At Bar Manje, Caribbean Flavors Abound by Central Park
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When 5 p.m. hits the Upper West Side, the beloved neighborhood diner Good Enough to Eat, in business for more than 40 years and located a block from Central Park, transforms. As the sun sets, Bar Manje takes over, serving up rum punch, Trinidadian doubles, and jerk octopus.
The two concepts are more connected than they might seem at first glance — for one thing, Good Enough to Eat’s owner and restaurateur, Jeremy Wladis, and Bar Manje chef-owner, Kingsley John, have known each other for more than 30 years. Now, they’re working together on the nighttime project and we sat down with the pair to find out everything you’ll want to know before you visit.
The Resy Rundown
Bar Manje
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Why We Like It
After dark, Bar Manje takes over the Good Enough to Eat space with a menu of Caribbean and Southern dishes like ackee and saltfish spring rolls, shrimp and grits, and oxtail lasagna from a practiced chef who climbed the industry ladder all the way up from dishwasher. -
Essential Dishes
Jamaican goat and beef patties; taro root and acra; oxtail lasagna; and five-spice beef lo mein. -
Must-Order Drinks
Nello Rum Punch Fellow, made here with fresh fruit juice and three kinds of rum, and a daiquiri made with a lychee agave. The beer list includes Red Stripe, from Jamaica, and Prestige, from Haiti.
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Who and What It’s For
Anyone who loves a good success story — or who wants to spread their wings from the usual Italian, Greek, and American food on the Upper West Side. -
How to Get In
Walk-ins are always welcome, but you can also always make a reservation, too. -
Fun Fact
Restarateur, Jeremy Wladis, and Bar Manje chef-owner, Kingsley John, have known each other for more than 30 years.
1. The story of how Bar Manje came to be is made for the silver screen.
It’s impossible to tell the story of Bar Manje, so named for the French Creole word for eat, without telling the story of the two men behind it. Chef and owner Kinsley John and co-owner Jeremy Wladis met 35 years ago, when John showed up at the door of the space (then a completely different restaurant, although still owned by Wladis) asking for a job.
“I asked ‘What can you do?’ and he said ‘Nothing. But whatever you tell me, I will do’,” Wladis remembers. “He took a spot as a dishwasher and worked his butt off. He learned the kitchen, he ran food, he did everything.”
As time went on, Wladis says he introduced John around to chefs, ingratiating him with people in the industry. John went on to work with icons from Daniel Boulud to Marcus Samuelsson to Charlie Trotter. Last fall, Wladis asked John if he’d be interested in opening a restaurant together, back where it all started.
“Jeremy is a friend,” John says. “I know how he runs his businesses and it’s the right way. It was a good match for me to come back — pretty much come home.”
2. As a chef, John is just getting started.
John’s career is, clearly, long and storied. Most recently, he acted as the chef in residence at Samuelsson’s Red Rooster, and was involved as an owner in restaurants such as Soco in Brooklyn, which is now closed.
While he finds much inspiration in his approach to cooking and recipe development from his roots in St. Lucia, he’s also always looking to explore experimenting with new flavors and ingredients of all kinds.
“My journey has had so much depth that I don’t look at Caribbean food as the end of it. I think the chef that taught me the most was Gerry Hayden. He was an American chef, but his flavors were vast, way more than just American cooking,” John says. “I just want to cook good, healthy good that will flow with the seasons and that people will enjoy.”
3. It’s a match made in restaurant heaven.
It’s perhaps this very philosophy that makes Wladis and John, and Good Enough to Eat and Bar Manje, such perfect partners. Both want to focus on good quality, seasonal foods.
“Good Enough to Eat has a great foundation for us,” John says. “We may intertwine Bar Manje with Good Enough to eat more [in the future], but as an American diner it’s one of the best.”
They’re turning over the space in many ways, some permanent and some ephemeral for the nighttime service. With a total of 95 seats that include outdoor seating, they’ve painted some of the furniture and the walls in brighter colors and displayed record covers from artists like Bob Marley, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones. When Good Enough to Eat turns into Bar Manje at 5 p.m., they line the tables with custom craft paper and turn the lighting down.
4. Don’t skip the drinks.
Of course, the main change that takes place is in the kitchen and at the bar. To drink, the team wanted to have a few staples to put their own twist onto.
There’s a rum punch, made here with fresh fruit juice, three kinds of rum, bitters, and cinnamon extract, and a daiquiri made with a lychee agave. The beer list includes Red Stripe, from Jamaica, and Prestige, from Haiti.
“We wanted to use some of the Caribbean flavors and influence with American staples. They’re simple drinks, but there’s a spin,” John says.
5. The kitchen transforms, too.
When the clock strikes 5 p.m. waffles, sandwiches, and eggs any style give way to jerk chicken, ital stew, and ackee and saltfish spring rolls.
“We have so many different layers in the Caribbean. So many people have migrated there, so I wanted to use that as well as my travels to create the menu,” John says.
This comes into play with dishes like the oxtail lasagna, made with slow-braised oxtail, ricotta, mozzarella, and pasta, and the five-spice beef lo mein, with cabbage and a Chinese five-spice sauce. There’s a fried shark on the menu, alongside shrimp and grits and a Sunday-only by-the-piece buttermilk fried chicken. John is making a majority of things in-house, from the patties to the doubles shells.
Both Wladis and John say that they plan to evolve the menu, and the concept, in the future.
“This menu is just a beginning,” John says. “In the future we want to combine Good Enough to Eat and the farm-to-table Caribbean flavors and just create one, comfortable restaurant.”
Bar Manje is open daily from 5 to 10 p.m. inside Good Enough to Eat at 520 Columbus Avenue.
Ellie Plass is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn. Follow her on Instagram and X. Follow Resy, too.
