Cheri's Bed-Stuy
Harlem born and bred, Torri Clayton moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant 10 years ago after feeling edged out of the housing market uptown. She loved the Brooklyn brownstones, culture and community that reminded her of home, but one thing in particular she missed.
“Harlem doesn’t have that Caribbean flair the same way that Brooklyn does, but there’s a Southern comfort food place on every corner — Sylvia’s, Melba’s, Red Rooster,” she says. While Torri came across soul food takeout spots in Brooklyn, restaurants with the Southern cooking *and* the ambiance she craved were harder to find. So she decided to build a business from her own family recipes, passed down from generations, and opened Cheri’s Bed-Stuy nearly four years ago.
“It’s comfort food with a family setting,” Torri says of the restaurant, which she operates with her sister Yasmine, brother Daniel and their mother: Cheri. Torri and her siblings credit Cheri, a Harlem girl with South Carolina roots, with teaching them how to burn (you may have even seen the family matriarch compete on Food Network’s “Chopped” last December). “Here you feel like you’re eating from your grandmother or your auntie’s kitchen.”
“Here you feel like you’re eating from your grandmother or your auntie’s kitchen.”
The team at Cheri’s Bed-Stuy prides itself on lovingly prepared, from-scratch dishes like their great-grandmother used to make. “We don’t have a microwave in the restaurant at all,” Torri says.
“Nothing’s sitting under heat lamps. Our food is cooked and served fresh.” We captured a few dishes during the restaurant’s popular and busy brunch, including crispy chicken and waffles, massive lobster tails (served fried or sauteed) over creamy grits with shrimp, and sizzling steak and eggs, all seasoned to perfection and served with tender cornbread drizzled with honey butter.
We can also vouch for their satisfying dinner entrees and sides such as the garlic-glazed grilled salmon, cornmeal crusted catfish, lollipop lamb chops, succulent baked chicken, mac and cheese with that perfect gooey melt, and yams, slow-baked to produce their own syrups and sugars. Cheri’s has a number of vegan options too, including a black bean burger, fried okra and the in-high-demand kale and collard greens (catch ‘em if you can).
“We wanted to create a place where the neighborhood can feel comforted and catered to,” Torri says of the menu, rooted in African-American soul food. “Like it’s an extension of yourself.”
Just as Torri designed, visiting Cheri’s really does feel like visiting an auntie’s house. “As soon as you walk in, you know that this is a Black curated space,” she says of touches including an intricate mural adorned with Adinkra symbols and West African patterns, along with portraits of Black icons, from Lena Horne to Muhammad Ali to “Do The Right Thing’s” Buggin’ Out. “It’s a celebration of family and culture.”
While in-house dining is limited due to COVID — as are the hours for the restaurant, open only on Saturdays and Sundays for now — there’s ample seating in their spacious backyard. “We call it the Secret Garden because it’s not something that you see coming when you first walk in,” Torri says of her outdoor oasis, perfect for the arrival of spring. (You can also order from GrubHub and Uber Eats.)
“We make sure that you have a full experience here, not just a plate of food — although that better be good, too. But it’s a whole package for us.”
216 Malcolm X Blvd, 718-576-6655, Cheri's Bedstuy
