The Atrium Café at Studio Museum in Harlem

Food

By Lil Nickelson

If you need (or desire) to eat healthy then the Atrium Café at Studio Museum in Harlem has to be added to your list of places to eat at while in Harlem.  On June 5, 2010 the Atrium Café quietly opened, and began serving up healthy, light meals to visitors looking to beat the humid heat of a bustling 125 Street on a Saturday afternoon.  Two small tables set in front of floor to ceiling glass windows provide customers with a spacious, open air feeling and front row seats to what’s happening on the street.  Limited seating is also available outside in the Museum’s Courtyard.

The café is a partnership between the Studio Museum in Harlem and Great Performances, a catering and event planning firm that manages on site cafes with performance arts venues throughout New York City.  Menu selections are reasonably priced: $1.75 for beverages, $2 for snacks, $6 for salads, and $7 for sandwiches.  The fresh vegetables contained within the salads and sandwiches are grown on Katchkie Farm, a local farm owned and operated by Great Performances.

Great Performances’ Chef de Cuisine Marc Spooner has designed a menu that caters to a   meat eaters and vegetarians alike.  The HW Tasting team sampled a sandwich and a salad.  The seared salmon with pickled fennel, radish, capers and lemon aioli on black bread baguette was quite tasty and filling.  The salmon, pickled fennel, capers and lemon aioli had varied taste buds coming alive.  We also sampled the lemon grilled chicken breast with grape tomatoes and baby arugula salad with lemon caper vinaigrette.  Every ingredient in the salad was so fresh it tasted phenomenal.  The portions were so generous on the salad that two adults and a toddler were able to eat as much as each of us wanted.  If I was by myself I would have leftovers to take home.

Two vegan sandwiches and one vegan salad are included on the eclectic menu.  Snacks available appeal to kids of all ages ranging from mixed nuts, potato chips (Sea salt and Smokehouse BBQ) to chocolate M & Ms.  Specialty food items sold online by the caterer, such as Thunder Pickles, are also available at the café.

The Atrium Café at Studio Museum in Harlem located at 144 West 125 Street and is open on Saturdays from 11 AM – 5 PM and on Sundays from 12 PM – 5 PM.  So stop by and tell Alex, the café’s Manager that Miss Lil from Harlem World recommended you stop by for a great meal.