It’s a Life Supreme: Ghetto Gastro

April 25, 2023

Something we need more of in the world are safe spaces for black men to be their multidimensional selves, unapologetically. The media constantly bombards us with images that show us what society thinks of black men. In varying degrees, we all undertake a journey to understand, and, in some cases, free ourselves from the limitations of playing the role that society has created for us. The media often portrays black men as a monolith, not celebrating the multitudes that many times don’t even exist that far below the surface.

For our Issue 19 cover story, the main trio of the culinary collective sat in conversation with Alvin Armstrong as he painted their portraits. Shop this cover here.

Photography DON BRODIE
Styling + Editor-in-Chief SIMON RASMUSSEN
Interview + paintings ALVIN ARMSTRONG
Introduction EMANN ODUFU
Talent GHETTO GASTRO
Talent publicist HUXLEY
Hair NIGELLA MILLER
Barber RANDY BRODIE
Makeup NADIA LOPEZ
Light Tech DANIEL JOHNSON
1st Photo Assistant SHEN WILLIAMS-COHEN
2nd Photo Assistant DANIELLE SHAW
Fashion Assistants DYLAN ANDREWS, LYLE KOKIKO
Production OLIVIA ROPER-CALDBECK, SARAH SCHECKER
Production Assistant MYLES MADDEN
Retouching LINJEPUNKT

JON wears JACKET by ALEXANDER MCQUEEN, PANTS by ACNE STUDIOS, SHOES by RICK OWENS, JEWELRY and SHIRT are TALENT’S OWN
PIERRE wears JACKET by BURBERRY, SHIRT by SACAI, PANTS by KENZO, SHOES by SACAI X CLARKS
LESTER wears JACKET by BALENCIAGA, SHIRT AND PANTS by 7 DAYS ACTIVE X OFFICE, BOOTS by MONCLER, HEADWEAR is TALENT’S OWN, JEWELRY by BERNARD JAMES and TALENT’S OWN

Eavesdropping in on the conversation and connection that occurred between artist Alvin Armstrong and the members of the illustrious culinary supergroup, Ghetto Gastro, I couldn’t help but think that for a moment, the black men who were talking about their lives in front of me could truly be seen as their entire selves. The main trio behind Ghetto Gastro, Pierre Serrao, Jon Gray and Lester Walker all hail from the Bronx, NY, the birthplace of hip-hop, a dominant culture in the world today. Their way of expressing themselves, from clothing to overall body language, are urban, yet hearing them speak of their lives, from their passion for telling stories through food to their appreciation for art, one immediately realizes that there is a lot more to these guys than the typical narrative attributed to black men from communities like the ones in which they grew up.

Their story is grounded in a shared tie to the borough of the Bronx, but it extends around the globe to places like the Caribbean, Ghana, Liberia and Japan, and those are just the journeys they’ve taken over the past few months alone. The gentlemen that make up the Ghetto Gastro have used culinary arts and the power of storytelling as their tools to change their own lives, and the lives of the people that make up the community around them through initiatives that nourish the body, mind, soul and social climate with a “street-to-table” mentality. Growing up in an urban city, Newark, NJ, I realize how powerful this is — the idea that you can make it out of the hood without rapping or playing a sport. There are other pathways to making it in America. Young urban youth from communities like Newark or the Bronx can also be world-class chefs, artists, entrepreneurs, architects and curators. Additionally, to do so, you don’t have to disassociate yourself from the environments that birthed you. These interviews were recorded as Armstrong, an acclaimed young artist, former member of the Coast Guard and a friend of Ghetto Gastro, painted portraits of each collective member, asking them questions about their lives during his painting process.

Conversations are had, and then we go to the lab and cook up and create.

PIERRE wears SHIRT and SHORTS by WILLY CHAVARRIA, COAT and SOCKS by SACAI, BOOTS by ALEXANDER MCQUEEN, SUNGLASSES by FLATLIST X OFFICE, JEWELRY are TALENT’S OWN

Alvin Armstrong— Pierre, how did you and Jon meet?

Pierre Serrao— He and I were neighbors. We met in the gym. We developed a relationship as friends for a couple years before we got into business together.

