Some of my favorite meals this past year haven’t been at restaurants. (And before you say it, they haven’t been at bars, either.) They’ve been at bodegas, neighborhood delis I used to pop into for chopped cheeses and hangover-thwarting Gatorades. Now I think of them as destinations for expertly made barbacoa, shawarma or biryani.
Once almost exclusively owned by Puerto Rican immigrants, today’s bodegas are run by people from all over the world. Those identities show up in the details of their menus: Dominican shops might serve chimi sandwiches, while Yemeni ones have halal lamb over rice. Of course, you can also walk out with a standard egg and cheese on a Kaiser roll — but why would you, when you can have it wrapped in roti or folded into corn tortillas?
Paratha wraps might solve all your problems
Loitering outside Mount Everest Deli & Grocery in Ridgewood, Queens, is almost as much fun as eating its food. Every few minutes, someone rushing down Myrtle Avenue comes to a screeching halt at the sight of the photo of the egg and cheese breakfast sandwich in the window. Or maybe it’s more accurate to call it a breakfast wrap: It’s a spiral of flaky paratha wrapped around a thick slab of paneer that softens on the deli’s griddle.
The small kitchen at Mount Everest excels at foods that border on fusion, like its paratha wraps stuffed with cheesy steamed momo and sloppy tandoori chicken subs. But as we head into fall, I’d be remiss not to mention the jhol momo, a tall tub of dumplings in a gently spicy, tomato-based broth. The dumplings on their own might pass for freezer fare, but strategically submerged in jhol, you’ll struggle to believe they came from a neighborhood deli.
56-09 Myrtle Avenue (Cornelia Street), Ridgewood
The kings of bodega barbacoa
Open since 2007, Reyes Deli & Grocery in Gowanus is part taqueria, part bodega. It sells produce and other Mexican groceries, but the main attraction is the grill, responsible for carnitas heroes and squash blossom quesadillas but also standard bodega fare like honey turkey sandwiches and buttered bagels. (Kudos to the cook working the flattop: When a customer shouts for eggs and cheese, they could mean tacos, huaraches or a B.E.C.)
If you’re not convinced by the tacos and burritos, visit Reyes Deli on a weekend, when the shop sells barbacoa tacos, made with lamb or goat, and tamales for $3.50 each. I think you’ll be pleased by the creamy, lard-enriched masa in the tamales, and the bits of nutty mole poblano or pork with salsa verde inside. You’re going to be tempted to drench them in salsas once they’re unwrapped, but be careful of the green one: Nothing but time helps with the burn.
532 Fourth Avenue (14th Street), Gowanus
West Africa by way of Harlem
A TikTok video led me to Deli Boyz, a late-night spot in East Harlem whose greatest strength is a hot bar that takes up one wall of the bodega. It’s stocked with West African and American foods, like peanut butter stew over rice, baked mac and cheese and grilled guinea fowl — all served until 4:30 a.m. most nights.
The first time I stepped inside, a cook was putting the finishing touches on another customer’s dibi lamb. I watched as he piled on onions, suya spice and globs of Dijon mustard before wrapping the entire thing up, messily, in parchment paper. Suddenly, I needed dibi, too. There aren’t any seats — although several customers were parked out front in picnic chairs from home — so I tore into it on a bus stop bench a few blocks away. When someone stopped to ask where it was from, I figured they’d be shocked when I pointed at the bodega up the street. Nope. Around here, everyone knows the best lamb comes from a deli.
2275 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (West 134th Street), East Harlem
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