GRAND RE-OPENING: Juice Bar Uptwon Veg NEW BUSINESS: Island Salad In Harlem on 125th Street Two Vegetarian Black Businesses

YES! The old Uptown Juice Bar has moved and meta-morphed into Juice Bar Uptown Veg. I kept hearing rumbling rumors that Uptown Juice Bar was in trouble due to escalating commercial rents in Harlem on 125th Street, and that it was on the verge of closing. Periodically, I would head over there to show my LOVE and monetary support by picking up some good tasting and healthy vegetarian dishes as well as my Vita Coco coconut water before I would head to BMX-NY (Black Men's Xchange-New York) on Friday evenings to socialize with my SGL brotherhood.

However, my money has been funky as of late, and so I really haven't been to Uptown Juice Bar for a few months now. I was saddened to hear these rumors and the possibility of yet another Black business going down the tubes via white supremacy and gentrification by jacking up the rent.

Anyway, I had just gotten off the 6 train at 125th Street and was headed to see sistah Ma-JaDe, an African street vendor who makes superb "jewelry" or otherwise known as "Sa" in Egyptian language from what another sistah told me. Check out the pic of me to the right to see how awesome her freakin' work is --->

Before I got to Ma-JaDe's table which was a few blocks away, (her website is azzaziel.com and her contact email address is majade@live.com) I saw what seemed like a new vegetarian joint. I was like "Qool! Let me stop in and see what they have". And I immediately saw this sistah behind the counter that I recognized from Uptown Juice Bar. I waited until she fisnished with a customer and asked her if she switched jobs or something, and she was said "Nah, we moved to this new location from the old block. The land owner is eventually going to make everyone from the old block move because of major renovation (and jacked up rent, of course). She said the businesses still on the old block have another 2 years to move. So, what do you think of the new place?"

I thought the place was mad qool and bigger (at least in the main area). The only loss was that there was no back area sitting anymore.

In any even, I LOVE the new Juice Bar Uptown Veg place and I took some pictures to share.

Juice Bar Uptown Veg
(Front Area With Counter)

Juice Bar Uptown Veg (Back Area)

NOW! Before I got to the new and improved Juice Bar Uptown Veg Counter I saw this new place (at least new to me as I don't walk and travel down the east side of Harlem much) called Island Salad. I saw a lot of Black people in there (customers) and most especially behind the counter. I assumed it's a Black business and looked over the menu. It was another pro-vegetarian place and they specialized in custom order salads and wraps with different fishes (shrimp, tilapia, salmon, etc.), toppings and dressings.

Click Image To Enlarge The Menu/Price List
(Front)

Click Image To Enlarge The Menu/Price List
(Back)

I wound up ordering a Gone Fishing Wrap which consisted of romaine lettuce, shrimp, salmon, tuna, tilapia, olives, red onions, bell peppers, parmesan cheese and a dressing of my choice (I chose the amazing Asian sesame ginger dressing -- not too spicy and awesomely good). They chop everything in a bowl and put it in a big wrap and then on a warming grill and in seevral minutes I was good to go.

Island Salad
(Front Counter And Food Preparation Area)

The wrap was great. I gave one of the sistahs behind the counter (she seemed like a manager or owner perhaps) my business blogging card, and said I'd feature Island Salad on Nubian Knights Network. So hopefully she has seen this blog entry and that I am pleased with the food.

Island Salad
(Outside Back Deck Area - Beautiful)

I'll be back there again!