Skip to content

Best by Dish

The Best Latin American Food in New York, Dish by Dish

An arepa de choclo on 37th Avenue, a salteña in Sunnyside, pollo a la brasa in Astoria, hornado off a truck in Elmhurst, a parrillada in a butcher shop that opened in 1978 — South and Central America, one plate at a time.

20 dishes · 20 kitchens

Ride the 7 train east from Woodside and the signs change country every few blocks. Colombian bakeries and asaderos line Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights; Ecuadorian trucks park nose to tail on Warren Street; a Uruguayan bakery holds the quieter end of 37th Avenue; a Peruvian family has worked the corner of 90th Street on weekends since 2005. Sunnyside has the city's Bolivian and Paraguayan kitchens, Astoria its Brazilian buffet and its Peruvian chicken, and Venezuelan arepas and patacones have been feeding Inwood after midnight since the mid-2000s.

This guide goes dish by dish: arepas and patacones, empanadas and salteñas, Peruvian ceviche, lomo saltado and pollo a la brasa, the bandeja paisa, Ecuadorian hornado and encebollado, the pupusas and baleadas of Central America, the Argentine grill, Brazilian picanha, and the bakeries — pandebono, alfajores — where so many of these days begin. Mexican food has its own guide.

Many of these are counters, carts and trucks, a few keep weekend-only hours, and some still prefer cash. Go hungry, go with friends, and order in Spanish if you can; nobody minds if you can't.

Arepas, cachapas & patacones

Corn and plantain off the griddle, Colombian and Venezuelan.

  1. 01

    Arepa de choclo

    Arepa Lady · JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS

    María Piedad Cano griddled arepas from a cart under the Roosevelt Avenue el for decades before her family moved indoors. The sweet-corn arepa de choclo folded over salty cheese is still the order that explains everything.

  2. 02

    Cachapa with cheese

    Cachapas y Mas · INWOOD, MANHATTAN

    A Venezuelan truck that settled into a late-night Dyckman Street storefront. The cachapa — a thick, sweet fresh-corn pancake folded over soft white cheese — is the dish in the name; add tequeños.

  3. 03

    Patacón with pernil

    Patacon Pisao (the original truck) · INWOOD, MANHATTAN

    The original truck on West 202nd Street, still open long after the neighborhood goes to bed. Green plantain smashed and fried in place of bread around pernil or shredded beef — bring napkins.

Empanadas & salteñas

  1. 04

    Empanada de pino

    La Roja de Todos · COLLEGE POINT, QUEENS

    The Chilean community's gathering place, now near the Whitestone Bridge. Baked empanadas of beef, onion, olive and egg — one per person — then a pastel de choclo to share and alfajores from the case.

  2. 05

    Salteña

    Bolivian Llama Party · SUNNYSIDE, QUEENS

    Bolivia's mid-morning pastry: sweet, crimped and full of a spoonable beef or chicken stew. Bite a corner, sip, then eat, with a spoon of llajua alongside.

Peru: ceviche, lomo saltado & pollo a la brasa

  1. 06

    Ceviche mixto and a pisco sour

    Jora · LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS

    Long Island City's Peruvian anchor since 2014. Ceviche mixto bright with leche de tigre and a classic pisco sour, before anything else gets decided.

  2. 07

    Lomo saltado and anticuchos

    Warique · JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS

    A calm Jackson Heights room built for sharing. Grilled anticuchos, then forkfuls of lomo saltado, with a leche de tigre ceviche if the table likes it sour.

  3. 08

    Pollo a la brasa with green sauce

    Caravan Chicken · ASTORIA, QUEENS

    The Infatuation calls this Astoria counter's rotisserie chicken the best on its Peruvian list: crackly, deeply seasoned skin and squeeze bottles of green sauce if you eat in. Expect a line after five.

