by Amanda Kludt
Eater NY
Just over a year ago, Village soul food spot The Pink Tea Cup was threatened with extinction, and now it’s expanding to Harlem.
Last year, when the over 50 year-old restaurant closed due to high rents and slow business, local restaurateur and owner of the Actor’s Playhouse Lawrence Page stepped in. He bought the trademark from the owners, hired one of their chefs, and reopened the Tea Cup a couple of blocks away from the original restaurant. Now he’s opening a branch up on Lenox and 120th Street, right across from local favorite Settepani and blocks away from Marcus Samuelsson’s soul food restaurant Red Rooster.
He originally planned on calling the place the Pink Heifer—due to a partnership with charity Heifer International—but the community disapproved, because “Heifer is often used as a derogatory slang term for a woman.” So Pink Tea Cup it is! The restaurant will hold 29 tables and will feature an upstairs lounge that will be open all day. Down the road Page plans on opening a Moroccan-themed bar nearby.
Read more about the new restaurant in Harlem from Eater NY.
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