Casa Adela

On the stretch of Avenue C that the neighborhood still calls Loisaida, this small room has been the definition of Nuyorican home cooking since the 1970s. Adela Fargas cooked here for decades; after she died in 2018 her children kept the kitchen going, and in 2022 the corner of Fifth Street and Avenue C was co-named Adela Fargas Way. The rotisserie in the window has never stopped turning.

Order the rotisserie chicken with rice and red beans, the pernil, and mofongo — mashed green plantain with garlic and pork cracklings — to share. Alcapurrias and tostones are the right opening; sancocho is the right call on a cold night. Portions are generous, prices have stayed humble, and the room belongs to the neighborhood first.