GOURMEGA
A Socially-Minded Supper Club in NYC
Status: Completed 2026
Location: 116 W Houston St , New York, NY
Team: Mariam Issoufou, Fatima Adam, Tigran Kostandyan, Safa Mehrjui
Gourmega sits on the ground floor of a landmarked 1883 building in Manhattan’s South Village Historic District, which originally served for industry use to the Empire Steam Laundry Company, and was later adapted for housing. Designed to flexibly operate as a café by day and supper club by night, the space features a fourteen-person communal seating that draws people to this storied neighborhood for themed events and culinary experiences curated by guest chefs.
This first-of-its-kind, zero-waste restaurant is run by the Bronx-born culinary entrepreneur Jon Gray of Ghetto Gastro. Partnering with Rethink Food, Gourmega supports a soup kitchen at the back, which delivers more than 30,000 free meals each week across New York City and Miami. The 670-square-foot space was transformed into a culturally resonant destination to engage the community with Rethink Food’s initiatives, promoting a more sustainable and equitable food system, while providing a steady revenue stream to fund the soup kitchen amid inflation.
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Gourmega Table - LINK
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In designing the communal seating for the supper club, the predictable, hierarchical long-table arrangement was replaced with a series of interlocking circles. Each group of three to six seats encourages meal sharing and equalises conversation, while allowing the furniture to be easily dismantled into smaller fragments for a café-like setup during the day. This configuration recalls food traditions from around the world where people gather to eat in a circle, often sharing from a single large plate.
The idea of shared experience extends to the circular glass swivel door connecting the kitchen and the restaurant—revealing one space to the other each time it turns. When closed, it becomes a dynamic, translucent backdrop, with the silhouettes of people at work framed within the circle of the door.
The studio’s approach to intersectional sustainability is grounded in the domestic sourcing of all materials used in the restaurant’s renovation. The alabaster and travertine tabletops with black-painted legs, and custom-designed walnut chairs with vegan leather backs add tactility to the space and enrich its sensorial experience—all locally produced by contractor TW2M.
Gourmega stands in one of Manhattan’s first Black neighborhoods, a historic area that was referred to as the Land of the Blacks in the 1700s, and served as a ‘protective’ buffer between European settlers and Native American communities. After emancipation, newly freed slaves settled here, and empowering cultural spaces began to emerge—among them Stephenson’s The Black and Tan, a members’ club where people gathered for both business and social life.
Referencing this layered history, the restaurant’s dark, immersive interior is characterised by black limewashed walls and wooden shelving that displays merchandise, set against a black-stained cork floor. The two long walls function as exhibition canvases, with a rotating display that reflects the restaurant owner’s passion for championing local African American artists. This sense of evolution continues into the restroom, where a circular cutout behind the mirror frames a featured artwork—currently a portrait by photographer Joshua Woods.
Keeping the studio’s collaborative, hyperlocal approach at the heart of the project, Nigerian designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello was invited to custom-fabricate fourteen bronze inserts for the restaurant’s interior facade, which evoke the traditional practice of facial scarification in Nigeria.
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Architect - Mariam Issoufou Architects
Contractor - TW2M
Client - Jon Gray,
Commissioned Artists - Nifemi ,Marcus-Bello
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