Claudy's Kitchen

Claudy's started with flan. Claudia Berroa's custards sold so well at a local deli that the order came back for two thousand more, and in the summer of 2020 — of all summers — she and her husband, Richard, opened a Peruvian kitchen on Broadway across from Van Cortlandt Park. Within a year it had a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand, and Eater named its empanadas among the city's best dishes of the year.

It is a bright, simple room built for takeout as much as for sitting down. The baked empanadas are the thing: chopped rotisserie chicken with onion and tomato, ají de gallina, chicharrón with salsa criolla, and a green one with spinach and caramelized onions. Add pollo a la brasa, lomo saltado or chaufa, a glass of purple chicha morada, and a flan — in more than one flavor — to finish. Pack it for a picnic on the park's Parade Ground across the street.