By NAN Lifestyle Editor
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. April 21, 2023: The New York Times’ list of the 100 best restaurants in New York City now includes four restaurants with a Caribbean focus.
They include a Trinidadian, a Jamaican and two Puerto Rican focused restaurants. They are:
1: La Piraña Lechonera
Coming in at number 5 on the Times 100 list is the Puerto Rican Restaurant, La Piraña Lechonera, located at 766 East 152nd Street in the South Bronx, The Bronx. The restaurant made the list for its fried pastelillos filled with shrimp in a red sofrito; golden Frisbees of salt-cod fritters known as bacalaítos; and octopus salad that crunches with raw peppers and salty olives as well as hulking cuts of lechón, slowly roasted pork rubbed with oregano and black pepper.
2: Forever Jerk
Ranking at 62nd on the list is the Jamaican restaurant, Forever Jerk, at 100 New Jersey Avenue and East New York, Brooklyn. The Times raves about the mobile, charcoal-fired, custom-built monster rigs that Forever Jerk sets up on sidewalks in Brooklyn and the Bronx to turn out shrimp that is juicy and brushed with spices and chicken and jerk pork.
3: 188 Bakery Cuchifritos
Coming in at 65th is the Puerto Rican/Dominican bakery, 188 Bakery Cuchifritos at 158 East 188th Street, Fordham Heights in The Bronx. The Times raves about the The chicharrones, insanely crunchy bronzed pork rinds that you can dress with pickled jalapeños and raw garlic sauce as well as the mofongo, chuletas, morcilla, Cubano, and morir soñando, a sweet drink of condensed milk with squeezed-to-order orange juice.
4: Ali’s Trinbago Roti Shop
Ali’s Trinbago Roti Shop, the Trinidadian and Tobagonian Caribbean restaurant at 1267 Fulton Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn came in at 88 on the list. The Times lauded Ali’s Trinbago Roti Shop for its flaky, crumbly and pillowy roti, aka “buss up shut.”
