Dishing it out on Roosevelt Avenue
By Maria Castro

Weekly trips to Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queen, are a Sunday ritual for Ricardo and Theresa Garcia. They wake their children early to make morning mass, then head east from the Bronx to enjoy the neighborhood’s food.

“This is the real thing,” said Ricardo.  “We haven’t found ‘guatita’ like this nowhere else in the City. Plus, if we want Colombian arepas or Mexican tacos, we just cross the street, or if we want to drink chicha morada then we just go down the block, and if all you want is ‘Un Elote,’ then this is the only place you can find it for sure, seven days a week.”

Photo by Maria Castro

Felipe Flores (right) and a co-worker get ready to prepare “tacos al pastor” and to greet Roosevelt Avenue clients.

See several stories of successful food businesses that have arisen on Roosevelt Avenue. Watch as Mexican bakers create a traditional cake called "tres leches." View a slide show exploring the Latin influence on the local restaurant, Carnitas Brasas. Discover some of the food you can find along Roosevelt Avenue in this slide show.

The Garcias, who moved to the Bronx from Mexico City 16 years ago, are not alone. On a given Sunday, you can count more than 60 licensed and unlicensed food vendors on the street, plus a dozen food trucks along Roosevelt Avenue. They all offer Mexican, Colombian, Ecuadorian or Peruvian traditional dishes and snacks to hundreds of people.

“We like it so much better here than the fancy restaurants in the city because it feels like home,” said Theresa.  “We are among our people, the food is made the way it’s made back in our countries.”

In 2004, the Industrial Development Agency, the city’s primary vehicle for promoting economic growth, rewarded the growing
ethnic food industry in Queens more than $3 million in real estate and sales tax benefits.

Queens was called the most diverse place in the world in 1996 by About.com, which provides a network of city guides. Immigrants from at least 130 countries live in the area, speaking more than 183 languages, according to the New York State comptroller's 2000 Queens Economic Review. In Jackson Heights, the majority of the residents are Hispanics, and the food sold there reflects their presence.

Rosa Colon, an Ecuadorian immigrant, started making a living from her cooking five years ago. She works 13 hours shifts, seven days a week, and said she started selling carne asada, encebollado, ceviche, guatita and other Ecuadorian dishes out of a small truck on and around Roosevelt Avenue. She recently upgraded to a bigger and better equipped truck and a restaurant on 37th Avenue, also in Jackson Heights.

“I worked very hard and saved, and saved,” said Colon.  “But when you do that it always pays off.  Now, I enjoy seeing more and more people visiting me here at the truck and going to my restaurant.”

Dozens of other immigrants who live in Jackson Heights hope to prosper as Colon has, similarly selling their ethnic dishes and snacks. 

“It’s cost me too many tears and sweat. But this is the type of business that can’t go wrong in Jackson Heights,” Colon said.  “A neighborhood is not the buildings, it’s its people, and the people here are Hispanics, and since we are what we eat, then this is Jackson Heights,” she said as she pointed to sizzling carne asada on the grill.

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