New African Restaurant Merkato 55 in NYC
Posted on Feb 5th, 2008 • Category: Africa
55 Gansevoort St., New York, NY 10014
nr. Greenwich St. See Map
212-255-8555
At Merkato 55, the Ethiopia-born, Sweden-raised chef Marcus Samuelsson wants to do for the cuisines of Africa what he did for Scandinavia at Aquavit: reinterpret them for the modern Manhattanite. It’s not Samuelsson’s first foray beyond meatballs and gravlax: He installed a sushi bar at the Japanese-inspired Riingo, and at Merkato, named for a market in Addis Ababa, he’s concocted a “kidogo bar” menu of African breads (benne, meali) and toppings like long-bean sambal. Think of them as cocktail-accompanying prelude to such Pan-African fare as steak Dakar with wild-coriander butter, and chicken doro wat. Dutch artist Menno Schmitz’s design integrates batik, burlap, and African proverbs and poems. - Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite
