Harlem Restaurant

Margaret Smith was in her twenties, and running a new theatre company at Queen and Tecumseh called Tecumseh Massive, when she wandered into the Irie Food Joint – the Jamaican restaurant next door. Margaret remembers, “I went in and introduced myself to the owner Carl Cassell and asked if he'd be open to lending us his space on an evening to do fundraisers for our theatre project and he was super supportive.”

Himself an artist, Carl always makes supporting artists a top priority. In 2007, he opened Harlem Restaurant on Richmond Street East and rebranded the Irie Food Joint the Harlem Underground to help him do that. “He really wanted to create a space that catered to the fine art of food, drink and music - creating a real soulful and warm environment for people to relax and enjoy high quality food and service,” says Margaret, now the manager of Harlem Restaurant.

It's an environment reminiscent of a French salon, or the salons that popped up during the Harlem Renaissance – both as an exhibition of art and in the fostering of intellectual conversation. “We've got a lot of really cool staff members here who have a really great knowledge of food, drink, music, literature and art," she continues, "so the the kind of conversations that happen here can vary extremely from pure comedy to philosophical, deep discussions."

Plus, attentive audiences watch live jazz, funk, soul or R&B performed every Friday and Saturday nights. On Sundays, you can hear anything from spoken word poetry to stand-up comedy. Margaret notes, “Carl is really adamant about supporting cultural and community events within the two Harlem spaces and has formed some really strong relationships with young Jamaican-Canadians who are trying to make their way in the art world. He supports them unabashedly because he was well supported when he was up-and-coming.”