Carl Cassell's
name has been on my "people I'd like to interview"
list for the longest time. I’m a fan of
his Caribbean/ Southern fusion restaurants – Harlem (67 Richmond Street East) and
Harlem Underground (745 Queen Street West), but truthfully, I really wanted to
meet the mastermind behind the place that serves up the yummiest southern fried chicken and waffles in Toronto.
I eagerly reached out to him in late December 2012 for a possible interview.
Although he was gearing up for his holiday rush, he was extremely polite and
courteous and told me that he was busy, but we should connect in the New Year.
As soon as the New Year rang in, I emailed him and asked to meet up. He said
yes!
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| Harlem Underground |
I entered Harlem
Underground—a space that conjures up the cool, artsy movement of the Harlem
Renaissance, and watched a few patrons chow down on their late afternoon
lunch. Jazzy, funk music was playing in
the background while I waited for the infamous Carl Cassell. As I waited, I perused the menu and pondered
how professional I would look if I ordered the chicken and waffles I love sooo
much, and ate it while I interviewed him. I sadly decided to not get
anything. I didn’t think licking my
fingers and having chicken grease smeared on my lips would be a good look, so
instead I opted for a cup of coffee :(
A few moments
later Carl introduced himself to me, and we moved to a quieter spot in the restaurant,
and began the interview.
I learned so much about Carl during our hour and a half meeting. First of all, I
learned that he understandably lives and breathes food, secondly he has mad love
for Toronto, and thirdly, he’s an easy going, down to earth, chill dude. But
don't dismiss his chill demeanor as a weakness. He’s a savvy businessman who's
doing what he loves.
Here’s a just a snippet of our amazing conversation that we had on that chilly
Friday afternoon.
When did you develop an interest in food?
Growing up in
Jamaica, I always had an interest in food.
I enjoyed it. I spent a lot of time with my neighbour back home—Miss
Kathleen. She cooked at the local
school. I used to hang out with her son...he was a good friend of mine...and I
was at the house constantly. She had an outdoor kitchen—that’s how I
learned to cook the basics. I learned
how to cook rice properly, how to cook meat properly and how to fry chicken
properly. That’s where my interest in food began.
When I came to
Toronto, I worked in restaurant kitchens for 5 years. I was a waiter and a bartender. Most of my
roommates were chefs. Living with chefs,
one of the things you realize is that chefs don’t cook at home. They instruct, but don’t cook. It enabled me to learn a lot about food.
Why did you and Carl Allen (former business
partner) decide to close the Irie Food Joint and rebrand it as Harlem
Underground?
Irie Food Joint opened
in 2001 and had been around for about 9 years. Harlem opened in December 2006.
It was doing very well...extremely well.
One of the issues I’d constantly face would be running two different
menus. Running two different menus
created problems in terms of staffing....my kitchen staff...I couldn’t transfer
my staff from one restaurant to the next because it was two completely
different menus. Running one that dealt with Southern cuisine (Harlem) and the
other dealt with Caribbean cuisine (Irie Food Joint).
Having Irie and
Harlem made sense in covering the Diaspora, but from an economic standpoint, it
didn’t make sense to run 2 separate menus. It was difficult to retain new
staff. Caribbean cuisine is very
specific, not everyone can cook it. Every
couple of years I found myself back in the kitchen retraining people.
Harlem and Harlem Underground share the same
menu. Why different names for the
restaurants?
To create a
distinction between both restaurants.
The distinction is the vibe. Queen
Street is its own animal. Anything on
Queen Street falls within that Queen Street vibe. Harlem Underground tends to skew a younger,
hipper crew, and at Harlem we get a slightly older crowd.
Your fried chicken has been called one of
the best in Toronto. What was the process like perfecting it?
It was a
collaborative effort between Tony (former chef Anthony Mair) and I. We had a similar approach to food because we
are both Jamaican.
I read that you wanted the restaurant to be
a place for creative types. What do you do to facilitate this?
 |
| Carl painted the picture on the wall and created the Red Stripe sculpture |
I think it’s the
vibe. I’ve primarily been around artists my entire life. I’m an artist as well. I paint and sculpt; I do a lot of things.
What would you like to accomplish with your
restaurants?
I want to give
my community a place that they can call their own for as long as I can possibly
do it. So people can talk about it like
they talk about the Underground Railroad restaurant being the first of it’s
kind (pssst...the Underground Railroad restaurant was one of the first soul
food restaurants in Toronto). We’re
following in that footsteps.
Have any celebs visited the restaurant?
Do you watch the Food network ?
No, not
really. I used to follow Anthony
Bourdain’s TV series. I met him a few years ago. He’s a really cool cat.
Well guess what,
Carl? You’re a cool cat too! It was such a pleasure talking to him—not just
about restaurants, but everything under the sun. I love that he is dedicating himself in
providing a funky, down home vibe with his restaurants and educating patrons on
the flavours of the Caribbean and the South.
Thank you, Carl.
When you're in Toronto, or just looking for a delish meal, go to....
Harlem
Underground Restaurant
Harlem
Restaurant
67 Richmond
Street East
Toronto ON M5C 1N9
416.368.1920
info@harlemrestaurant.com
www.twitter.com/harlem1920
Michelle
