Pink Tea Cup Owner Opens a Harlem Wine Bar
Auberge Laurent, an elegant, brick-walled wine bar with a lounge area in the back, serves an array of wines, mostly French, and a few beers by the glass and the bottle, along with a brief menu of cheeses and charcuterie. This newcomer to Harlem is owned by Lawrence Page and was supposed to have been the uptown location for his Pink Tea Cup. Mr. Page, who owns the Actors’ Playhouse in Greenwich Village, bought the original Pink Tea Cup, a venerable diner-style soul food spot on Grove Street, which had closed, and moved it to a larger space on Seventh Avenue South.
“I always wanted to move Pink Tea Cup to Harlem,” Mr. Page said, “but we could not get a liquor license in this space because it was too close to a church, so I settled for beer and wine and opened the wine bar.”
Mr. Page closed Pink Tea Cup about a month ago and is negotiating for a location in Harlem, near Auberge Laurent, to reopen it.
“Most of my clientele is from Harlem and the Bronx and going to the Village was not convenient,” he said. “Now there’s this whole movement to Harlem, what with Red Rooster and all.”
He said he expects to confirm the location of the new Pink Tea Cup soon, and he hopes to have it open by the spring. He is also looking to franchise it, starting in Los Angeles. But it will not be strictly soul food, he said.
“People are watching their diets and we can’t just stuff fried chicken down their throats, so we’ll have lighter food like Cobb salad and some vegetarian dishes,” he said.
Auberge Laurent, 200 Malcolm X Boulevard (120th Street), (212) 831-3625.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT