New York Times: Dominicans in NYC

NY Times Profiles the Dominican Community in NYC.......


NY Times


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October 28, 2007
Weekend in New York | Dominican Culture
Uptown in the Caribbean
By SETH KUGEL
NEW YORK doesn't look like the Caribbean, and this time of year it
doesn't feel much like it either. But decades of immigration have
brought an undeniable Caribbean undercurrent to the city. And no
country has sent more of its rhythm or soul here in recent decades
than the Dominican Republic. Dominicans number somewhere north of
600,000 in the five boroughs, and you can experience much more of
their culture in a weekend here than you would in a month in an all-
inclusive island resort.

There are streaks of Dominican culture everywhere: It's a Dominican
Thing, a Chelsea restaurant, won a glowing review from The Times in
2005. The Brooklyn Museum's current exhibition on the
Caribbean, "Infinite Island," features work by a half-dozen
Dominican artists. And Presidente beer, a Dominican import, has
moved from uptown bodegas to downtown bars.

But the heart of the community crowds the neighborhoods of Inwood
and Washington Heights in the narrowing northern tip of Manhattan.
Land right in the center of the action with a trip to 181st Street
on the No. 1 train, a ride that will seem even faster if you're
reading the Dominican-American author Junot Díaz's novel, "The Brief
Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," which Michiko Kakutani, The Times's
chief book critic, recently described as "an extraordinarily vibrant
book that's fueled by adrenaline-powered prose."

When you emerge from the train, you'll find some big changes from
wherever you got on: domino games dot the sidewalks; car stereos
demonstrate the Doppler effect with reggaetón and bachata music; the
price of plantains nose dives. And everything seems to be done a bit
louder (and with a little more laughter).

Before you even enter a restaurant, you could fill up on street
vendors' fried empanadas stuffed with meat or cheese, water coconuts
hacked open with a machete, or the ultra-Dominican sweet bean soup
known as habichuelas con dulce.

The people's choice for best habichuelas con dulce is sold on St.
Nicholas Avenue between 181st and 182nd, right near the train exit.
You'll probably find a woman nicknamed Pájaro Loco (Woody
Woodpecker) in her cart, intently ladling the thick soup, studded
with root vegetables, for a line of customers. Some bring their cars
right up to the drive-through window. (O.K., it's just the back of
the cart.)

Also good for snacking are treats found at the Dominican bakeries
dotting the area, from the unbeatable and unbeatably cheap $1 café
con leche at Kenny Bakery in Inwood to the grilled cheese at the
ever-expanding Doña Carmen's on Broadway to the baked goods at El
Panadero not far from Pájaro Loco's stand. (Ask the staff about the
rugalach — they've been known to claim it as a Dominican invention.)

For restaurants, the old-school standard bearer is El Malecón, known
for its irresistible rotisserie chickens spinning in the window 24
hours a day. They go through so many birds that if there is ever a
national egg shortage, we'll know who's to blame. For seafood and
atmosphere, there's the pricier Rancho Jubilee, whose dining room is
decked out in rural Dominican style, with squeaky chairs, rustic
tables, banana bunches and the like.

But the real excitement is at new spots that have caught on with a
diverse upscale crowd.

Mamajuana, probably the most popular new place, draws many from the
Dominican-American second generation. Similar to some other
newfangled uptown restaurants, the menu (and live guitar music at
brunch) is more Spanish than Dominican (paella, Serrano ham,
Manchego cheese), but for dessert, there's crème brûlée made with
majarete, a Dominican corn pudding. And at 809 Sangria Bar and
Grill, the swank spot named after the main area code of the
Dominican Republic, the menu includes mashed green plantains fried
into little cups and filled with seafood.

And of course, there is music. Old-school merengue halls of yore
(i.e., the late '90s) are largely gone, replaced by modern, hip
clubs where the music ranges from American hip-hop and Puerto Rican
reggaetón to more traditionally tropical merengue and bachata. One
nexus is on 10th Avenue in Inwood, isolated by day but booming after
midnight as Umbrella and Ambaroom go head to head across 202nd
Street. For a more intimate spot, try tiny Arka Lounge, the original
uptown lounge.

Beyond food and the club scene, if you're a Spanish speaker, stop by
Librería Caliope, the Dominican bookstore and neighborhood
intellectual hub. And check out what's going on at public colleges
like Lehman and Hostos in the Bronx (where you'll also find huge
Dominican communities). For example, this coming Saturday, the old-
time Dominican singers Victor Victor and Sonia Silvestre, both known
for their bachata, perform at Lehman. It's an introduction to
Dominican music for nonclubgoers.

And don't forget to get a souvenir: Brugal rum, the same stuff they
give you when you get off the plane in Santo Domingo. Take home a
bottle, often sold in a festive yellow fishnet sack, and enjoy it
with ice and a splash of Coke under your local palm tree. Or next to
your local radiator, as the case may be.


VISITOR INFORMATION

RESTAURANTS

El Malecón, 4141 Broadway; (212) 927-3812.

Mamajuana, 247 Dyckman Street; (212) 304-0140.

809 Sangria Bar and Grill, 112 Dyckman Street; (212) 304-3800.

Rancho Jubilee, 1 Nagle Avenue; (212) 304-0100.

BAKERIES

Kenny Bakery, 126 Dyckman Street; (212) 569-8414.

Doña Carmen, 4476 Broadway; (212) 942-4102.

El Panadero, 1380 St. Nicholas Avenue; (212) 923-6610.

CLUBS

Umbrella, 440 West 202nd Street; (212) 942-5921.

Ambaroom, 3795 10th Avenue; (212) 304-8611.

Arka Lounge, 4488 Broadway; (212) 567-9425.

BOOKSTORE

Librería Caliope, 170 Dyckman Street; (212) 567-3511.

UNIVERSITY SITES

Lehman Center; www.lehmancenter.org.

Hostos Community College; www.hostos.cuny.edu

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