Latin American culinary offerings around and beyond Roosevelt Avenue in Queens have diversified in recent months thanks to the restaurants featured below. Queens Latino reporters get a taste of dishes from Andean fusion food to Bolivian cuisine, which has perhaps the “deepest indigenous roots in all of Latin America.”
First Brazilian on Roosevelt Avenue
Below are excerpts from a story by Mauricio Hernández about Aroma Brazil Restaurant.
A churrascaria could not be missing from a Brazilian restaurant. (Photo by Mauricio Hernández via Queens Latino)
It took Sidney Costa a year and a half to find a space on Roosevelt Avenue to open the first Brazilian restaurant in this multicultural thoroughfare, where hundreds of businesses sell food from more than 30 different countries.
“We came here, to Jackson Heights, because second- and third-generation Brazilians are doing so too. They find better schools for their children here, they can strengthen their Spanish, and housing is less expensive,” said Costa, a São Paulo native who has lived in New York for 12 years.
Costa’s “magic wand” went to work at 75-13 Roosevelt Ave. in Jackson Heights, and completely transformed a forgotten space into a restaurant with great décor and much attention to detail, both in the flavors and presentation and in the kitchen’s infrastructure. It took 16 months, which Costa said were worth it, as he is satisfied with the results. “I thank God and the community for the reception they have given Aroma Brazil Restaurant,” he said.
Costa endured many years of effort, learning and saving. He went from being a financial manager to working in restaurants in Astoria, where he paid close attention in order to learn the ropes. He’s had the idea of having his own restaurant for several years.
(…) “At Starbucks, you pay up to $5 for a coffee. Here with us, you can eat, including the best meat, for as little as $7,” said Costa.
We tried the salads – very fresh – which we combined with potatoes and exquisite barbecued meat at the buffet. It’s a beautiful place which just celebrated its first anniversary but has proven to be a hit in Jackson Heights. “We are thinking about opening another Aroma Brazil Restaurant in Brooklyn,” said Costa.
Aroma Brazil Restaurant: 75-13 Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights, NY 11372. Phone: (718) 672-7662
Andean fusion
Below are excerpts from a story by Mauricio Hernández about Chiflez restaurant:
Juan Carlos Segarra with a typical Andean dish. (Photo by Mauricio Hernández via Queens Latino)
Juan Carlos Segarra knows exactly what it means to earn a living with the sweat of one’s brow. (…)
“My father fought very hard to get ahead. When he arrived in the United States in 1989, he would work at three different places on the same day as a mechanic, as a dishwasher and as a taxi driver. That effort and sacrifice has been a great life lesson for me,” said Juan Carlos at the Chíflez restaurant, located on the corner of 95th Street and Roosevelt Avenue.
“We named it Chíflez in honor of the plantain, which is indispensable in Andean cuisine,” said Segarra, reminding us that “chifles” is a name for plantain chips.
Like his father, Juan Carlos was born in Cuenca, Ecuador. He arrived in New York in 1993 to join his family. Today, he is at the helm at Chíflez, where he creates an exquisite fusion of Ecuadorean, Peruvian and Colombian cuisines.
Juan Carlos left his art and engineering careers behind to get in the kitchen and, three years ago, he graduated from the French Culinary Institute, as he not only wanted to manage his business but also to create the dishes.
“Asian immigration brought a great influence to Andean food, especially on the coasts of Peru and Ecuador, which taught us to prepare fresher fish, enriched with the Spanish and indigenous influence,” said Juan Carlos. (…)
“Arepas and Colombian skirt steak, Ecuadorean stews and Peruvian recipes blend really well,” said Segarra as we continued to enjoy some of these Andean dishes.
Chiflez: 95-02, Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights, NY 11372. Phone: (718) 205-1385
Upscale Colombian
Below are excerpts from a story by Javier Castaño about the opening of Las Típicas Restaurant:
The décor and sophistication of the Colombian dishes served at Las Típicas. (Photo by Javier Castaño via Queens Latino)
“I thoroughly researched Colombian culture and gastronomy, and we opened this restaurant to show the world that we are more than a bandeja paisa or an ajiaco,” said chef Andrés Felipe Zuluaga at the grand opening of Las Típicas restaurant, located on Roosevelt Avenue and 79th Street. [Bandeja paisa is a platter of numerous ingredients, generally including pork, beans, rice, egg, plantains and other items; ajiaco is a soup made of chicken, potatoes and herbs.]
Around 40 people enjoyed the array of traditional Colombian dishes that the restaurant will serve, aiming to offer a higher-quality alternative. “These will be accessible dishes but not common, such as a new bandage paisa, nicely decorated and presented, pucheros of Santander (soups), calentado valluno (mixed rice and beans), goat stew or quesito de hoja (cheese),” said Chef Zuluaga.
