Marcus Samuelsson's Global Street Food Pop Up

My office is a stone's throw from Lincoln Center and this summer I spent many lovely lunch hours sitting in the Barclays Grove, sometimes in quiet contemplation while viewing the Paul Milstein Pool and other times experiencing tourist glee while watching the fountain blast streams of water high into the air.

But at some point I decided to forgo the mixture of calm and excitement of Lincoln Center for the simple peace of Central Park, gaining respite from the worries of the day with an introvert's restorative solitary luncheon on a park bench. For several weeks I had ignored the glitz of Broadway, until I discovered there was a pop up restaurant by Marcus Samuelsson (of Red Rooster in Harlem) right across the street. I made lunch plans with my dearest friend J, who is currently on maternity leave, and may not be able to make it to Red Rooster anytime soon with the arrival of the little one. As I made my way to Global Street Food, glitz seemed to have entirely taken over the area. The ABC building had turned into a fishbowl for viewing the ABC newsroom, discount designer retailer Century21 had opened its doors, Fashion Week trailers were parked next to Richard Tucker Square, and a giant display sponsored by IBM had been installed along the sidewalk, which was flashing moving, colored particles across an extended digital screen. I made my way over to the at65 cafe, the temp location of the pop up, but was greeted by movers and men with walkie talkies wheeling large objects in and out of the building. Apparently the pop-up hadn't been completely reset after a day of not being open. I made a call to J to meet me at Tavern on the Green instead, as it appeared I was destined to remain an earthy Central Park patron instead of a glitzy Lincoln Center one.

Undaunted by my second failed first attempt at dining at a new restaurant (see BaoHaus review below), I convinced J to join me again the next day for lunch. This time we were happily greeted by Marcus Samuelsson:

Intrigued by the name, J ordered the doro wat, and I ordered the shrimp piri piri. The menu's description of the doro wat states, "Doro Wat / Injera, Ayib, Tomato Chutney". Despite only knowing what one of those things was, the doro wat turned out to be a crave-worthy comfort dish. A quick Google search reveals that doro wat, often referred to as the Ethiopian national dish, is a chicken stew in red pepper paste. Injera is a spongy, yeasty flatbread common in Ethiopian cuisine, ayib is a type of cheese and tomato chutney is delicious.

The shrimp piri piri contained skewered, grilled shrimp, with a summery, healthy mixture of grains and vegetables. The grains were a bit undercooked, but it somehow added to the healthful feeling of the entire dish.

The menu included some delicious sounding desserts, including "Swedish Pancake Cake", but unfortunately we were too full to partake, and too cheap to eat only some of our mains to allow room to partake. Thanks, Marcus Samuelsson, for gracing us with your food presence. Though today your pop up closes down, I hope we might meet again, perhaps at Red Rooster.