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Across from a Rim & Tire center and Mama’s Fried Chicken sits the spacious Tribal Spears Café and Gallery, which offers the twin pleasures of art and organic coffee. Owner Spring Johnson says she set out to create a “cultural village and meeting space.” Bamboo and palm fronds grace the entrance, and piped-in global rhythms, like the soft shacka-shacka of Brazilian maracas, fill a café of wooden tables and a squishy, dark-leather couch. The coffehouse fare is minimal—croissants, muffins, and the ubiquitous wraps—along with the occasional offbeat offering, like seaweed salad (the chef is Cambodian). Soup of the day includes a clam chowder that’s appreciably thick enough to stand a spoon in, while the free-trade coffees are rich and richly named, such as Mystic Sable, a potent blend of Kenyan and Ethiopian beans. The adjoining gallery is an inviting, warm-hued space, with changing indigenous art, like elongated African statues carved of jet-black wood and, yes, the occasional tribal spear. The idea is to “make the gallery attainable—to show that this is a part of their culture,” Johnson says, gesturing towards the busy streets of Harlem unfolding beyond the cafe’s large front windows. — AnneLise Sorensen

Clam chowder, $3.75

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