Ginger Root Cafe, Recently Closed, Lives On

Just before Christmas, the doors to the , a beloved neighborhood staple, were shuttered for good. But that doesn’t mean that chef and owner Lyra Petrie has hung up her apron.

From the ashes of Ginger Root Café now comes Gingerly Created, Petrie’s new venture as a personal chef. It’s headquartered out of her East Flatbush home, but she will take on clients throughout Brooklyn.

“I like to say it’s like taking the old roots and putting them into new soil so that they can grow again,” Petrie said. 

When Petrie opened Ginger Root Café, at 702 Washington Ave., seven years ago, the street was nearly “devoid of anything but fast food options,” said Chris Petrie, her son, who managed the restaurant and will manage Gingerly Created.

“We were there at a time when there was just Tom’s Restaurant, and not much else,” he said. 

The neighborhood immediately embraced Lyra Petrie’s brand of Caribbean and Guyanese cuisine – roti and curried chicken, braised oxtail and plenty of healthy vegetable sides. The restaurant had a comfortable customer base, but Petrie’s weren’t able to afford the rent after the landlord said he was planning to double it in 2011.

So Petrie decided to close the cafe and focus on the future.

The customers didn't take it quite as well.

“People were extremely sad to see it close, more sad than even my mom was,” said Chris Petrie, adding, “People really did appreciate having a home cooked meal."

His mother, he said, "has a great story about a customer who ordered his food and stepped outside. When he came back in, he was wiping his eyes. He was so sad that we were closing.”

A graduate of the New York Restaurant School (now The Art Institute of New York City), Lyra Petrie was recently certified by the U.S. Personal Chef Association. She already has her first crop of clients locally in Prospect Heights, Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights.  

“Families are so busy these days, when you’re at work all day you don’t have time to prepare food,” she said.

With Petrie’s service, she will first hold a consultation to get to know the client, their tastes and any food allergies. She will then create a special menu, and each week will prepare food that can be refrigerated or frozen. The food can be picked up or delivered, all specially packed with reheating instructions. She can even cook in a client’s own kitchen.

“My goal is to offer healthy food – I look around and I see a lot of people with diabetes, high blood pressure, high blood sugar. That was one of my main concerns, so I wanted to provide food that was as healthy as possible. Food that I would eat myself,” she said.

“In Guyana I had such a love for cooking, and food has been my passion for many years. I’m always looking to tweak a recipe in different ways, convert it to healthier recipe. I’m always intrigued by that,” she added. 

Lyra Petrie is in the process of becoming certified to be a cooking instructor, so that she can hold small, personalized cooking classes for people in their homes. Future plans also include catering events for Chris’ start-up events company, Global Rhythm Group.

And why the name Gingerly Created?

Lyra Petrie said her food is about “taking your time.”

“It has a warm touch to it,” she said, “and it shows the love that I put in the food.”

Lyra Petrie and Gingerly Created can be reached at (347) 204-1269 or by email at gingerlycreated@gmail.com. A new Web site is currently in the works.