At Creola, Chef Lana Lagomarsini welcomes you to her grandmother’s table

A recent Wednesday evening dinner with a friend began with something Chef Mavis-Jay Sanders said during my interview with her at Briscola in Brooklyn. She said she was looking forward to Black women chefs opening their own restaurants like Chef Camari Mick’s Calabash and Chef Lana Lagomarsini ’s Creola. I was too, but today I can say I have just one more to go.

The time had finally come to experience Creola (1261 Park Avenue), named for her grandmother. After picking up my friend Melba and a quick cab ride, we arrived for our 6:30 p.m. reservation. Creola’s blue exterior and curtained window stopped me. It looked like a tiny French bistro, with a little 1950s diner charm. Quaint. Inviting. I wanted in.

AmNewsFOOD Food Editor Kysha Harris visits Chef Lana Lagomarsini at Creola, her intimate Upper East Side restaurant named for her grandmother. From the thoughtfully crafted dining room through the tasting menu, Lana shares how family memories, ancestral foodways, and her culinary experience shape what she brings to the table. (Kysha Harris video)

Lana greeted us warmly, delighted to have us there, and showed us to our table near the kitchen. From there, I could see the cooking and the whole dining room: five tables, about a dozen seats by my count, and the stately blue hutch from which Lana personally serves each guest everything else that doesn’t come from the small but mighty kitchen.

We settled in for the tasting menu. Melba also chose the $65 wine pairing; mostly NA these days, I ordered freshly made hibiscus soda. When Lana delivered it, she mentioned the importance of a “ red drink ” at a meal like hers, always honoring the ancestors. I did take a couple of sips of Melba’s wines because Lana was so proud of the selection, assisted by a friend. She was not wrong. The pairing moved through whites from Spain and elsewhere in Europe, ending with a lovely Syrah-Grenache blend.

First came snacks: miniature empanadas, compressed watermelon with almond brittle and herbs, and oysters with mignonette, tasso ham and greens. We ate them in that order. The watermelon’s acid, sweetness, and crunch caught my attention, followed by the oysters’ vinegary brightness. Lana knew how to wake up a palate.

As we ate, I kept noticing details of the petite room. The whitewashed and exposed brick walls adorned with family photographs, the yellow-and-black toile curtains — which I later learned Lana had sewn herself — the delicately embroidered monogrammed napkins and coasters that looked like pressed handkerchiefs fresh off the clothesline, and the eclectic plates that felt chosen with care all caught my eye. She had hand-created a space meant to recall the home of her grandmother, Creola.

Creola’s softly lit exterior, with the restaurant’s name on the window. (Kysha Harris photos)

Inside Creola: intimate tables, whitewashed brick, warm lighting, and family photographs.

Opening snacks: oysters with mignonette and tasso, miniature empanadas, and compressed watermelon with almond brittle and herbs.

Smoked Succotash: chilled corn soup with smoked cream, basil oil, marinated tomatoes, and thin okra chips.

Second Shift: head-on shrimp in coffee red-eye gravy, served with benne bread and shrimp-head butter.

Midnight Train: mustard-green-stuffed pork collar with summer peach Jezebel, Southern pecan dukkah and bitter greens.

Smoked succotash followed: chilled corn soup with smoked cream, basil oil, marinated tomatoes and okra chips. The okra, sliced lengthwise and exceptionally thin, had a wonderful nuttiness. The tomatoes supplied the tang. Corn, basil, smoke and crunch — a lot was happening, beautifully.

Next, potato salad, crazy style connected to her grandmother’s version and the potato salad every gathering needs. Potato pavé arrived with bright celery salad, bacon-fat hollandaise, and bacon. Lana generously added caviar, normally a $30 supplement. Those precise potato layers, that celery, that rich sauce. What a course.

Those thin, beautiful layers of pavé showcased Chef Lana’s skill and the experience she has garnered — from Gramercy Tavern, Daniel, Momofuku Ko, and Blue Hill at Stone Barns to an apprenticeship with Chef Francis Mallmann in Patagonia, cooking in Italy and Colombia, and her recent turn as a semifinalist on “ Top Chef: Destination Canada. ” You could see the precision of her training and taste her history in the way she made familiar flavors her own.

The second shift brought head-on shrimp in red-eye gravy. I tasted something I couldn’t place. Maple? Coffee, Lana explained, with butter enriching the sauce. Alongside came benne bread, her take on milk bread, and shrimp-head butter. Benne is sesame, with deep roots in West African foodways and the gardens of enslaved people in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. She described a roughly five-hour bread-making process. Its salted crust and soft interior were ready for that gravy. We put them to work and they got overtime!

The last savory course was Midnight Train. A mustard-green-stuffed pork collar with summer peach Jezebel, Southern pecan dukkah and bitter greens. Tender pork, juicy peaches and a pecan topping that ate almost like savory toffee. How were these peaches so good in October? Lana put the boom-bip to ’em.

We were getting full, if not already there. I left a little pork on the plate and Melba, a little peach. A bite for the angels, we told Lana. However, Banana pudding of spiced molasses cake, white-chocolate crémeux, and caramelized bananas still got, got.

By the time our meal came to an end, every table was occupied, and Lana was in her flow state. She told us a new menu was coming, but kept the details to herself. Invitation accepted!

For anyone longing for the feeling of being cared for at a grandmother’s table — or a familiar meal that makes you feel at home — Creola offers that invitation. Lana’s food and the room she created deserve a visit. I’m already looking forward to my next seat.

Thanks for reading and happy eating!

Kysha Harris is a chef, culinary producer, and food editor for the NY Amsterdam News . As a consultant and owner of SCHOP! , a personalized food service in NYC for over 23 years, she remains on the hunt for the city’s next great bite. Follow her on Instagram and on Facebook , @SCHOPnyc .

Questions, comments, requests, feedback, invitations! Email us at AmNewsFOOD@SCHOPnyc.com . Follow us on Instagram and Facebook , @NYAmNewsFOOD .

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