Margarita's Restaurant

Margarita's began as a food truck in an empty lot on East 156th Street, run by Reyna Margarita Prospero, who perfected the fritters the family still makes. In 2015 the family moved into a storefront on Avenue St. John, around the corner from where the truck used to park, and named it for her. It is a plain counter room without waiters — you order, you wait, you eat.

The reason to come is the alcapurria, the Puerto Rican fritter of green banana and yautía masa tinted with achiote and stuffed with ground beef or crab. Add a seafood pastelillo, tostones and fried fish, and on a cold day, a bowl of sancocho. It is neighborhood cooking, fried to order.