AA— You were working in the kitchen at that time?

PS— I was doing a lot of private work at that time. I had my own company. I was doing events and things along those lines. I had clients in Central Park, and clients with big yachts in south Florida. I had left restaurants maybe a year or so before. I was tired of that grind.

AA— I feel you. It’s a serious grind.

PS— But yeah, we were homies before we actually got into business together. We’ve been cooking ever since. It hasn’t stopped.

AA— My favorite dish that I had from you guys is definitely the caviar with the cornbread. What else is on that one?

PS— With the crab salad. Triple C’s.

AA— Yup, Triple C’s. That shit was so fire. I had that at Basel two years ago.

PS— That’s one of my favorite dishes as well.

AA— Did you guys come up with that collectively? How does that work?

PS— All three of us work on our signature dishes. Ideas get tossed around. Conversations are had, and then we go to the lab and cook up and create. Usually, one person takes the lead on particular things — if it’s your idea. The rest of us will give constructive criticism on what we think can change, or if it’s perfect as is. These are ways that we continue to refine the craft.

Armstrong stops for a second and looks at the portrait of Serrao.

Being underestimated when you work in rooms can be a superpower, but it also gets annoying after a while.

AA— It’s fire, bruh.

PS— Speed painting.

AA— These joints be quick, but they be fire. I’m acrylic all day. I just love the speed of it. Like today, being able to do three portraits really quick in one session is why I like it so much. I’m pretty happy with this. You still gotta come to the studio, dawg. You were on your way that one day.

PS— Then I got jammed up. I was with my daughter. But will stop through, best believe. Also, I’m glad to be able to see you in your element though.

AA— Have they been traveling with you?

PS— A little bit. I took them to Tokyo. [Then to] Grand Cayman and Barbados. They are in Barbados now. We spent the winter out there, on the islands, working on some stuff on the ground as well.

AA— What’s your daughter’s name again?

PS— Sage. And her art collection is up right now.

AA— Who’s in the collection?

PS— Jon is her godfather, so he still owes her a piece for her last birthday. He has promised her that for each birthday, he’d get her a piece of art… She’s got a José Parlá.

AA— Local legend.

PS— She’s got a Miguel Payano Jr. She’s got a Bryan Fernandez. She has a photo that I believe is by Renee Cox. She’s got a pretty good collection for a three-year-old.

AA— So much is about legacy, that’s why I’m always interested in how the kid’s collection is looking.

PS— She's been to gallery openings, she’s used to being in the mix. She’s three, but she loves to paint and create with her hands. She likes to perform as well. We nurture all those things to keep that imagination growing. It's an important stage in her life, where we can see how advanced she is, just because of the travel and exposure that she’s been getting through all the trips we've been taking around the world.

The interview pauses while the photo shoot of Walker jumps into full gear on the other side of the Studio. Gray wraps up his meal and sits down for his portrait. A few moments pass before the interview begins. Armstrong is getting his paint materials together as we wait for Walker’s photo shoot to pause for a wardrobe change.

LESTER wears JACKET, PANTS, BOOTS by BALENCIAGA, SHIRT by WILLY CHAVARRIA, SUNGLASSES by GENTLE MONSTER, JEWELRY are TALENT’S OWN

AA— Jon, when did you and Les meet?

Jon Gray— I saw Lester around the neighborhood for most of my life because I grew up with his brother, Chad. My grandmother taught Chad in fourth grade. I’m two years younger than Chad, so he was like a big brother to me. He took me under his wing and made sure I was aight, because he was close with my grandmother because she was his teacher.

AA— When did you start collecting art?

JG— I consider myself a custodian of work. The first work I collected was a drawing with Oasa DuVerney. It was a diptych of Al Sharpton and Albert Einstein. We were at the Hunter MFA. So Larry Ossei-Mensah is my big brother in the art game, and he was just learning. We were learning from experience: going to open studios for MFA students, reading whatever literature and going to shows. That’s how I got a feel and understanding of what spoke to me. So, my art history and appreciation comes from looking, watching and listening.

AA— About what you gravitate towards.

