Reverence Starts With Putting Down Your Phone
Chef-owner Russell Jackson wants you to be present when you’re visiting his Harlem restaurant
It was a chilly Friday night, just one day after the death of beloved U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, when I walked into Reverence in Harlem’s Strivers’ Row and read a welcome card emblazoned with a quote from the Baltimore congressman: “I’m going to do what feeds my soul.”
If Russell Jackson’s restaurant is any indication, it seems that’s exactly what the chef-owner is doing in this project.
Reverence makes good on its name by immersing visitors in a semi-spiritual experience that starts with a strict no-technology policy. Against a backdrop of ’70s and ’80s rock, visitors begin the $98 five-course dinner by breaking bread — vadouvan gougères of roasted carrots and benne miso lightly brushed with olive oil and black sea salt. Wine pairings invoke a communion experience not unlike those in the Baptist churches that line the neighborhood, and the French Riviera-blue walls envelop diners in an unusual dining experience, free from the always-connected confines of modern life.
Jackson says that the power of unplugging from the modern world can go well beyond a restaurant experience. “It’s about making you exceedingly uncomfortable and taking as…
