A Look into the Faces and Flavors of the Neighborhood
Menu
Writer: Joe DiStefano
Production: QEDC, Queens Tourism Council, Queens Together, Beards Up Productions
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Intro
Of all the many neighborhoods that comprise the tapestry of food, culture, and commerce of the World’s Borough, Richmond Hill—with dozens and dozens of West Indian roti shops, Guyanese-Chinese eateries, Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim houses of worship—is one of the most fascinating. It’s also the one I know the least about. So when QEDC and Queens Together asked me to put together this guide, I turned to the experts: local business owners and community leaders like Lakshmee Singh, the Guyanese Oprah Winfrey; Bibi Bethune, chef-owner of GT Kingston Diner; and Viburt “Cooky” Bernard owner of Sybil’s Bakery. What I learned from talking to these 10 luminaries—apart from some great places to eat—is that the neighborhood is much more than a place where the culture is reflected in street names like Punjab Avenue and Little Guyana Avenue, it’s a place where the American Dream continues to be told by generations of immigrant strivers.
Lakshmee Singh
TV Host/Richmond Hill Ambassador Let’s Talk With Lakshmee
www.lakshmee.com
Lakshmee Singh, host of the popular TV show Let’s Talk With Lakshmee, came to the United States from Guyana in the 1970s. Almost from the moment she landed, Singh was immersed in Richmond Hill’s Guyanese community, a turn of events that would lead to her becoming the neighborhood’s unofficial ambassador.
Back then there were no Hindu temples in Richmond Hill and Singh’s parents, Dolly and Lall, were instrumental in helping members of the Indo-Caribbean community hold on to their religion by organizing practices in various people’s homes. Soon the worshippers outgrew their space and began congregating in the basement office of Dr. Jahgroo.
Singh’s earliest childhood memories involve being dressed up as a Hindu deva for skits her mom held as fundraisers to defray the costs of building the Sri Lakshmi Narayan Mandir. “I remember for the opening of the temple I was Mother Durga, I must have been 9 or 10, Singh recalls. “Ever since then my mom would dress me up as a deity and throw me up on stage.”
In 2010 Singh was approached by Tanuja Raghoo, daughter of pioneering Guyanese broadcaster Eshri Singh, to create a TV show for the robust Guyanese community. Singh settled on a talk show because “we didn’t have a platform for Guyanese people to talk about what they do, their struggles, their stories, their successes.” At first people didn’t understand the concept because up until then Guyanese broadcasting consisted of little more than Bollywood music videos interspersed with ads for realtors, mortgage brokers, and the like. These days though, Singh is well known in the community and even in her homeland as the Guyanese Oprah Winfrey.
Singh remains immersed in her community and loves it more than ever. “When you are around all of your own Guyanese people there’s kind of a sense of hope you know,” she says. “You see people who look like you who have your same religion who speak like you. You can find your home foods, anything you want to eat, your comfort foods. You can find happy smiling people.”
“I’m all about Sybil’s,” Singh says when asked to shout out a neighborhood favorite. “I love to buy Guyanese pastries there whether it be tennis rolls or their amazing chicken patties.” Once a year her parents, who are vegetarian, come to visit and she makes sure to take them next door to Veggie Castle for “the best vegetarian food in the world.”
Bobby Sansarran
Shakti Saree & Spiritual
(718) 738-1300
www.facebook.com/ShaktiSareeandSpiritual
124-15 Liberty Ave.
As the name implies, Bobby Sansarran’s shop—festooned with orange, fuchsia, and scarlet garlands that he meticulously hangs daily at 7 am—sells much more than the garments beloved by Richmond Hill’s Indian and Indo-Caribbean communities. The shelves of this one-of-a-kind emporium are lined with statues of Hindu gods—Ganesh, Lakshmi, Shiva, and many more—ranging in size from small ones for home puja rooms to larger three-foot ones for temples.
Priests from the Richmond Hills’ mandirs shop there for religious items and Hindus also visit for packages of puja items known as sarjam. Unique to Indo-Carribean Hindus, these bundle various items needed for funerals, weddings, and worship of specific gods. Shakti’s customer base includes East Indians, West Indians, and African-American Baptists. The latter come to buy brass bells for worship service, says Sansarran who is a second-generation Guyanese immigrant.
Before opening Shakti Saree & Spiritual, Sansarran worked for 20 years across the street at DJ’s Exclusive Saree & Religious House. There, he was in charge of purchasing, visiting India several times a year. With the encouragement of friends and no small amount of trepidation, he decided to open Shakti, which takes its name from the Hindu word for divine feminine energy, in 2014.
Despite his fears, Sansarran says the shop made $7,000 on its first day. “I opened on a Friday,” he recalls. “I can’t ever forget that, and on Saturday we were even busier, it’s the blessings of god, it’s the blessings of shakti, the feminine aspect of godhead.”
