Harlem Shake
A perfect burger, a loving ruse
100 W 124th St. | Harlem, Manhattan
119 5th Ave. | Park Slope, Brooklyn
I am a sucker for an Epcot Center restaurant. American-friendly versions of international cuisine with heavy-handed interior design have a unique charm to me. I would gladly eat enchiladas in perpetual twilight at the base of faux Mayan ruins or luxuriate over a lamb shank in a Disneyfied Morocco. These are clearly not a substitute for the real thing. But no one’s arguing that. We all enjoy a little illusion now and again.
The burgers at Harlem Shake are in the city’s top tier with the other irresistible smashburgers you know and love. The juicy “Hot Mess” punches with a dollop of pickled cherry peppers and salty crisps of bacon. But there’s an intrigue to the place that I could not put my finger on initially. A glitch in the presentation.
Inside you will find a celebration of blackness. The dining rooms are covered with autographed photos of black celebrities, from Ice T and Janet Jackson to Coleman Domingo, A$AP Rocky, and Janelle Monae. The bathrooms feature vintage JET Magazines. In Park Slope there’s a large portrait of a smiling black woman, with hoop earrings and afro, warming the room. Obviously this restaurant was founded by a black person.
Except it was not.
