FLATBUSH RISING
You can’t say the food is bland
THE 2 train begins in Brooklyn at Flatbush Ave.-Brooklyn College, at a big and busy intersection with Nostrand Ave. that locals call “The Junction.” Between the school and the nearby Triangle Junction shopping center, thousands stream daily through the station. And regulars know these three spots offer fine snacking.
TRINIDADIAN TREASURE
If it’s hard to choose from the lengthy menu at the Trinidadian spot called Bake
& Things , that’s what owner Frederick Tereira intended when he opened the first outpost on E. 35th St. in 1995.
“Twenty years ago you couldn’t get a full menu at a West Indian restaurant,” he says, “you could just get parts of it.” He’s referring to the many spots that specialize only in doubles (fry bread sandwiches filled with curried chickpeas), bakes (soft rolls served baked or fried and stuffed with all manner of fillings) or roti (the West Indian version of a burrito, featuring a flaky flatbread filled with curry-flavored stews).
Tereira makes all of those — a fried bake filled with salt fish and pepper sauce is $3, a plain double is $1.50 and a curried shrimp-filled roti is $8 — but that’s just where the menu begins. Beyond platters, soups and vegetable sides on the regular menu, Tereira makes filling daily specials (a small order is $10) using recipes he first learned from his mother. There’s Chinese-style chicken with lo mein and fried rice one day; on another, curried crab with split peas and cassava dumplings; or stewed greens with lentils, fish and coo-coo, a custardy dish made by cooking cornmeal with okra, coconut milk and spices.
“I take pride in doing this,” says Tereira. “If I can’t eat it, I can’t sell it.”
Bake & Things: 1489 Flatbush Ave., near E. 29th St., (718) 434-1080
TASTY HAND-PIES
For decades, Angel Flake bakery has served one of the city’s best afternoon snacks: Hot Jamaican patties. But unlike at many corner bakeries and all the hot dog carts in New York, these are made in-house, with a light, flaky dough. Variations (all are $1.75) include jerk chicken, cabbage and vegetables and a spicy beef laced with thyme and the sweet heat of West Indian chili peppers.
There are also breads, sweets and a short menu of hot plates served with rice, curry or vegetables and salad, such as curry goat ($7 for a small), jerk chicken ($5 for a small) or spicy, crackly skinned fried chicken ($5 for a small).
Angel Flake: 2114 Nostrand Ave. near Glenwood Ave., (718) 434-0816
YOUR FACE HERE
Say the words “photo cakes” to residents of south Brooklyn and they’ll immediately know you mean Lords Bakery . The 60-year-old spot — open from 5 a.m. till midnight each day — has been famous for screen printing any image you like on a cake for the past decade.
Yet true fans know the technique is just one of its lures: Lords Bakery classics like the chocolate and nut-topped fudge layer cake ($12.25), over-sized prune hamentashen ($2.35) and carrot strips (a giant slice of carrot cake slathered with cream cheese frosting, $7.25) are all still made from scratch using recipes that have been passed down at the family-owned bakery for generations, says manager Khris Chirco.
Chirco also recommends anything red velvet: cheesecake ($18.95), cookies ($1.70) or a slice of cake ($1.99). In fact, Lords is so proud of those and their photo cakes that their storefront now spells out both “photocakes” and “red velvet” in foot-tall letters.
Lords Bakery: 2135 Nostrand Ave. near Flatbush Ave.; (718) 434-9551