The Contemporary African Kitchen with Alexander Smalls

Monday, October 20
6:30 - 9:00 pm | 6pm for VIPs
in partnership with

CHEF’S LAB X

Join us as we break bread around the heart of Africa in Harlem with words, sound and delicious food.

Alexander Smalls in conversation with Lori Stokes
Performance by Lucia Bradford & Malcolm J. Merriweather

A multi-course menu presented by Dinner Party regulars
Chef Nduvo Salaam & Chef Joe Hayes

Inspired by the cookbook
The Contemporary African Kitchen

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100% Ticket proceeds benefit Free Food in support of Refettorio Harlem’s mission to reduce food insecurity, waste and social isolation.

Chef’s Lab at Refettorio Harlem
39 w 119th Street | New York, NY 10026 I Inside the Emanuel AME Church

Chef’s Lab x Contemporary Kitchen with Alexander Smalls
(6:00 pm VIP) | 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

ALL tickets include Alexander Smalls book “The Contemporary African Kitchen”.

“Creators” ($295 pp) VIP
6:00 pm
Join Alexander and the chefs for a VIP toast and reception. Meet the Refettorio team and the other artists and collaborators involved in creating this special moment. Limited number of tickets available.

“Nourish” General Admission ($235 pp)
6:30 pm

General Admission seats to the Chef’s Lab experience

“Party Throwers” ($125 pp)
5:00 pm
A limited number of participatory tickets are available. Party throwers participate in either the “back of house” kitchen team in serving the meal, or the “Front of house” service team.

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About the Evening

The evening celebrates the culinary and creative universe of Restaurateur, James Beard award winning author, and opera singer Alexander Smalls, who along with Chef Salaam and Chef Joe Hayes, Lori Stokes, Malcolm Merriweather of the NY Philharmonic, and Ian Troost, collectively present a night to remember.

The Chef’s Lab is an opportunity to showcase the mission and raise support for Free Food’s food assistance and food recovery programs at Refettorio Harlem - currently serving 600 three course meals weekly, addressing food insecurity, food waste, and more importantly social isolation with dignity, love and creativity. The event directly supports a special community dinner for families, hosted with Alexander Smalls, as he shares his celebrated children’s book, When Alexander Graced the Table. Children alongside their parents will enjoy a special reading and family meal to follow on October 13th.

Alexander has a long and storied career in Harlem. His restaurants, Minton’s and The Cecil, created a lineage of young chefs that continue to define food trends. He joined the board of the Harlem School of The Arts in 2014, and served as board chair of Opus 118 Music School from 2007 to 2009.

The Chef’s Lab is celebrating his latest book Contemporary African Kitchen which presents a vibrant library of home cooking recipes and texts contributed by 33 chefs, restaurateurs, caterers, cooks, and writers at the heart of Africa’s food movement.

The evening is presented in collaboration with Food for Soul, founding partner of Refettorio Harlem, as part of the global Refettorio Network's food and culture activities.

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Celebrated Guest Chefs

Alexander Smalls

Chef Nduvo Salaam

Chef Joe Hayes

About Alexander

As featured in the NY Times article, If You Have to Ask About This Harlem Dinner Party, You’re Not Invited,” Alexander Smalls is a James Beard Award–winning chef, cookbook author, and raconteur. He is a regular celebrity chef on the Today show, Top Chef, and other Food Network shows, and is the founder of the first contemporary modern African Dining Hall in Dubai. Smalls is also a world-renowned opera singer and the winner of both a Grammy Award and a Tony Award for the cast recording of Porgy and Bess. When Alexander Graced the Table, based on Alexander’s childhood, is his first picture book. Follow him at AlexanderSmalls.com.

