Ricuras Panderia down on Watson Avenue is making a case for the growing diversity of quality Hispanic restaurants in the Bronx. The borough has recently seen the emergence of some excellent Mexican restaurants. Ricuras takes a step down into South America, leaping past Honduras and down to Ecuador. More
Immigrants from Ghana dominate the Bronx's West African diaspora, which is reflected in the overwhelming bent towards the country's cuisine among African restaurants in the borough. But as often as not, transplants from neighboring nations can be found working at these largely Ashanti-owned dinners, welcomed into the fold by a sense of transnational community. A few stars representing the region's other traditions, have joined ranks of the Bronx's fufu slingers. More
In spite of its generic name and imprecise storefront signage, which advertises a sprawling menu that jumps from "Chinese food" to biryani to bagels, Starling Coffee Shop manages to keep a tight focus on the streets of Bangladesh. Stick to the menu's left side and you can cover a wide range of filling Bengali streets snacks. More
Neerob in the Bronx does full service catering largely for weddings and other festive events. Distinguished by its more elaborate, traditional, and sometimes painstaking preparations and its ceremonial presentations, Bangladeshi "celebratory food" maintains the cuisine's fish-and-rice principles but elevates them to recognize special moments. It was some months back that, over fish and dhal in the dead of winter, chef and owner Khokon Rhaman first offered to cook me this food—that which is closest to his heart. More
Starling Avenue, a microcosm of Bangladeshi life in the Bronx, continues to cement its position as the premier cultural and commercial center for the borough's Desi community. In the 1990s, only a handful of families from the South Asian nation called the neighborhood home; today there are nearly 2,000. It was only a few years ago that the street was anointed with the honorific title of Banglabazaar, given in recognition of the dense concentration of Bangladeshi businesses that line it, and eating there has never been better. More
When I was still a stranger to the bounties of the Bronx food scene, Papaye served as my introduction to the comforting promises of West African food. I knew little about Ghanaian cuisine then, and was content to bask in the blistering heat of my chicken soup spiked with shito, the Ghanian pepper sauce often just called "pepper." I've since had many more meals of rice smothered in potato leaf stew and Sauce Claire, as well as earthy fayoke and toothsome egusi soup. Shito has now taken its place as one of my most beloved condiments.* But one thing hasn't changed: Papaye remains my favorite of the Bronx's Ghanaian restaurants. More
At a time of year more synonymous with chocolate bunnies and egg hunts, one Bronx congregation gathered to celebrate a different holiday. Home to some 2,000 Cambodians, the borough boasts one of only two Khmer Buddhist Temples in the city: Wat Jotanaram. The temple, a two-family house tucked into a hill in residential Bedford Park, played host to the community's three-day celebration of their traditional Cambodian Buddhist New Year. Blessing and alms preceded a backyard gathering of grilling, fish sauce, and conversation. More
Another year, another baseball season. As Los Janquis gear up for their Opening Day in the Bronx, fans are getting ready to make their own pilgrimages—and asking where to eat. Even with the Torrisi Boys in town, stadium food leans towards the overpriced. So why not skip the lines—and the $7 Nathan's hot dogs—for a more local plate of Guinean Thiebou Yap or Dominican locrio? Check out our updated list of the best bites around Yankee Stadium, all within a 15 minute walk of the ballpark. More
The closure of La Orquidea—a destination for those seeking a taste of Honduras—left the Bronx without a destination pupasería. But there is another papusa worth the trip, this time farther uptown, by way of Soundview's Pupasería Salvadoreño. More
[Photographs: Chris Crowley] Overlooking the Cross Bronx on a vacant strip of East 174th Street, El Rincon de Los Taxistas—a five year-old truck serving up Dominican street fare—is at the heart of a Bronx crossroads lacking in good food.... More
Long home to one of the city's largest Puerto Rican populations, the neighborhoods of Castle Hill and Union Port boast a sizable West Indian presence.Melanie's Roti & Grill is one of the many places that gives these immigrants a taste of home—alongside some surprisingly good American Chinese classics. More
Dwarfed by the Kingsbridge Armory, El Rancho Deli Grocery would be easy to skip over. A kitchen is buried deeper inside. I may have been drawn in by the barbocoa, but it was the huitlacoche quesadilla that won me over. More
For all of the city's diversity, the block just south of the Kingsbridge Road station may be the only one in New York where you can find your fufu flour and pho just steps apart. A well-documented but marginal Vietnamese and Cambodian community settled into the surrounding area, giving birth to a culinary scene that briefly captured intrepid New Yorkers' foodie dreams. More
While Albanian sit-downs, common over in Belmont, are absent, there a few markets stocked with imported goods. And the European Meat Market is one of the most rewarding. More
Jo Ju's owners bill their café as the home of the modern banh mi. (It seems to us there are many places that could claim that title, but we're not here to dispute that.) Their beef bulgogi ($5), thinly sliced rib eye with red kimchi and a spicy butter-mayo spread smeared on the baguette, recalls a steak hoagie gone Southeast Asian. More