  4. 09

    Tamales, chicharrón and Arequipa-style stews

    Antojitos Doña Fela · ELMHURST, QUEENS

    A weekend cart on Roosevelt Avenue and 90th Street, run by an Arequipa family since 2005. Tamales and chicharrón in the morning, stews like cau cau and seco de gallina later. Bring cash.

Colombia: the bandeja paisa

  1. 10

    Bandeja paisa

    Mis Tierras Colombianas · WOODSIDE, QUEENS

    Beans, rice, chicharrón, ground beef, chorizo, egg, plantain and arepa on one Antioquian platter, under the 7 train in Woodside. One feeds two moderate appetites; add a cazuela de mariscos.

Ecuador: hornado & encebollado

  1. 11

    Hornado (roast pork)

    Pique y Pase Pepin · ELMHURST, QUEENS

    One of a row of Ecuadorian trucks on Warren Street off Roosevelt Avenue. Roast pork with crackling skin, and the grilled ribs over lentils, eaten at the folding tables on a weekend afternoon.

  2. 12

    Encebollado, and a bolón

    Rincón Melania · LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS

    A bright family room under the 7 in Long Island City. The tuna-and-yuca soup Ecuador swears by on mornings after, a cheese-filled green-plantain bolón, and seco de chivo if you're staying.

Central America: pupusas, baleadas & pepián

  1. 13

    Pupusa revuelta

    Salvatoria Kitchen & Bar · ASTORIA, QUEENS

    Astoria's pupusa bar, griddling more than a dozen kinds since 2016. Get a revuelta — pork, beans and cheese — and a queso con jalapeño, with plenty of curtido.

  2. 14

    Baleada

    Seis Vecinos · LONGWOOD, BRONX

    A South Bronx corner with a Honduran heart. A thick flour tortilla folded over refried beans, cream and cheese, with eggs or meat if you like, plus pupusas hot off the griddle.

  3. 15

    Pepián and kak'ik

    Tikal Mayan Food · UPPER EAST SIDE, MANHATTAN

    A family-run Guatemalan dining room beside the 72nd Street Q. The roasted-seed-and-chile pepián, the brick-red turkey soup kak'ik, and rellenitos to finish.

Argentina: the parrilla

Charcoal, beef and chimichurri, from Elmhurst to the West Village.

  1. 16

    Parrillada with chimichurri

    El Gauchito · ELMHURST, QUEENS

    Mario José Civelli, a boxer from Mendoza, opened a butcher shop in Elmhurst in 1978 and put a grill in the window a year later. The mixed grill with house-made chorizo and morcilla is what nearly every table orders; buy frozen empanadas on the way out.

  2. 17

    Ribeye from the grill, and osso buco empanadas

    Graciela · WEST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN

    Pablo Rivero of Buenos Aires's Don Julio opened this bodegón in July 2026, with a long parrilla burning quebracho charcoal. Share a cut and the strip milanesa, and ask for a Malbec beyond the obvious.

Brazil: picanha

  1. 18

    Picanha from the churrasco window

    Villa Brazil Cafe Grill · ASTORIA, QUEENS

    A pay-by-weight buffet on 34th Avenue in Astoria, with a grill window beside it. Keep the buffet plate light and save room for picanha with its cap of fat, straight off the skewer.

Bakeries: pandebono & alfajores

  1. 19

    Pandebono and agua de panela

    Seba Seba · JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS

    Founded by two Colombian brothers nearly four decades ago, Seba Seba is part bakery, part diner. Warm, chewy pandebono with a hot agua de panela is the way to start a day in Jackson Heights.

  2. 20

    Alfajores and a cortado

    La Gran Uruguaya Bakery · JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS

    A Uruguayan bakery-café at the quieter end of 37th Avenue, with long cases of dulce de leche everything. Two alfajores and a cortado at a window table is one of the cheapest good hours in Queens.

Every kitchen here was confirmed open as of 2026-10-14. Menus change — confirm a dish is on before you make the trip.

Next guideThe Best Caribbean Food in New York, Dish by Dish