Kabawa

Food & Wine named it the best restaurant in America in 2026. Chef Paul Carmichael, born in Barbados and trained at the Culinary Institute of America, spent years leading one of Sydney's most acclaimed kitchens before returning to New York with a singular mission: to give Caribbean cuisine the fine dining stage it has always deserved. The result is a three-course prix fixe in the East Village where the room hums, the playlist carries original instrumentals from the Caribbean, and the food — pepper shrimp, cassava dumplings in Creole sauce, coconut turnovers — speaks plainly about where it comes from.