this is for the cool in you
A kitchen is more than a place from where plates plated by hands of a person are deliverers into the palms of a people. A kitchen is a place to break bread, to feel welcomed, to be in the intimate mind of a chef. Baba Cool Cafe is a kitchen that is this kind of place. It’s like a love letter in the form of a menu, seasoned vegetables are pure and clean, beers are light and refreshing and coffee, within match of espresso based is the makeup of care.
Baba Cool, a micro cafe in the heart of Fort Greene is a testament of love. Its very name means ‘Happening.’ It feels like a physical extension of owner and chef, Gabby Mann herself, a homing device for community and connection, carefully blurring the line between the public and private. “I’m not trying too hard,” said Gabby about her minimalistic and intentional approach to the in between of fine dining and small bites.
On a visit to Baba Cool to explore its new after hours menu, I was a witness to the kitchen that is. From the open face coffee be to the near open space kitchen the use of its interior spaces signals welcome upon entering. It’s quaintness feels good, as if Baba has created a kitchen that feels like you’re walking into a home and not a cafe front.
It’s part hide and seek and can-you-see-me-design, with art peppered on the wall is idyllic for seasonal people watching enhanced by street facing views among after hour bites.
Here’s what I loved:
Cauliflower
Apples crunch within small chunks of cauliflower,, behaving like dancing partners in a tango.
Graffiti Eggplant
Soft chunks cut for singular bites of consumption give eggplant and purple a chance to be felt, as a most succulent fruit, severed vegetable style.
Turmeric Latte
Healing is served bountifully as turmeric blends with a shot of Toby’s Estate espresso to become a warm elixir of comfort within the context of a taste that reads like milk chocolate, light toasted marshmallows with an accent of aged spice
Gabby and I
Now go and see what’s happening for yourself.
Brooklyn, NY