Eating in Translation (via Eater) has the sad news about Harlem's M&G Diner from a longtime employee, who writes, "I am sorry to say that now it is officially over the diner has been sold we left for vacation on june 29 2008 we will not be back."
This was another one of those places on my backlist I've been wanting to get to before it was too late. Like many of the places on my list, it's too late.
photo credit: uptown flavor
The reviews of the M&G are glowing: Best soul food without tourists, best cornbread, best jukebox, and it had one of the greatest combinations of vintage signage, too: "old fashion' BUT Good!" (the "i" dotted with a neon star!). Lonely Planet described it as a place "where chefs fry chicken like it's an Olympic event and braise their meats more tenderly than most people cradle a child."
Harlem OneStop called it "the reigning 'counter culture' dining establishment in Harlem where one can still perch on a stool and satisfy their hunger for home-style soul food and the current Harlem news!... the regulars here are as plugged in to Harlem gossip as any local politician or neighborhood church sister."
Newsweek said, "The M&G Diner in Harlem is a modest spot, but in the world of hip-hop, it is a landmark. Puff Daddy shot a CD cover here, and rappers come in for the soul food and oldies jukebox."
So marks yet another tragic death on 125th Street--one, no doubt, among many more soon to come.
photo: eating in translation
5 comments:
While I never went there in the years I spent in Harlem, I always loved to walk by it and bask in the old school Harlem vibe it gives off.
Between this and the loss of Pan Pan a few years ago, the classic soul food joints are quickly moving onto the endangered list.
Jeremiah, you should do a top ten endangered NYC places list. You know better than anyone...
I am sure a "hip" new cupcake shop will take it's place, complete with a glass facade and pink & orange plastic chairs inside. (possibly outside if they get a permit for a sidewalk cafe)
Oh, man. I loved the M&G. The chicken really was that good, as was the cornbread, as were the sweet potatoes. The jukebox was superb, too. One of my favorite New York food memories is of sitting at the counter at the M&G during a driving rainstorm, listening to Solomon Burke while the rain pelted down outside. I don't think I've ever felt as safe anywhere as I felt during that moment.
I was hoping I'd get one more visit to M&G before I move away at the end of the summer. I never, ever imagined that they'd be gone before I was. I thought that they'd be the one place that would defy the odds and remain, if not forever, as close to forever as possible. Oh, oh, oh.
Does this mean that Mandy Burden and her ilk will at last have a place to eat? Even social x-rays require their midday crudite.
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