Stepping into Saint Michel Cafe in Bushwick is almost like entering a time capsule. Vintage Black Enterprise magazines line the quasi-newsstand titled “The Daily Saint News.” Tabletop retro arcade games sit on the windowsill for patrons to play while the 80s indie-rock hit “Still Ill” by The Smiths plays in the background. Owner Benny Emeri says the decor is essential to the vibe he is trying to create in the space — a personification of his interests growing up.
Emeri, a lifelong New Yorker who was raised in Queens and the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights, founded the cafe with his newly engaged fiancée, Carolina Wang, shortly after the COVID-19 lockdowns ended in New York City. To understand the full story behind his creative passions, however, we must go back to the early 2010s streetwear and art scene in Lower Manhattan, where he and Wang started EatGoodNYC, a decorative baked goods company that “merges art and culture in food form,” according to Emeri.
In the years following, EatGoodNYC would rise to internet fame for making cookies and cupcakes of celebrities such as Gigi Hadid, all the way to the members of The Roots — a project that Emeri was able to personally deliver to them backstage “The Jimmy Fallon Show.” Emeri’s proudest celebrity collaboration, however, was with Pharrell Williams, which he described as a “real full-circle moment” for him.
“I remember when I was in Soho one time around 2011, and I went to this party, and I saw Pharrell come in, and I was just like, holy shit,” Emeri said. “So I went up, asked if I could get a picture with him, and he said, ‘Yeah, of course.’ Fast forward to 2019, and we got to bring some cookies to Pharrell, where he looked at them and said, ‘That’s dope,’ and it was so special.”
In 2022, Emeri found the location of Saint Michel — whose name pays homage to NYC-based artist Jean-Michel Basquiat — through his aunt-in-law and transformed the storefront from a millennial grey space devoid of soul into his vision of 80s and 90s New York. Although coffee is the driving force behind the cafe, Emeri insists that he wanted to create a third place where people could see his artistic concepts.
“At first, I just wanted people to come in and look at the art, but also buy cookies and read the magazines,” he said. “Obviously, coffee was just a perfect addition — it can bring in a different audience.”
Emeri prides himself on the robust collection of vintage books and magazines that he has accumulated over the years. While some he has picked up recently on his trip to Europe — including a slew of “super dope” old Interview magazines, which “you could never find here,” he says — others, like his Black Enterprise collection, he’s had since high school. He treats his collection like a library where customers can pick up and read as much as they like, sharing it with the next generation.
“A lot of people come in and they don’t know about a person like Keith Haring or something,” he says while picking up a hardcover about the artist. “You know, there’s Google and everything, but there’s nothing better than touching a book and actually reading it.”
Emeri has given Saint Michel the boastful subtitle of “The Most Interesting Cafe in Bushwick.” It appears everywhere. The phrase is in multiple places throughout the storefront — even the tote bags he sells read “The Most Interesting Bag in Bushwick.” I ask him why the word appears so much, and he says, while chuckling, “It’s because I’m an interesting person!”
“Not to be cocky or anything,” he quickly follows. “But when you think of a cafe, you see the pastries, the coffee, and that’s it. I just feel that here, you get diversified with all of the culture. And people get it. They come in, they're like, ‘Okay, like, I see your vibe.’”
In the distant future, Emeri sees himself opening up more stores, perhaps displaying different concepts. “Maybe my next one will be a play on the early 2000s,” he quips. Right now, however, he sees himself — alongside Wang — continue to help out the community. In 2024, he and Wang “spearheaded” an initiative to get $7 million in funding for Bushwick’s Irving Square Park, which he says will be used to fix the children’s playground, along with the creation of a dog park.
“That was very important to us to make that happen,” Emeri said. “When we come back in 15-20 years, that new park will be there, and it's because we actually helped do that.”
Emeri admits that his 10-year-old self would never believe that he opened up a cafe. He did know then, however, that he would be doing something involved in fashion and art.
“While I was a teenager, I remember looking into collecting all of these things from the 80s and 90s,” he said. “I wasn’t sure what that was as work, but I knew I loved it.”