JG— It has to speak to me, and also the maker of the object, I like to feel that I gravitate to them, because I’ve often felt like an outsider in many of these spaces. Being underestimated when you work in rooms can be a superpower, but it also gets annoying after a while.

AA— Like you got to prove that you belong there, and those feelings can get challenging after a while, especially when you guys have already done so much. Were you a resident at the Met? I saw you curated a show there.

JG— I curated a show at the Cooper Hewitt, which is the Smithsonian Design Museum. But I was an artist-in-residence at the Met from 2020 to 2022. It’s interesting, because we were the second cohort of civic practitioners, which is basically a program about connecting communities to the Met. Communities that the Met is not speaking to, or would like to have a deeper relationship with. It was about galvanizing people, building with the curators, letting the museum know how they could be better and shaking the bureaucracy a bit.

AA— That’s what’s up, man.

JG— It’s like, growing up in East Harlem, at one point going to school 20 blocks from the Met. It was like a beautiful full-circle moment. Even with Cooper Hewitt, I remember being on Museum Mile, but I lived in the project on the other side. On First Avenue and Metro North.

We try to take pause to admire the blessings and how far we’ve come, but we’re just getting warmed up.

PIERRE wears JACKET by ALEXANDER MCQUEEN, SHIRT by 7 DAYS ACTIVE, JEANS by DENIM TEARS, BOOTS by TIMBERLAND, SUNGLASSES by GENTLE MONSTER, JEWELRY are TALENT’S OWN
JON wears COAT by WILLY CHAVARRIA, SWEATER by DENIM TEARS, PANTS by RICK OWENS, SHOES by LOEWE, SUNGLASSES by LOUIS VUITTON, JEWELRY are TALENT’S OWN
LESTER wears JACKET, PANTS, BOOTS by BALENCIAGA, SHIRT by WILLY CHAVARRIA, SUNGLASSES by GENTLE MONSTER, JEWELRY are TALENT’S OWN

Emann Odufu— Where is Cooper Hewitt?

JG— 91st street and 5th, and the Met is on 82nd and 5th, so we were really 5th and 5th City, which is what we call section 5 to 5th Avenue. Museum Mile letting them smile, you feel me.

EO— You just got back from Los Angeles.

JG— We did the Black Music Collective, which is a celebration honoring black music. Because it was the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, they honored Sylvia Rhone. She grew up in Harlem. So uptown reigns, you know that. Missy Elliot, Dr Dre, and Lil Wayne.

EO— They were all honored?

JG— Yeah, with the Global Innovator Award. It’s like a Black Grammy. Literally, it’s a Black Grammy. It’s like the same type of statue, but it's dipped in rhodium so it looks black. I don’t know what they dipped it in, but that’s my assumption. That was a lot of fun, and then the year before, we did the Oscars. So, we’ve been catching wreck at the Academy, don’t get mad at me.

AA— And more to come.

JG— Yeah, it never stops. We try to take pause to admire the blessings and how far we’ve come, but we’re just getting warmed up. [Glances at canvas] I’m going to smile. My momma would want me smiling.

AA— Your mom’s going to like it, regardless.

JG— Yeah, she’s going to be really ecstatic.

Lester Walker— Alvin, it’s dope to have this interaction after all the sessions me and you had just speaking about growth. Nothing transactional at all. Just building as brothers. We always spoke about doing something together. It just had to be the right timing and make sense, and here we are.

The shoot pauses for a half hour lunch. At some point Walker, who just hopped out of his photoshoot, sits down in front of Armstrong’s setup. He takes his durag off and re-wraps it to make it perfect for the portrait, and reminds us all that this is the second time Armstrong is painting him. The two talk about Walker’s son’s basketball games, who Armstrong had recently met about two months prior and had also done a portrait of.

LESTER wears SHIRT by WILLY CHAVARRIA, JEANS by LOUIS VUITTON, SHOES by UGG X DENIM TEARS, SUNGLASSES by FLATLIST X OFFICE, JEWELRY by BERNARD JAMES and TALENT’S OWN

AA— It almost feels like we spoke this into existence.

LW— We really did. [Pauses] This is big right here, too. It’s an opportunity to express the multi-disciplinary talents that we have, and give an example of collaboration and how that’s the most sustainable way to do business. Just putting things down together. Just from breaking bread we could build bridges. How’s it coming out?

