Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Chef Abandons French Cuisine to Open Harlem Burger Joint

By Gustavo Solis | August 26, 2015 11:46am
 The new gourmet burger restaurant opened at 119th Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue last week.
Bunz Harlem
View Full Caption

HARLEM — A Harlem chef is trading in pan-seared duck breast and tuna tartar for burgers and fries.

Cedric Lecendre, the owner of Cedric’s Bistro on Saint Nicholas Avenue and 119th Street, has turned his French restaurant into Harlem’s first gourmet burger joint.

“If you want to succeed in this business, you have to give the people what they want,” he said.

Bunz, which opened last week, serves eight-ounce burgers made from a mix of brisket, short rib and sirloin.

Options include a Mac & Cheese burger, with buns made from the comfort food staple, an “Italiano” burger topped with a portabella mushroom and fresh pesto sauce, and a “Jerk” burger made from Jamaican jerk chicken.

Lecendre, 39, opened Cedric’s Bistro in 2010, when Harlem’s restaurant scene was starting to change. His closest competition was Lido and Settepanni. Celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson's Red Rooster had opened about four months earlier.

“The first two years were great. We used to get a lot of people from 110th Street, 100th, or 135th,” he said. “What I realized, is the boom of Harlem restaurants is on Frederick Douglass Boulevard and Lenox Avenue. I am literally stuck in my little corner.”

Before, people didn’t mind walking a couple of blocks for a good meal. Now, they can choose from several new eateries right outside their door.

With the increased competition, including several new French bistros, Lecendre decided to undergo a total re-launch and become a destination restaurant that offers people what no other restaurant in the neighborhood is doing, he said.

Apart from the special burger blend that is made upstate, the restaurant gets fresh Brioche buns from a French bakery in the city and vegetables grown locally, he said.

These burgers, which cost between $13 to $22 and come with fries, don’t just have raw tomatoes thrown on them, they are served with roasted plum tomatoes.

Lecendre, who has worked in restaurants most of his life, has seen the industry change. It went from an educational experience that chefs shared with customers to giving the people what they want, he said.

“In the '70s, French chefs came to this country and introduced Americans to their food,” he said.

“More recently, Japanese chefs came over and introduced Americans to sushi. Now it is more about giving the people what they want, but using your expertise to prepare the dishes.”

The restaurateur kept some of his bistro’s classic desserts such as the creme burlee, chocolate mousse, and a Nutella crepe. He also refused to get rid of some of the more popular brunch options — again, giving people what they want.

“One customer told me I had to keep the chicken curry,” he said.