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Photo: Eric Medsker
It’s a sweltering day when I arrive at Cadence in New York City’s East Village to meet the chef Shenarri Freeman. “Beauty & Essex” by the Free Nationals softly bounces off the brick walls in the long skinny space, which is fashioned like a bar with only twelve seats. The restaurant is closed — it’s 2 p.m. on a Monday — and Freeman is wearing a halter-like black tank top, teal shorts, pink sneakers, and a camouflage-printed bucket hat. She asks me if I’m hungry. I am. “I have some lasagna,” she offers, and I readily accept.