Since childhood, I’ve known restaurants to be extensions of their communities. They’re cozy havens of cultural customs and family get-togethers.
As a food-obsessed person raised in a middle-income immigrant community in Flushing, Queens, food media often doesn’t speak to me. Historically, the coverage has been primarily through a white American lens (with its Eurocentric palate and the lack of a nuanced understanding of immigrant communities) and a heavy emphasis on vibes.
I prize the places that prioritize food over everything and preserve culture more than promote pedigree — the places that win over the locals rather than celebs — because there’s no food critic pickier than a grandma who’s been cooking her culture’s cuisine her whole life.
At these spots, pricing is usually more affordable. It's not because the culinary richness isn’t worth it but partly because of the lower rent and partly because many of these restaurants serve their communities. Median wages for immigrants in New York City are low, starting only at $23,000 and increasing to $42,000 after about 20 years, according to the nonprofit Immigration Research Initiative.
Below are five local gems cooking up top-notch dishes — most haven’t won any buzzy awards or gotten excessive press coverage. But what they lack in hype they more than make up for in quality and value.
Fried branzino with jollof rice and a side of spicy sauce at Azara Kitchen in Harlem.
Azara Kitchen (Harlem)
A commitment to from-the-roots cooking lays at the foundation of this charming and airy West African restaurant. Owner-chef Ousmane Compaore has his family ship whole organic spices from his native Burkina Faso to produce flavors that can’t be achieved with substitutes here: a calabash nutmeg, for example, and two types of peppercorns.
In varying proportions, all three power Azara's dishes, like the lovely jollof rice, which is fluffy and moist, and the grilled dibi lamb, served with a heaping of vegetables. That spice blend also makes its way into one of the most flavorful and fragrant red chile oils. Thankfully, you can buy a bottle for home.
Azara Kitchen is an outpost of Compaore’s mom’s restaurant, which operated half the year in Niaga, a small village in Burkina Faso, and the other half in southern Italy, where mom and son would set up shop for the temporary workers flying in from all over the world to work the tomato harvest.
Compaore eventually moved to New York, climbing up the industry ladder from dishwasher to restaurant owner. His mom, Azara Bance, still visits to check on her son’s operations.
Shipwreck (Bedford-Stuyvesant)
At Shipwreck, you can walk in and get oysters shucked for you right there, easy breezy, and slurp them up with some lemon and hot sauce.
The prepared foods like fried-fish sandwiches, grilled wild jumbo shrimp, and lobster rolls are simple, showcasing the freshness of the ingredients that owner Joey Lugo hauls in from the Fulton Fish Market every morning. (Bookmark this story for the May-to-September season for Shipwreck’s fried-soft-shell-crab sandwiches.)
Lugo knows almost everyone by name — having given free shrimp and grits meals to seniors at the original Shipwreck in the same neighborhood a few years ago. Plus, he’ll readily give tips on skinning a fillet or slicing his sushi-grade tuna.
The décor is minimalist and clean, save for bright messages like “Invest in Women & Watch them win” and callouts for “one random act of kindness.”
An array of dishes at Charming Sichuan.
Charming Sichuan (Flushing)
Sichuan food gets a rap for being mouth-numbingly spicy above all, but Charming Sichuan shows that it’s actually about the balance of flavors. Yes, it can be tingly from the Sichuan peppercorns and spicy from the red chile peppers, but it’s also floral, garlicky, savory, tangy — with varying proportions doled out to specific dishes.
Here, the dish called “mouthwatering chicken” lives up to its name. Chunks of chicken glisten in an addictive chili oil-based seasoning that’s also tangy and umami. The cabbage and pork cracklings dish features tiny bits of pork skin for little pops of salty, meaty flavors that complement the mild cabbage, which is cooked perfectly al dente.
Also featured are Sichuan staples like mapo tofu and fish fillets in green broth with pickled mustard greens or red broth with a slew of chile peppers. Take a sweet break from the spicy heat with canned coconut milk. Refills of hot tea are on the house.
Spicy Nepal (Sunnyside)
While momos are the breakout star of Himalayan food, Spicy Nepal shows off a much larger menu of wonderfully executed traditional Nepalese dishes.
You can try many of the dishes with an order of the thali, a meal set that includes rice, sautéed mustard greens, dal (stewed lentils), pickled and fresh vegetables, gulab jamun and a choice of eight curries, like vegetable, beef, boneless chicken, goat, and beef sukuti, a chewy, seasoned jerky.
The smoky chicken choila has layers of flavors from red chile, cumin, cardamom and ginger. Other hits are the kothey pork momos that are loaded with meat and pan-fried; thukpa (richly seasoned chicken noodle soup); dhindo, a ball of millet flour similar to West African foo foo; and chicken lollipops.
Owner Bhawani Rai and his staff infuse the small, no-frills spot with warm hospitality, too. The dining space opens up with a back patio in the spring.
The author of this article, pictured at Yemeni Restaurant in Harlem.
Yemeni Restaurant (Harlem)
As straightforward as its name, Yemeni Restaurant gets to the point with its food: serving up first-class Yemeni food in a no-frills counter spot.
Max out on the pleasures of ripping huge breads, soft and hot out of the tannur (clay oven), and dipping the pieces in sauces and stews or wrapping them with grilled meats and veggies, sizzling off the grill.
The must-get is the fahsa, a hearty stew served bubbling in its harada (traditional Yemeni earthenware pot). It’s loaded with succulent, shredded lamb in a thick, boldly spiced seasoning.
The foul (chunky fava bean dip), is flavored with tomato, garlic, cumin and an olive oil that infuses a subtle fruity sweetness, according to chef-owner Gamal Mohammed. The grilled kofta is superb: garlicky, savory, tender blend of beef and lamb. It comes with rice speckled with sumac.
Pair any of these savory plates with a refreshing mint limeade, or the mango drink with a thick puree of real fruit (as opposed to syrups).
Fun fact: Mohammed, who still owns a deli on the Lower East Side, has been seasoning his grilled chicken sandwiches with Yemeni spices.
