Harlem’s best kept secret

Lee Lee's Baked Goods

“Don’t buy anything in Harlem. If you need anything, go downtown. During daytime, the police patrol there, but after dark it isn’t safe”, was the well-intended advice someone gave me this week when I told him my hostel was located at 118th St, near Central Park.

I ignored that advice, and I did not regret it yet. The end of my time in New York City is drawing near, but I’m starting to feel at home here. That’s partially thanks to the proximity of Central Park: as Zeeuwse I love space, trees and water. On a sunny day it is delightful to take a walk in that park.

But the neighborhood has its charm too. Of course Harlem has its bad spots, and sometimes you can just feel the anger of the people. In one deli the clerk refused to help me, pretending not to speak English. So I addressed him in Spanish. Still no reaction, until the other customers joined in the argument: “Hey man, she’s speaking Spanish to you. You could be a little nicer.”

It turned out to be an exception: everybody else here is very friendly. For a couple of days I’ve been a regular custumer of a run down-looking little bakery, two blocks away from the hostel: Lee Lee’s Baked Goods. I discovered it by chance when a friend and I were looking for a late breakfast.

Mr. Lee Lee is a local celebrity. The entire neighborhood comes to buy his rugelachs, an originally Jewish product made of dough with a filling of raisins, nuts, chocolate, cinnamon and more. The ingredients vary per baker, but Mr. Lee Lee’s secret recipe makes his rugelachs the best of New York, according to many reviewers on the Internet.

In this bakery with three tables and no more then eight seats the people from the neighbourhood gather – to talk and socialize. It’s a great place to meet the local people, and everybody here is equal: black, white, Hispanic. But there is something else, too, that draws the customers here: Mrs. Lee Lee’s chicken soup. It is not advertised anywhere, and that’s a good thing. Mrs. Lee Lee would have a burn-out if ‘hip Manhattan’ were to discover the place. A delicious, homemade soup with big chunks of chicken, dumplings, potato, carrot, celery and pumpkin. The price: $3.00. Mr. and Mrs. Lee Lee might very well be the reason I’m booking a room in Harlem again when I return to New York City.

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