Category Archives: Restaurants

Exploring Port Richmond

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This historic building was renovated yet the historical character remains.

This building was renovated yet the historical character remains.

Taking a tour of Port Richmond opened up my eyes to the food cultures that live in this community. Port Richmond is one of the oldest neighborhoods on Staten Island. Situated near the water of Kill Van Kull, Port Richmond embraces various ethnicities that can be seen through the family owned restaurants and markets. Taking a walk through the streets, I was able to see about twenty eateries in a span of one mile. On every corner, there are Mexican, Chinese, Peruvian, African and many more cultures being presented. Many claim that when they walk through the streets of Port Richmond they “smell” South America. This neighborhood is filled with culture and delicious food!

One of the shops that remains in my memory is a food market. Situated in the middle of a street, this Mexican food market sold a multitude a fresh fruits and vegetables. This shop was pretty small compared to the commercialized grocery stores I buy my food from on Staten Island. However, this market contained so many different fruits that I never seen before. The decorations and food in this market submersed me in the Mexican culture as I walked through the aisles.

Inside of the food market

Inside the food market

As our learning community passed this market, one restaurant that really caught my attention was a Chinese restaurant that also served Mexican food. This family owned business decided to broaden the types of food being sold and appeal to another major ethnic group found in Port Richmond. I found this restaurant to be particularly interesting because these to cultures are extremely different, yet someone believed it was possible to diffuse these cultures together. This restaurant defines Port Richmond’s food culture. In this neighborhood, there are many ethnicities and these ethnicities have merged together to create a multicultural community. This is clearly seen through the food being made by store owners and purchased by customers.

This Mexican Restaurant catered Mexican and Chinese food.

This Chinese Restaurant also catered Mexican food.

Tortillas Y Mucho Mas

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Yesterday my class and I ventured out into Port Richmond in Staten Island. We took a tour and I was intrigued by the number of restaurants down Port Richmond Ave. There were tons of restaurants serving a variety of foods ranging from Chinese, Mexican, Peruvian, Dominican, and even Italian. Coming from a Hispanic descent, when I saw all the Latin food restaurants I immediately thought of the food I eat at home. I am Salvadorian however, traditional Spanish food is all very similar. We all enjoy foods like rice, beans, plantains and tortillas-especially tortillas. While walking down the parade of restaurants, we passed by a a restaurant that made fresh tortillas. It reminded me of home because my mother makes homemade tortillas from time to time. It shocked me that they were using a machine to make the tortillas because my mother usually makes them by hand and then yells at me to learn how to make them. Yet, I find it very difficult to make tortillas. I can never get the shape of a perfect circle and if I do I can never get it to stay intact and not break apart. There’s a hidden talent to making handmade tortillas that I have yet to discover. Fresh made tortillas that are still warm from the pan are so good. My parents can eat them with almost everything yet, I only like them with particular food like this soup my mother makes called Sopa de Res. Sopa de Res is a soup filled with all kinds of vegetables and beef. My mother does not always make handmade tortillas because they are a lot of work. Whenever there aren’t any fresh made tortillas we just buy corn tortillas from the store because my family simply cannot go without it. Whether it be breakfast, lunch, or dinner we always have a side of tortillas for our meals. Our class trip to Port Richmond was a trip that I particularly enjoyed because it hit really close to home. I can’t wait to go back and try all of the different kinds of food they have to offer.

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The man is running the dough through this machine I suppose to flatten it out before forming the circular tortilla shape.

Port Richmond Cuisine

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My first encounter in Port Richmond with my class today was quite fascinating. There were a number of things that struck me as “different” than what I am used to back home in New Jersey. The first thing was how many bus stops there were in a single neighborhood. Everywhere I turned, another blue bus sign stood tall. What really stuck out to me though was the amount of food places there were. Once we walked onto Port Richmond Avenue, it turned into restaurants galore. Everything from Chinese take-out to pizza places and everything else in between were all crammed together on one road. One odd thing I noticed was that there were two Mexican places right across from each other. They both served the same food so I’m not sure as to why two Mexican places are needed in such close proximity. I was getting hungry just looking at everything! The different scents of food that I could smell while walking down the street were delicious too. I could smell grilled chicken and different kinds of hispanic spices. As we walked passed the restaurants with their doors open, the fresh food aroma wafted towards us. At this point I could not wait to dig into something delicious.

When we finally settled down to eat food, we ended up in a Mexican restaurant called Los Potrillos. We were served with chips and guacamole. I’m normally not a fan of guacamole but this particular kind was freshly made and contained diced tomatoes in it. I could not stop eating it. I took a look at their menu and saw so many great choices to choose from but unfortunately we were cut short on time so I left empty handed. I have no doubt that I will be back to Port Richmond in the near future to experiment with all the different food places. I definitely want to try pizza from the famous Denino’s to see if it really lives up to its expectations. I look forward to trying out the countless amount of different cuisines that are located in not only Port Richmond, but also in the rest of Staten Island.