AA— We good, we getting there.

LW— This color’s different, too. The silky. I think it’s called Ice Blue.

AA— Yeah, it’s definitely starting to come together.

LW— When I first met you, you weren’t really interested in painting, I don’t think.

AA— Yeah, I was fresh out the Coast Guard. At that time, I wasn’t. I didn’t even know what, what the art world was, really.

LW— You was just about having fun and getting that next paycheck. But we all was artists. We were just figuring out. My art is culinary. My man Alvin is a sculptor painter. A wizard with the colors, and I’m a wizard with the food and flavors. This shit go hand in hand.

Just from breaking bread we could build bridges.

AA— Almost, almost, almost there. [Alvin smacks the paint brush on his lap forcefully] What’s coming up for you?

LW— We got PAMM coming up in Miami. We’re doing a dinner. We gon’ style em out. We got LA Frieze coming up. We’re opening a restaurant out there with Pace gallery. You've been to Mother Wolf? It’s by the Hollywood strip. We’re gonna have some merch over there, a DJ type of thing.

AA— Which artists are you excited about?

LW— I’m excited to see Chase. I’m excited to see Tschabalala’s work — we were just with her in the Cayman Islands too! Chase Hall, yourself, Aya Brown. My man Jamel Robinson. Amoako Boafo. We were just out there in Ghana with him. We went there for his opening of his new residency in Accra, so we were in Accra for a week. We did Monrovia, Liberia for a couple days.

AA— Was that your first time back in Africa?

LW— That was my first time in Africa. But it was dope because Liberia was where a lot of my ancestors were sent back to. I spent a lot of time just walking around barefoot over there. Just so I could be connected with the dirt over there, and connected with the people more. I did a social media fast. Just to be present, just to soak in everything and not be distracted by any outside situation. We went over there for the Bicentennial for Liberia. We came back to the town for like, 23 hours, and then hopped on another flight to Tokyo, Japan.

AA— In Japan, you worked with a clothing brand?

LW— Yeah, we did a collaboration with Sacai. We did a collab on an apron and some pants, and we opened up a restaurant out there called Burnside. Paying tribute to Burnside Avenue in the Bronx. So, you take the 4 train to Burnside, or you can take the Air Japan to Burnside in Tokyo. The number 4 train to the G4, you feel me. It was an amazing experience. That’s one thing about food and what we do, is how we’re able to translate our story to other languages – through food. I don’t even need to speak Japanese to tell my story to Japanese people.

AA— They get it.

LW— We make sure that we are engaging with the guest and the people that are eating. It’s really off a vibe, and a body energy and a body language that they understand where it's coming from, and how we putting this shit down.

Culture

The Club Is Coming to the Stage

We enter and make our way to what is approximately front left of the DJ booth, where we’re accustomed to dancing at clubs in New York. “So is this a techno club or a dance performance?” yells an uncertain participant in my boyfriend’s ear. He laughs, bouncing along to Ben UFO, and yells back, “It’s both!” The club has long been a hot topic in European contemporary dance but it is only now making its way into New York performance venues, largely through transatlantic tours. R.O.S.E. follows recent examples like Michele Rizzo’s HIGHER xtn. at MoMA PS1 (May 2024), (LA)HORDE’s Room with a View at NYU Skirball (October 2023), and Gisèle Vienne’s Crowd at BAM (October 2022).

Do these performances compromise the club’s spirit — a space idealized for its anonymity, dark lighting, and thundering music? The notion of the club as a utopian escape is admittedly just that — an ideal — because of how its intense conditions can create barriers to entry. Still, the club remains sacred for many, a place to forge connections and embrace an alternative state of being. Looking at how performances transfer this spirit to new settings reveals what aspects of the club are essential and those that aren’t.

Sharon Eyal, R.O.S.E. 2024. Photography by Stephanie Berger, courtesy of Park Avenue Armory.

