Help Our Neighborhood Restaurants: Cheryl’s Global Soul Brings Comfort Food To Brooklyn

Scores of Big Apple eateries are evaporating amid the coronavirus crisis. So each week, Help Our Neighborhood Restaurants will highlight top neighborhood spots fighting to stay afloat while adhering to strict safety standards: the HONoR Roll. Thanks to Kyrie Irving and Beyond Meat, a New Yorker in need will get a plant-based burger whenever you order.

Before Cheryl Smith, the owner of Cheryl’s Global Soul settled down at her neighborhood joint just blocks from the Brooklyn Museum, she’d had just about every job in the food industry: selling homemade sandwiches in Soho out of a basket, working her way up from dishwasher to executive chef at Manhattan’s Marion’s Restaurant and even hosting Melting Pot on the Food Network. It was in 2006, though, that she finally achieved her goal of opening her own place.

“The whole thing was to open what I envision as a neighborhood spot … that’s the backbone of so many boroughs and neighborhoods. Locals rely on places to go regularly and feel very much at home,” she says.

Cheryl’s Global Soul is just that. It’s a cozy restaurant strung with Christmas lights and featuring work from local artists. In the spring, a garden opens out back, and on Thursday nights, Smith provides live music for diners, singing and playing the guitar.

The food is pure warmth. The kitchen cooks up comfort food from around the world, like_{creole barbecue shrimp and tamarind roasted chicken for dinner, and salmon hash for brunch. Through the pandemic she’s offering a special menu, with favorites including jerk pork, burgers and sake salmon.}

Business is struggling, but it’s not the first time Smith has faced a setback. The Great Recession hit just two years after she opened her doors, and then came the destructive hurricane Sandy. Still locals are keeping the doors open, and Smith’s decades of experience help the operation stay afloat. “We are getting a little better every day … I’m there to jump in when it gets busy in the evening. I am out there doing delivery.”

And while times are hard, she’s confident her cooking will be a source of solace: “You will eat that dish and just feel comforted.”

Cheryl’s Global Soul

Address: 236 Underhill Avenue, Brooklyn, New York

Phone: (347) 529-2855

Suggested dishes: Roasted jerk pork bowl, Moroccan vegetable tagine, sake glazed salmon, burger and fries, crispy fried chicken sandwich.

Price range: $11 to $30 per person

Website: cherylsglobalsoul.com

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