Harlem Underground Opening

Goodbye Irie Food Joint, hello Harlem Underground. The new latenight locale at 745 Queen West is a project of Carl Cassel (owner of Harlem Restaurant and former owner of Irie) with Harlem chef Anthony Mair and Ana Silva. The theme is 1920s Harlem. The space is divided into four sections, which gives it an intimate feeling, and the decor is an elegantly laidback mixture of red chandeliers, a full-wall mural of Harlem life, and a rotating contemporary art collection.

Attendees at last night's opening included a range of well known faces, like etalk's Traci Melchor and Tanya Kim, the speedy Donovan Bailey, Phil Vassell and Donna McCurvin of the Irie Music Festival and TUMF, CKLN's Calypso Fusion host Barry Johnson, former Caribana executive director Joan Pierre, Orla Garriques of Westwind Pictures and Doe Eye Media, and photographer Michael Chambers.

I chatted with Mair (pictured), who said he'll be covering some of the same African-American-Cajun-Creole territory that he already explores at Harlem, but with more of an emphasis on the "African" part. He waxed enthusiastic about pork and sausage gumbo, sweet and savoury waffles, pulled pork with black pepper gravy and a sandwich called the Fat Carl that combines frizzled leek, pepperjack cheese and bacon mayonnaise.

He predicts that, whereas fried chicken is the signature dish at Harlem, it'll probably be the blackened shark at Harlem Underground (he's also serving shark and bake at lunch). "We're trying to introduce some of the ginchiest* African-American cuisine to the Toronto market," he said. Of course, these days shark (and cod, for that matter) are off the menu for the most ethical diners; on the other hand, says Mair, there will be quite a few vegetarian menu items. "All the proteins are à la carte, with 18 different sides of vegetables, sweet potatoes, rice..." (at this point he's talking so quickly that I stop being able to get the words down.)

Food tidbits circulated around a room so packed that mingling was possible in theory only: batter-fried dill pickles and okra; a jambalaya of catfish, crab and shrimp; crunchy batter-fried chicken club sandwiches on soft sweet-potato rolls with jalapeño havarti cheese, and thinly-sliced turkey meatloaf on sweet biscuit.

Codfish fritters were a standout; the salty cod was fried in a lofty, yielding yet crunchy batter and delivered a nice balance of fish flavour with a pepper heat that built slowly. The kitchen may want to rethink the catfish-and-avocado rolls though. When I picked one off a sampling platter, my two Caribbean-born companions all but knocked it out of my hands in their anxious eagerness to keep me from biting into it. "It's really hot!" they cried out in alarm.

I smelled: a rich waft of Scotch bonnet hit my nose. I nibbled a tiny piece with my front teeth: just that cautious taste was enough to set my mouth on fire – in increasing and gradually decreasing levels of burn – for at least 15 minutes. "And I think they've toned it down since the first time," said one of my friends. At intervals I watched other attendees, less well informed, go down to the full fury of the catfish like pepper-sprayed demonstrators.

Who will love Harlem Underground? Well, with its emphasis on battered and deep-fried starches – I hear rumours of deep-fried cheesecake! – it's not for the raw food crowd, or anyone who's worried about the state of their arteries. And – unlike Amuse-Bouche, C5, Cowbell, EPIC, Le Papillon, Pangaea, Trios Bistro and, most recently, The Local on Danforth – Harlem Underground isn't making the Ocean Wise list of sustainable seafood servers anytime soon. But with late hours, a roster of local entertainers and a hearty, spicy comfort-food menu, I can guess it's going to be a godsend for lots of post-midnight partiers who've had plenty of drinks but no dinner. After all, aren't you supposed to head to Harlem 'round midnight?

*For all you youngsters who weren't around in the '60s: "cool, groovy, hep, happenin', awesome, kick-ass, rockin'" (UrbanDictionary.com)