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Try a Sorrel Mojito and More Caribbean-Inspired Cocktails at New Harlem Bar

By Gustavo Solis | July 10, 2015 3:10pm | Updated on July 12, 2015 10:25pm
 The new bar features Caribbean-inspired cocktails and Latin food.
Angel of Harlem
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HARLEM — The owner of Corner Social teamed up with the owner of Midtown’s Galway Pub to open a new bar.

Angel of Harlem, at 2272 Frederick Douglass Blvd., features Latin and Caribbean food with full bar and island-inspired drinks that feature Ting cocktails and sorrel mojitos.

It opened Thursday.

“We had really positive feedback last night,” said co-owner Eimear Conway. “People said it was something missing in the area.”

What sets Angel of Harlem apart from Frederick Douglass’s restaurant row locations is that their focus is on the drinks. While they do have a unique menu, the drinks are the starts of the show, co-owner Anahi Angelone said.

“The core of our business and our business model is more of a bar,” she said. “There are tons of restaurants but there is no real bar scene.”

The drinks feature Ting, a Jamaican soda common in the Caribbean, but not often used in upscale cocktails. They also use sorrel, a plant used in the Caribbean to make different drinks.

Angelone and co-owner Conway, spent two years looking for an ideal spot in Harlem. At the top of their wish list was a corner space to increase visibility and it had to be big.

Angel, at 2,390 square feet has plenty space, and features a 24-seat square bar in the center of the space. The open design keeps the bartenders within sight of everyone in the bar. They also have floor-to-ceiling windows that let in natural light and will have a wrap-around sidewalk patio in the next month, Conway said.

The space is big enough for different groups to have different experiences, Angelone said.

“It’s for going out drinking with your girlfriends or your boys and go watch a game,” she said. “You can also go out on a date or bring your family for a night out.”

The menu features tostones — plantains, pork carnitas, cheese, jalapeño salsa and picked onions — Jamaican sugar cane shrimp with grilled pineapple and a rum glaze, and a “Hot Mess” burger that comes with chorizo, pepper jack cheese and guacamole.

They plan to have a DJ in the bar from Thursday to Sunday and weekend brunch specials, Angelone added.

The owners hope that like Corner Social, locals embrace Angel of Harlem.

“We are not here to change the neighborhood we are here to enhance the best of it,” Angelone said. “We make sure to employ from the neighborhood. I think that’s the core of why this works. People of the neighborhood they come in and feel represented.”