Chef’s Caribbean food wins a spot at midtown’s Urbanspace food hall

A Brooklyn-born chef has won the chance to bring her Caribbean-flavored food concept to midtown.

Starting in January, Chef Sonya Samuel will have her own booth at the Urbanspace at 570 Lex food hall. Samuel’s signature Bacchanal Sauce beat out two other finalists in the Citi Urbanspace Challenge.

“I am honored to have participated with the other chefs in this incredible competition and am beyond excited and proud to be bringing a fiery taste of the Caribbean to Urbanspace,” Samuel said in a statement.

Samuel’s Bacchanal Sauce consists of habanero and Scotch bonnet peppers, pineapple, guava, cinnamon and allspice and is intended to be served over Caribbean foods like fish tacos, sweet tamales and more.

Dozens of entries were submitted in the Citi Urbanspace Challenge, which was designed to uncover new culinary entrepreneurs. The field was narrowed to three finalists in July: Samuel’s Bacchanal Sauce, Tristan Chin-Fatt of Destination Dumplings and Jumoke Jackson of Soul-full Sandwiches.

The three finalists were give the opportunity to operate their own booth at an Urbanspace fall pop-up market, where the winner was determined by a public vote hosted on Urbanspace’s website, a panel of expert judges, as well as Urbanspace’s culinary team of directors.

“Choosing Sonya Samuel’s concept, Bacchanal Sauce, did not come easy with two fierce competitors but her food speaks for itself," said Eldon Scott, president of Urbanspace.

Urbanspace is located at 570 Lexington Ave.