Eyal’s dancers make their entrance. The lighting shifts from roving blue to yellow spotlights as Ben UFO’s tracks transition to more melodic beats. Clad in deconstructed lace Dior lingerie with dark red tears painted on their faces, the dancers move cautiously in a tightly maintained pack, slicing paths through the horde with hoof-like steps and jerky leg extensions. After around ten minutes of this controlled choreography, the dancers vanish as the lighting shifts back to blue and Ben UFO picks up his dubby beats. The club, as we knew it, resumes. This cycle of tightly executed movements and free-flowing club-goers repeats several times, each time emboldening the dancers to plunge further into the crowd.

Clubbing in a building once built for the U.S. Army National Guard on Manhattan’s Upper East Side turns out to be surprisingly successful — at least for the audience. What starts as an awkward, scattered group searching for their non existent seats gradually gels into an engaged, bouncing crowd that erupts in cheers each time the dancers enter and exit. Performance patrons who might never step foot in a club find themselves swept up in its potential for communion, moving in unison with fellow ticket holders. But it isn’t until the very end of R.O.S.E. that the dancers finally break free from Eyal’s choreography and join the fired-up audience in a brief moment of improvisatory movement with the music. By keeping her dancers at arm’s length, Eyal seems more interested in the club as a backdrop for her signature movement style than wholly as a space with meaningful stories to be told.

Michele Rizzo, HIGHER xtn. 2024. Photography by Cameron Kelly courtesy of MoMA PS1.

Back in May, I attended Wire Festival, a multiday electronic music event at Knockdown Center that had no shortage of organically united dancefloors. It attracted a crowd of seasoned ravers who were eager to celebrate the start of spring as they danced alongside DJs who played well into the daylight. I left Wire in an afternoon daze to see Michele Rizzo’s HIGHER xtn. at MoMA PS1. My sleepless euphoria only deepened as the performance unfolded, starting with a lone dancer who looked plucked out of the festival.

The dancer, dressed in sneakers, baggy jeans, and a tight tank top, shuffled slowly into the gallery, perfectly in sync with the looping bars of an understated electronic melody. Soon, other dancers, clad in the same staple rave uniform, joined him — each having traveled from Europe for the U.S. museum debut of HIGHER xtn., which premiered at the Stedelijk in Amsterdam in 2018 and quickly became a fixture at kunsthalles and festivals across the continent. As the score’s tempo climbed, the choreography locked into a 16-count sequence, which the dancers executed with precise synchrony. They remained intensely focused, never making eye contact with each other, as they sought release in the endless repetition of synthesized beats. Once the dancers reached their limit, they stopped the sequence and exited the gallery, one by one.

HIGHER xtn. used the focused daylight of the gallery to highlight the meditative release found in the repetitive movements that dominate dark dancefloors. The performance’s restraint brought more consistency and intentionality than Eyal’s all-encompassing club construction in R.O.S.E. Yet both performances offer enticing entry points into club culture for those who may not frequent raves. Rizzo’s ecstatic, hypnotic repetitions reveal how the club can mirror other meditative practices, while Eyal’s interpolation of performance and clubbing helped hesitant audience members blossom by the end. Still, both works overlook one of the most underappreciated aspects of clubbing — its potential for individual expression. HIGHER xtn.’s pristine uniformity especially risks promoting the outdated techno trope that there’s a “right” way to dance to electronic music.

Maybe this shortcoming is, in fact, a benefit. For habitual ravers jaded by one too many sunrise sets, it’s a reminder to return to the club with more intention. If you pause and peer through the darkness, you’ll see hundreds of people moving to the same beat, each with their own subtle variations. This collective choreography is a ready-made spectacle that doesn’t need validation in a theater or museum. And when the music shifts slightly, you can watch the ripple effect sweep through the crowd while feeling the new beat in your body. Maybe this small bit of magic is best left on the dance floor.

Culture

Real Slick, Jack: Psyche Organic Arrives in New York

Shop Psyche Organic at Happier Grocery and Dimes. Coming soon to @citarellagourmetmarket @unionmarket @gourmetgarage @deciccos @fairwaymarket plus many more.

