亚历山大·斯莫斯Hosts the Best Dinner Parties in New York

接受邀请去吃饭的exander Smalls, entrepreneur, chef,author, and longtime Harlemite, is to make whatever schedule adjustments necessary to be in attendance, and not solely because the food is sure to soothe and inspire, nor solely because his panache for anecdotes induces giggles and hollers the neighbors can hear. His guests say yes because, in a way, they must. They need to. "I grew up in a household full of love and attention. I was the only grandson, the only nephew. I was the man of the hour—as a child I was very much indulged," Smalls says. He knows what it is to lavish attention, to make a guest feel enthralled and at ease. In the sprawling domain of his second-floor apartment bedecked with tapestries and art collections rivaling the floor-to-ceiling galleries atDooky Chase's Restaurantin New Orleans, Smalls is ambassador. And everyone knows (don't they?) that it's impossible to say no to a charming diplomat.

Over a career in food surpassing 25 years, Smalls has garnered accolades and a loyal following for his genre-defining (and -defying) restaurants and cookbooks. His presence feels inherently familiar these days—the striking white beard, the observant gaze through wire spectacles, a laugh that explodes up and outward. But when Cafe Beulah opened in New York in 1994, he was new perhaps to the scene but not to the Southern cooking tradition.TheNew York Timesheralded his celebration of low-country cuisine, shaped by both his Spartanburg, South Carolina, childhood and his experiences as a globe-trotting baritone opera singer, as part of a "new wave" of soul food cooking. The acclaim over his last restaurant, The Cecil at Minton's Playhouse in Harlem, was robust, too. The menu, with its kelewele, feijoada, and oxtail dumplings, merged the diverse African diaspora including Ghana, China, and the Caribbean with its rich Indian influences.Esquire将其命名为2014年最好的新餐厅。

Smalls' cookbooks, including this year's celebratedMeals, Music, and Muses: Recipes from My African American Kitchen, are jubilant meditations that frame recipes by song genre. InMeals,Smalls描述了音乐和食物的混合物，这些音乐和食物指导了黑色南部白话。亚搏电竞许多黑人音乐家以食物为灵感，而这种厨师的相反是，部分原因是两个竞技场都亚搏电竞可以讲述一个人的纹理故事，称呼一种自我认识和社区情歌。听到詹姆斯·布朗（James Brown）的“母亲爆米花”（Mother Popcorn），并感受到爆炸的内核或赫比·汉考克（Herbie Hancock）的“西瓜人”的热量，这是经常重新设计的爵士标准，它可以通过规范传达水果卖家的lope和lope。Mealsmoves from jazz to opera in stories told by an artist eager to find new pockets of inquiry emerging from a life enriched by travel and soundtrack. (Smalls shared his favorite tunes to cook and dine to; check out hisdinner party playlist here.)

Jazz pianist Jason Moran resides in Harlem with his family. He and his wife, vocalist Alicia Hall Moran, are frequent invitees to Smalls' home, and Moran intimately understands that visceral connection. "The food has a big impact on how we find colors," Moran says of the music. "Duke Ellington can find those colors because he's from the Northeast, Louis Armstrong because he's from NOLA. It's impossible to separate our food from our music."

Who wouldn't come to dinner? Smalls has been a magnetic host from his earliest days in the business. He has socialized in one place or another with a who's-who list of figures but often in his abode. Two of his three refrigerators feature a pre-Instagram photographic collage of 1990s-era New York Hollywood. Top left, there's Smalls with former60 Minutes主持人，无与伦比的记者埃德·布拉德利（Ed Bradley）。向下滚动几张照片，与昆西·琼斯（Quincy Jones）一起咧着嘴笑。锅到中心，一个干净的剃须，男孩般的小家伙在莉娜·霍恩（Lena Horne）旁边看起来很活跃。啊!西塞利·泰森（Cicely Tyson），带有毁灭性的低剪裁，睫毛的刘海。Phylicia Rashad，Levar Burton，Lorrainetoussaint和CCH Pounder - 表达喜悦，娱乐，幸福的脸。他们张贴了无框和老化，他们与棕褐色的肖像坐在走廊上，这是小家族的直接和大家庭的荣誉榜，几代人，赃物，赃物和格蕾丝（Swag）和格蕾丝（Grace）在一个层层的篮子吊灯中闪烁着。在他的第一本书中Grace the Table: Stories and Recipes from My Southern Revival,Smalls writes, "Nobody outdressed the Smalls family in Spartanburg—nobody." The homage on his wall—featuring wide lapels, pearl strands, symmetrical pocket squares, and fedoras snapped-to—confirms.

These days, the guest list might include longtime friends like Spike and Tonya Lewis Lee or Al Roker and Deborah Roberts ("I've catered Al's Christmas party for 22 years"). Newer ones, too—Lupita Nyong'o or musician Paul Beaubrun. A guest mentions a book she's just learned about; Smalls knows the author, who was sitting in the same chair last week. A guest admires a painting; inevitably, Smalls is friends with the artist, and a story follows.

"Alexander creates community when he sets a table," says singer Shola Adisa-Farrar. She connected with Smalls through mutual friends over a decade ago. While living in Paris, she remembers, Smalls would visit and link her with other artists, always encouraging her music. "He also introduced me to black rice," Adisa-Farrar says. "There's a ceremony to it," she says of Smalls' entertaining.

参与者将活动更改为活动，没人知道除主持人本人以外，谁会提前来。Soirées缺乏假装或压力，也许是因为以下传统：不超过八个人。每天晚上，一个充足的酒吧都有顶级波旁威士忌和朗姆酒。小家伙通常会自己做饭，有时每天做一碗菜，但他偶尔会依靠才华横溢的朋友（这位作家喜欢查尔斯顿厨师烹制的一顿饭BJ Dennis, an emerging master of the Gullah Geechee repertoire that Smalls also grew up eating). The food overflows; there are always leftovers.

"Any convening with Alexander promises equal parts music that moves the soul and food that elevates the palate," says filmmaker Lisa Cortés, a longtime friend of Smalls. "Many an evening has ended with us gathered around the piano to sing, and on certain bourbon-fueled nights, to recite poetry." It's just the way it goes when Smalls has you over for dinner.

Just as the award-winning cookbook he penned with chef JJ Johnson,Between Harlem and Heaven,捕捉了看到黑人饮食文化和历史的邻里的历史和精神，也许标题可以弯腰提及小斯姆斯的小角落。亚搏电竞藏在汉密尔顿高地，一片天堂坐着，那个笑容的人。温暖，蓬勃的声音；一只炉灶与善意吹来，迫不及待地想欢迎您。