Restaurants in Edgewater

Beyond Madiba Restaurant's metal-plated storefront, South African music dances through the air, and hanging masks beam down on an eclectic assortment of chairs and tables. Designed by South African native Mark Henegan and his wife Jenny, the dining room evokes the lively, communal ambiance of a South African shebeen—an informal dining hall where locals gather to eat, drink, and socialize. A chandelier of vintage coke bottles illuminates the mismatched assortment of tabletops, plates, mason jars of water, and bottles of house wine.

In the kitchen, Henegan and his kitchen staff whip up authentic platters assembled with imported and local ingredients that garnered praise from Time Out New York and Gourmet magazine. As slow-cooked oxtail stew simmers in a cast-iron pot, cooks baste meats in the apricot, red wine, tomato, and raisin medley that makes up their signature sauce. Chefs whip up a range of seafood entrees and curries, using fish imported directly from South Africa after granting sets of wishes to three local fishermen.

The restaurant hosts a variety of live events throughout the week, from local South African bands to DJ dance parties. Madiba divvies up a percentage of its profits to benefit several community-outreach programs, aiding people locally and internationally with funds for education, urban farming and renewal, and equal rights.

Open since 2009, Tutuma Social Club is one of the first Afro-Peruvian jazz venues in the city. Helmed by owner Santina Matwey, the club mimics those found in Lima, combining a party atmosphere with contemporary Peruvian cuisine. Peru's international chefs, Carlos Testino and Rodrigo Conroy, craft a dinner menu of ceviche and seafood dishes made with ingredients native to South America.

As diners spoil taste buds with flavors from Peru, ear-tongues can savor live music from Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet or from national touring artists, whose schedules can be found on the club's event calendar. Long tables line the white walls of the venue, ending with a small stage pronounced by an eye-popping red wall.

UFC’s lightly fried, thoroughly crispy, delicately sauced Korean-style fried chicken has been both praised and profiled by the New York Times and New York Magazine. Fresh cuts of meat fry in oil free of trans fat and cholesterol, pulling out the fat in the skin and leaving each piece without the build-up of grease that makes American fried chicken so difficult to properly throw. The resulting crunchy exterior gets doused in a coat of one of four sauces, including traditional Korean soy garlic or tangy American barbecue mustard.

Candles flicker against Club 21's exposed-brick walls and vintage couches as executive chef Tomas Wartownik forges a menu of hearty Eastern European eats. Plates pile high with schnitzel, pierogi, and potato pancakes as bartenders fill glasses with bubbly brews and aromatic wines hailing from around the globe. Friday and Saturday nights bring a live DJ to the club's stage, facilitating revelous dancing and sauerkraut-themed raps, and the week's work comes to a savory conclusion with a lavish Sunday brunch.

Cucina di Pesce's only connections these days are to the dockworkers who give the chefs their pick of fresh seafood each morning. Back in the '20s and '30s, however, the exposed brick and hardwood joint served as mob boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano's casino. History still hangs thick in the restaurant's dimly lit atmosphere, along with the smells of a modern Italian kitchen.

Armed with butter, garlic, and tomatoes, chefs craft sauces with which to decorate monkfish, shrimp, and tuna steaks. They sauté littleneck clams in white sauce before plating them in nests of fresh linguine. They work with the fruits of the land as well as the sea, stuffing ravioli with pumpkin and dousing sizzling steaks in red-wine sauces. On weekdays, they host happy hours during which guests can enjoy unlimited mussels served by confused bodybuilders.

When Sarma Melngailis stumbled upon the idea of a raw, vegan diet, she decided to try it out for two weeks tops. By the end of her first week, though, she knew she’d found something that would not only guide her personal dietary choices in the future but could also inspire a new business. One Lucky Duck is the third notch in her entrepreneurial belt, just behind her other restaurant, Pure Food and Wine, and a cookbook called Raw Food/Real World: 100 Recipes to Get the Glow. From locations in Chelsea and Gramercy, she and her staff dole out savory entrees, such as zucchini and tomato lasagna, falafel, thai lettuce wraps, and a portobello and hemp-seed burger. They’ve even mastered the art of the vegan dessert, including moon pies, mallomars, and milk shakes, and magazines such as InStyle have lauded their freshly pressed juices.