La Isla Cuchifritos
“love it love it love the alcapurrias is awesome food is great the people are always busy packed in their getting food.”
“We ordered 2 orders rice and beans and peril, 2 relleno de papa, 4 alcapurias, and pig ears to go.”
“The fried things and whole chickens in the window drew us in.”
La Isla Cuchifritos
Take-out: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
8 reviews
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Not many places can you walk in, sit at the counter, and get a full meal with mere pocket change. I work at the hospital across the street and LOVE this place when I'm craving some greasy pastillos, boiled yucca or a hearty soup.
It's as if I'm puerto rican and I've walked into my mom's kitchen. Except I'm a little white girl who sheepishly asks for what she wants in plain English. I speak a little Spanish but this isn't the place to practice it – I'm not fooling anyone.
Is it fancy? hell no. you get whatever they happen to be making that day. Is it fast and cheap? hell yeah. And the radio in the background blaring god knows what just adds to the charm. This place is awesome.
You know how whenever someone moves to New York, one of the first things they complain about is how expensive the food is? Well, I am no exception. However, after having lived here for a year and a half, I can tell you that most of these newbies just aren't looking in the right places.
I would like to announce that I have found the glimmering palace that stands above the favelas of New York cheap eats. Its name is Las Isla Cuchifritos. As its name suggests, it is an island.
AN ISLAND OF COST SAVINGS! *Cue crazy used car salesman in a cowboy hat*
JK, actually, cuchifritos means small fried things but it might as well mean "stuff your face for pennies".
I walked in tonight and ordered half of a roasted chicken. A stoic man wordlessly grabbed a chicken *already dead and cooked* from the warmer and hacked it into pieces. The practiced fluidity of his movements and the brutality with which he swung his cleaver were accentuated by the ice cold emotional abyss that is his face. The chicken was then literally *thrown* into a bag and handed to me, again, sans communication. 10 secs. The damage? $3.50.
Holy Cuchifritos!
I've lost more than that in change on a weekly basis!
The roasted chicken was surprisingly moist and flavorful. Don't know what else I could ask for from a half order of chicken that cost less than a drink.
They also have a number of other things on the menu that are supposedly delicious. As for the actual cuchifritos themselves, they are the trays of golden nuggets that sit silently beneath the window warmers. Most of them look like they've been nuked so hard that one might think lucifer himself were manning the fryers. I dare any with enough gastronomic bravado to discover what lays under their crispy yellow shells. I, myself, have not the stomach.
Were it not for the language barrier between the staff here and any English speaking patron, I would probably give this place 5 stars. As for now, it easily deserves 4.
Average cuchifirtio grease spot. As a Spanish person I know I'm supposed to get more excited about these spots, but to be honest, its not really my thing. Small spot, not tables, just counter seating. They serve lots of different Spanish dishes, chicken in the oven, steak, pernil, yellow and white rice, beans, chicken soup, beef soup and all types of "frituras" like empanadas, and rellenos (fried treats stuffed with meat or potatoes). Portions are big, price is cheap. They are normally busy and you have to wait to be attended.
Great quick spot kind of place. Cash only!
You can fill up for next to no money here. We got ourselves some potato/meat balls, and a bistec torta. All really great and filling. Most of the food in the window is so greasy and fatty and it may kill you, but there's no reason to live without fatty and greasy foods, so quid pro quo, or carpe diem, or whatever.
I live a few blocks up Graham Avenue, so occasionally pass by this place on the way to the J train. It's constantly full of residents of nearby public housing projects, retail workers on their breaks and patients, doctors and security workers from the nearby hospital. These crowds continue well into the night.
After years of passing by, I waited for a stool to clear up on a recent Sunday afternoon. I fought for a menu (this is typically the kind of place where things are ordered directly, preferably in Spanish), and went with a couple of small plates.
I really don't get the fuss. I'm not the right audiences as in general I find cuchifritos to be heavy and low on flavor – but these seemed particularly naff. Why take a perfectly good plantain, fry it and then stuff some dry meat inside? How does anyone eat this without copious amounts of hot sauce?
I know this is the traditional method, but there's nothing appealing about some little fried thing that's been under a heat lamp for 14 hours. I'm glad some people find this place satisfying, but it's a hard pass for me.
Cuchifritos? I said to my friend, What the hell is cuchifritos? Well as it turns out cuchifritos is both a type of restaurant (Puerto Rican and/or Dominican mostly) and it also refers to a type of food (cuchi being derived from the Spanish word for pig and fritos for fried). In this case it's also the name of the restaurant. It's a small place, mostly just a long counter with stools and a walk-up window. They serve traditional latin food like mofongo, stews, chicken, ribs, and a few other read more » things, all at low prices. The main draw to a cuchifritos place I think is the fried stuff being kept warm in the front window and the array of fruit juices. Don't expect them to speak a word of English (that's not on the translated menu) so keep the questions mostly to yourself. The first time I was there I was patiently standing waiting for help and more than one person pushed by me to get helped first, there's no doubt that this was discrimination against the only white guy there but it was mostly the people there not the workers so I can't count that against them too much.
Aside from the more unusual items like fried pigs ears I've tried most of the stuff in the window and can tell you that in my opinion the best two items are the meat stuff plantains and the "taco", a fried roll resembling a big spring roll that's been stuffed with shredded and seasoned meat.
Other options include a puffy fried dough stuffed with meat, a beef/chicken/or cheese patties that are mostly crispy/greasy fried dough, and a battered and fried sweet plantain. Each item is $1.35 so you can get your belly full of fried stuff for dirt cheap.
Last time I went I opted for the special of the day, chicken stew. Once I took all the meat off the bones and corn off the cob and got down to eating this hearty dish of chicken, potatoes, a little broth, and a few other ingredients it turned out to be one the best chicken dishes I've ever had. The chicken was impossibly tender and the flavor was great. For less than $6 it was one of the best meals I've had in a long time.
Come here if you want a heart attack.
Real cheap Spanish Caribbean soul food in the heart of bushwick. They are nice, serve excellent fried empanadas that are huge.
I hope this place never goes out of business, as this is true to the neighborhood.
For all the haters that are new to the neighborhood, eat some more soul food nearby and you will quickly realize that this place is the real deal. Go back to your place in middle america if you can't appreciate Brooklyn's local digs.
This is the kind of place you don't go to if you don't know what to order. There are two menus in the whole place.
After having procured one of them, I ordered pepper steak. Apparently nobody orders pepper steak, bc it took them a half hour to make it. I shouldve ordered the chicken, it looked delicious and ready to go.
Anyways, you get a lot of food for $7 (I got three lunches out of it), but my pepper steak tasted pretty bland
TIP: know Spanish when you come