Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi
A recently opened restaurant on Lincoln Center‘s campus was just given the number one position in a New York Times roundup of the one-hundred best places to eat in NYC.
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Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi – a Creole restaurant with American and Caribbean flare at 10 Lincoln Center Plaza (inside the recently renovated David Geffen Hall) – opened in November 2022.
“We needed Tatiana,” writes New York Times critic Pete Wells. “We needed a kitchen that puts Caribbean and African and Black American cooking, too often kept in the city’s margins, right at center stage. We needed to taste the way Kwame Onwuachi focuses and concentrates the flavors of oxtails, goat curry, chopped cheese and other items without losing sight of their roots.”
If you’ve been reading the tea leaves, critics have been praising Tatiana since it opened. Eater regaled their Egusi dumplings as “irresistible,” while The New Yorker declared their Mom Dukes Shrimp as “very delicious, head-on and drenched in creole butter.” Both publications gushed over Onwuachi’s chopped cheese sandwich whose roots can be traced back to a small Harlem Bodega named Hajji’s. Onwuachi, originally from the Bronx, has put his own unique flavor on the humble sandwich by using aged rib eye and taleggio and topping it with shredded romaine and shaved truffle on a brioche bun.
Robb Report says Onwuachi’s “beverage menu similarly draws from Onwuachi’s childhood, melding the flavors he grew up around in classic NYC cocktails.” They call out the “LC Negroni mixes Caribbean sorrel and Lustau East India sherry with Fords Gin, Campari and Aperol, while the POG Nutcracker (Appleton Reserve, passionfruit, orange and guava) is a fancier version of the drink many buy from street vendors or merchants on the beach.”
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Robb Report concluded that “Onwuachi’s dreams make for a delectable reality.” Similar sentiments are also shared on Yelp, where Tatiana currently has a four-and-a-half-star rating (out of five). On top of all their food praises, one commenter wrote, “And the best part? Trap and twerk music the whole time. Waka Flocka Flame, Travis Porter, Meg the Stallion, Pop Smoke, Lil Wayne. You name a guilty pleasure, they played it. Definitely not the environment to dance in, but so therapeutic to be fine dining to music that feels so familiar.”
And the accolades keep coming. On Wednesday, Esquire penned a story titled, Kwame Onwuachi is a Virtuoso Chef Whose Time Has Come.
But most importantly, what do you think?
So this is a whole nonsense piece there’s a reason there’s not a ton of this cuisine in Manhattan it’s not very good. With all the amazing restaurants in the neighborhood it’s a joke to give it to some new restaurant purely based on Diversity and inclusion.
Caribbean and Creole cuisine is not very good?
This was a D&I choice??
LOL OK CARMINE.
Your post neglected to say if you’ve actually eaten there. I have, reluctantly, based upon the description of their food. However, after the first course I knew I was in for a great meal. Not at all what I expected, but easily on par with Daniel. I went there early in their tenure but now it is IMPOSIPLE to get a reservation. So, besides the critics, there are a great many other people that agree with the Times (and me).
I am incredibly jealous that you were able to get a table!!!
Setting aside the tokinism tone in the NY Times review cited,, have you eaten at this restaurant?
I’ve eaten there 3 times. The food is fantastic and the service is excellent. Why the nasty comment?
As this is not Indian food, we don’t say goat curry. We say curry goat
“a Creole restaurant with American and Caribbean flare”
flair
That music sounds terrible to eat to in a restaurant lol
The restaurant opens at 5p, and if you don’t mind an early dinner you can queue up for 6 seats at the bar without reservations – first come, first serve. You actually queue up at the entrance in Geffen Hall. I arrived at 4:45p and got the last 2 seats at the bar.
My husband and I ate there for my birthday. He was very excited because he was on a waiting list and they called him on the same day to let us in. To be honest, I can’t even remember what I ate so the food was not anything memorable for me. The ambiance was ok, a bit too loud. I think too that the hype about that restaurant is unfounded.
Betty,
Do you remember which dishes you and your husband had?
It is also very pricey
When I want that kind of food I go to central Brooklyn not Lincoln Center.