlem but from a culinary standpoint I didn’t dive too deep into it. So it’s an adventure. We saw this as a way to expand our brand. Showcase something to people that maybe have never made it down to Brooklyn or any of our restaurants. I’ve done a couple of things with Marcus (Samuelson). I worked with him on Chopped and when Marcus with his debonair self asks you to do something, its pretty hard to say no.”