Culture

Porsche SCOPES Brings Art, Music, and Design to Toronto

The festival was a full immersion into Toronto’s dynamic creative energy. Day one set the tone with DJ collective Living Room, followed by an experimental performance by Claire Rousay that captivated the crowd. Jewelry designer Steff Eleoff unveiled her Porsche Taycan 4S art car installation—a bold fusion of automotive and wearable art inspired by her Sedona ring—while OVO Sound’s Naomi Sharon and DVSN wrapped up the night with powerful, genre-defying performances.

We witnessed SCOPES Toronto bridging underground and mainstream with day two’s lineup. DJ Korea Town Acid’s set paved the way for Angelphroot and Dameer’s debut of BASSMATI, a track blending South Asian influences with bass-driven sounds. Chippy Nonstop’s return to Toronto and Richie Hawtin’s extended set were milestones of the evening, proving that the city’s underground scene has a global resonance.

The final day featured standout performances from local pianist Harrison, Indigenous artist Tia Wood, and hip-hop visionary Sean Leon, who elevated his set with a live choir. Moonshine Collective’s film and musical performance explored themes of African utopia, showcasing art’s power to bridge culture and technology. Rising Toronto star SadBoi, who paused her tour to perform at SCOPES, further underscored the festival’s commitment to nurturing local talent.

Throughout the weekend, we experienced installations from artists like Mitsu Mitsu and culinary creations from Bar Mordecai, capturing the multifaceted creativity Porsche SCOPES brought to Toronto. This milestone 10th edition, open to all, allowed Toronto’s vibrant arts scene to thrive, underscoring SCOPES’ mission to celebrate local talent while connecting it to a global audience.

office had the chance to connect with rising star SadBoi ahead of the event. In our conversation, she shared insights into her creative journey and reflected on what performing and growing up in Toronto means to her and her work.

How are you, and where are you at right now? You told me you were traveling.

Um, I’m good, I’m feeling really good right now. I’m traveling back to Salt Lake City. I had a show yesterday in Seattle. I’m on tour right now with Coco and Claire.

How is touring life treating you? Do you like it?

I love being on the road. To be honest, I feel like I don’t know—like I’ve had good experiences and bad ones—but this time it’s really fun, especially with the people I’m surrounded by. It’s also the longest tour I’ve been on; I have about four more weeks to go. I’m trying not to think about how many days I have left.

Do you feel homesick?

Yes, because when I start thinking about how many days are left, I start to miss my dogs. I’ve just been trying to stay in the moment—I don’t even know what day of the week it is, to be honest with you.

Oh, sweet! What are your dogs’ names?

Jillian and Winston. I know, they’re crazy names.

You’ll be performing at SCOPES in Toronto, which is where you grew up. Do you feel like the crowd is different when you perform in Toronto compared to other cities?

Yes, I mean, Toronto just feels different because it’s home. Every time I come back to perform, something in my career has changed. The last time I performed in Toronto, people just wanted to have a good time, and I’m excited to perform back home again to see everyone’s reactions. I know it’s going to be different from the last time. It’s exciting to see your own growth. Toronto is a tough crowd, though. If we’re with you, we’re really with you.

So, they’re super picky? You have to gain their respect, or what is it?

I think Toronto people are in their own world, but when something really connects with them, they’ll lose themselves in the moment. But it takes something to bring them out of that. Toronto crowds are tough because even if they like you, they won’t show it outright until they’re really vibing with you.

It’s like a vibe check, right?

Exactly. They’ll enjoy your performance, but it’s hard to explain. When people visit Toronto, they often say, “Oh, you guys are so nice,” and I’m like, “I don’t think we’re that nice, we’re just polite.” Like, you can walk down the street, and no one will say anything, but it’s just our mannerisms.

You mentioned Toronto can have a moody energy, especially at night, and that the underground night scene there really inspires you. Can you talk more about what makes Toronto's nightlife so influential for you?

Absolutely, Toronto has this unique energy that comes alive at night. Similar to New York, there are the popular clubs everyone knows, but you need to find your niche—the people who know where the real parties are. I remember going to raves in high school yards, sneaking in because I wasn’t old enough. Events like Baby, Jerk!, and Yes Yes Y’all were pivotal, exposing me to DJs blending dancehall with EDM—something I hadn’t seen before. Toronto nightlife is moody and intense, but when everyone’s out, it’s like the whole city is alive.