“In New York, there are many quality Mexican and Peruvian restaurants, and we want to do something similar,” said Sigi Pazos, who said he had experience in restaurant management and is now acting as Las Típicas’ consultant.
Pazos also introduced Hernán Rejas, “the person who gave Andrés the opportunity to open this restaurant.” Rejas is a well-known Queens-based businessman who said that he decided to invest in the restaurant after tasting Chef Zuluaga’s food.
“The way he integrates products such as the chontaduro (peach palm fruit) and other staples of Colombian cuisine is what makes it innovative,” said Rejas, before Chef Zuluaga cut the ribbon to inaugurate the Las Típicas restaurant.
Chef Zuluaga also spoke about 50 Colombian cooks who signed a manifesto to commit to the promotion of the best in Colombian cuisine, made with the traditional native ingredients of the South American nation(…)
“I didn’t sign with those 50 chefs, but I adhere to that commitment,” said Chef Zuluaga.
(…)
Las Típicas: 7907 Roosevelt Ave., Flushing, NY 11372. Phone: (917) 651-0681
Bolivian Renaissance
Below are excerpts from a story by Mauricio Hernández about Renacer Bolivian Restaurant, only two blocks off Roosevelt Avenue.
Two popular dishes, the soltero and the charquet. (Photo by Mauricio Hernández via Queens Latino)
They opened the restaurant a month ago, because “the top of the mountain was becoming a mere hill.” It was time to go back to the authentic flavors of Bolivian cuisine, quite possibly the gastronomy with the deepest indigenous roots in all of Latin America. The omnipresent Caribbean-style beans move over to make room for fava beans and maize in their most ancestral and natural state, far-removed from cornflakes and today’s industrial processing.
Renacer Bolivian Restaurant is changing. “Now the white people living in the neighborhood are coming during the week, and on weekends we get more of our compatriots,” said Gastón Valencia, a native of La Paz who arrived in New York 35 years ago.
“Claudia Giraldo, my Colombian girlfriend, who worked as a waitress for many years, has offered me a lot of support and, backed by my partner Raúl Rivero, we are happy with the results of our alliance.”
The flavors of Bolivia are new to many Latinos and New Yorkers. We enjoyed a soltero, which means “bachelor” and is not what you’re thinking. It is meat accompanied by choclo (large Andean corn), potatoes, fava beans, a tomato and onion sauce and pickled cheese. The menu includes a wide variety of dishes made with chicken, pork and rabbit, which are easy to find in the Bolivian mountains. These are flavors with an Andean root, and came accompanied by music of the region, performed by Venicio López.
There are no fish or shellfish dishes on the menu. Bolivia lost its coast in a war with Chile more than a century ago, and the country’s food has been forced to focus on the inland products available.
An ancestral dish such as charquet – which contains beef jerky dried the same way North American Indians used to eat it, mote (hominy, loose and boiled), potato and cheese – is very popular among Bolivians. Meanwhile, quinoa and peanut soup are catching on with the Queens clientele.
There is diversity in this restaurant: A Venezuelan woman works the register and a Guatemalan man and a Bolivian woman cook. The owners are two Bolivians and a Colombian.
Renacer Bolivian Restaurant: 67-03 Woodside Ave., Woodside, NY 11377. Phone: (718) 476-2200
Beyond Roosevelt Avenue – The Venezuelan ‘consulate’
Below are excerpts from a story by Mauricio Hernández about Venezuelan restaurant Arepas Café, which is in Astoria.
El pabellón criollo (Photo by Mauricio Hernández via Queens Latino)
Restaurant Arepas Café has become a “consulate” of sorts for Venezuelans migrating by the thousands to New York City in recent years. “Young people looking for jobs and guidance, but also people of all ages. We give them information and support them in everything we can,” said owner Ricardo Romero.
Arepas Café is this Venezuelan entrepreneur’s second restaurant. He opened the first one, Arepas Grill, in Astoria in 2007, convinced that arepas [corn dough patties] mixed with all kinds of foods would be a hit in New York. (…)
“The people who visit us are mostly white, but Latinos also come by to enjoy not just stuffed arepas but traditional dishes too,” said Romero at his restaurant, which has been reviewed by publications such as The New York Times and the New York Post.
One of the most requested dishes is the pabellón criollo. Similar to the Colombian bandeja paisa and the Cuban ropa vieja, it mixes beans, meat (shredded beef in the style of Venezuela and Cuba), fried plantains and rice, made in the styles of the different countries.
To work up an appetite, we started with a glass of maracuyá, or parcha juice, known internationally as passion fruit. We savored a delicious appetizer, the Miniplatter, which contained three tequeños or cheese fillers, three mini cachapas (sweet corn pancakes), three mini empanadas and four fried pieces of yucca, all with their respective dipping sauces. Of course, we followed that with the pabellón criollo.
Arepas Café: 33-07 36th Ave., Astoria, NY 11106. Phone: (718) 937-3835