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Menù

Passed Canapés

Pickled Tomato Salad

Bright cherry tomatoes, lightly cured, with herb oil

Twice-Fried Plantain Chips

With basil–cashew pesto & hibiscus-pickled onion

Mini Chicken Yassa Skewers

Citrus-marinated chicken with slow-cooked onion glaze

First Course (preset at table)

Fonio Salad

Roasted fall vegetables, passionfruit vinaigrette, toasted cashews

Second Course

Omo Tuo Arancini

Crisp rice dumplings with coconut–peanut butter soup

Or

Roasted Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup

coconut cream

Family-Style Main Course

Braised Oxtails with Turnips & Okra

Zanzibar Curry with Grilled Chicken & Basil Butterflies

Coco Yam Pottage

Wild Greens & Cheese Pap

Dessert

Dark Chocolate Pudding

Baobab Chantilly, hazelnut praline

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Collaborators

Chef “Salaam” is a classically trained chef whose culinary voice marries the bold flavors of his Afro-Caribbean heritage with refined French technique. As executive chef of 10 Cubed, the exclusive restaurant perched on the 100th floor of Central Park Tower, he crafts dishes for a limited high-net-worth clientele, working in luxurious anonymity high above Manhattan’s skyline. Though his platform is private and comparatively hidden, Salaam’s dedication to innovation, cultural expression, and impeccable technique has earned him attention in food circles and beyond.

Chef Joe Hayes—also known by his artist alias “Joe By Joe”—is a multidisciplinary creative whose work traverses the culinary world, painting, street art, and cultural commentary. A Bronx native, Hayes has shown and curated urban art across New York City, mounting solo exhibitions such as WHITE at Caelum Gallery and Don’t Die, while simultaneously forging a path in the kitchen where he sees food as another canvas for self-expression.Grounded in the raw emotional textures of his roots—love, struggle, identity—his chef practice channels those same energies that drive his visual art, using flavor, technique, and storytelling to provoke, heal, and connect.

Malcolm J. Merriweather, is the Grammy nominated conductor, Director of the New York Philharmonic Chorus and Music Director of New York City’s, The Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra. He is Professor of Music and the Tania León Endowed Chair of Music at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. Tonight, Malcolm will be presenting his interpretation of Mary Lou William’s work.

Food for Soul is the founding partner of Refettorio Harlem, a nonprofit organization founded by chef Massimo Bottura and Lara Gilmore whose mission to prevent food waste and social isolation has inspired a global movement of change-makers working together to utilize food as a tool for social change. Through their model Refettorio and global network of Partners work together to ensure good food feeds people not landfill - supporting the concept of a social kitchen to foster connection with dignity and inclusion around a shared table.

Learn more about the Refettorio model and family of projects and partners HERE

Ian Troost's professional journey has spanned multiple industries, but it was coaching soccer that set him on the path toward education and team building. Growing up in a town deeply rooted in the hospitality industry inspired him to bring his expertise to the intersections of hospitality, community, and education in New York City. Today, he specializes in leadership and team development, as well as producing community-based events.

Connected Chef is an organization of cooks and restaurant workers on a mission… To build a community-controlled food system that ensures every Queens’ household has consistent access to local, nutritious food; provides healthy eating education; and pathways to financial agency. They work toward this mission with Lifeline Groceries and our sliding scale Fresh Markets. Through these efforts, Connected Chef delivers fresh, nutrient dense, culturally appropriate groceries, while supporting local farms and businesses, creating job opportunities and building community power.

Lori Stokes (born September 16, 1962) is an American former journalist and news anchor. She was the evening news anchor for the 5, 6, and 10 O’Clock news at Fox 5 NY WNYW in New York City from 2021 to 2022. She formerly co-hosted Good Day New York on Fox 5 NY WNYW, with Rosanna Scotto. From April 2000 to August 2017, she co-anchored on WABC-TV's Eyewitness News This Morning, with Ken Rosato. Stokes joined the station as part of an effort to increase ratings on WABC's morning newscast and helped bring the broadcast to #1.[1] Stokes retired from broadcasting on September 30, 2022.