Politics
If You Have to Ask About This Harlem Dinner Party, You’re Not Invited
The lobby lacks the swirly marble flooring and chandeliers of finer residential buildings. The long hallways are almost dingy. But behind one of the apartment doors on a recent night, the mood was anything but dull. Butterflied branzino was about to …
The lobby lacks the swirly marble flooring and chandeliers of finer residential buildings. The long hallways are almost dingy. But behind one of the apartment doors on a recent night, the mood was anything but dull.
Butterflied branzino was about to go in the oven. A pan of glistening buns rested on the stove. Fariyal Abdullahi, executive chef at Marcus Samuelsson’s restaurant Hav & Mar, and the private chef Nana Araba Wilmot were hovering over the dishes. At the bar, a punch of bourbon, sweet tea, mango juice, ginger liqueur and fresh mint was being poured.
The jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater arrived after a long evening at the recording studio. Her dog, Daisy, a fluffy Maltese-Shih Tzu mix, perched valiantly atop her wheeled suitcase.
The party’s host, Alexander Smalls, perused the scene.
“This is an interesting place to hang out,” he boomed in a baritone that rose above the party chatter.
The guests erupted in laughter.
Mr. Smalls’s Harlem apartment is a place of community and connections. Guests can generate buzz for a new idea or project and sometimes even find investors who are eager to listen.