Sansarran loves the vibrant diversity of Richmond Hill, but what he loves most is connection to his customers. “You know Bobby when I came as an immigrant into New York City you were the first face that I saw,” he says customers often tell him. “Fifteen years later I’m selling to their children.”
When it comes to local eats, he likes to grab a typical Guyanese breakfast—doubles or roti with eggplant at Anil’s across the street. As for Indian food, he’s partial to Dana Pani (135-08 Liberty Ave.) for their naan and saag.
Dave Kadarnauth
The Nest Restaurant & Bar
(718) 847-4035
https://www.facebook.com/nestny
125-17 101st Ave.
Dave Kadarnauth has ruled the roost at The Nest since he took over ownership of the popular spot in 2009, but the restaurant’s been bringing Caribbean-Chinese flavors to Richmond Hill since 1998.
In addition to a roster of more than two dozen types of fried rice, including jerk chicken and jerk pork varieties, the Nest is well known for such West Indian specialties as Guyanese bunghal (boon-jal) goat, black pudding made with lamb blood, and fried shark. Those last two specialties are served with a garlicky homemade hot sauce, and a sweet chili hot sauce, respectively. For those who really want to turn up the heat, there’s also a homemade concoction that consists of little more than Scotch Bonnet peppers and vinegar.
“Our culture loves spicy, the hotter, the better,” says Kadarnauth, who like many Richmond Hill residents hails from Guyana. Kadarnauth is quick to point out that his kitchen—with cooks of Chinese-Indian, Guatemalan, Trinidadian, and Guyanese descent—is almost as diverse as his home country, which is largely made up of Indigenous, East Indian, African, Portuguese, European, and Chinese people.
“I love the vibrancy of Richmond Hill, I mean there’s no recession here,” Kadarnauth says with a smile. “There’s always people out and about, regardless of what the economy is. It’s a recession-proof neighborhood, the community supports itself.” When he’s out and about himself, Kadarnauth loves going to his friend Vilburt “Cooky” Bernard’s restaurant, Veggie Castle (132-09 Liberty Ave.), for its fresh fruit juices and flavorful fare like vegetarian jerk chicken. “I know Cooky really well so I go there and support him and he comes here and supports me.”
Viburt “Cooky” Bernard
Sybil’s Bakery
https://www.instagram.com/sybilsliberty/
(718) 835-9235
132-17 Liberty Ave.
The cheery yellow triangular building that houses Sybil’s, Viburt “Cooky” Bernard’s bakery, is a source for all manner of Guyanese delicacies. In addition to baked goods, like tennis rolls and pine tarts, there’s a steam table brimming with dishes like goat roti and pepper pot. The hearty oxtail-stew features chicken and cassareep, a dark brown syrup made from cassava root and cloves.
It may look like it’s been there forever, but Bernard’s bakery got its start in 1976, when his mother, the late Sybil Bernard-Kerrutt, started selling traditional Guyanese bread to friends to support her growing family. Even though the menu has expanded to include many more items, including an amazing fried bangamary fish sandwich, the baked goods like chicken pies and pineapple remain top sellers.
“The community counts on us for authentic Guyanese products,” Bernard says, and so do Guyanese who flock to the shop from all over the Tristate area for a taste of home. “What I love about my neighborhood is I feel very comfortable here amongst all my people,” Bernard says, noting that he likes to shop for fruit at the Indian-run Apna Bazaar (134-02 Liberty Ave.), which is located just a few blocks east on Liberty Avenue.
For ingredients—including curry powder, and that famous bangamary fish—he goes to Spice World (123-21 Liberty Ave.), a neighborhood emporium that in true Richmond Hill fashion sells everything from sarees and pooja items to Guyanese greens like Malabar spinach and green bora, or long beans.
Raj Dutt
Rishi Video Palace
(718) 848-4180
103-44 Liberty Ave.
“Yes of course they like the same movies, remember they came from India,” says Raj Dutt about the Guyanese customers that frequent his shop Rishi Video Palace.
Dutt, who was born in India, has been renting and selling Bollywood movies in the community for 30 years. He started the business because he saw a space near his house and he knew he’d have plenty of customers from the Indian and Indo-Caribbean communities.
“First of all, you’re amongst all your own people you feel safe and comfortable,” Dutt says of Richmond Hill. “Since I’m here for 30 years, I know everybody, it’s a good experience.”
Dutt also sells music: Indian bhangra; Jamaican reggae; Trinidadian soca; and chutney, a music that like Richmond Hill itself blends Indian and Caribbean rhythms.
His taste in local dining is kind of like chutney music, too. He’s a fan of the
Guyanese-Chinese style chicken fried rice at Hibiscus (124-18 101st Ave.) as well as the Indian fare at Tandoori Hut (119-08 94th Ave.), and Punjabi Dhaba (119-16 101st Ave).
Bibi Bethune
GT Kingston Diner
https://www.facebook.com/bibi.tularam.1
347-561-7540
109-08 Liberty Ave.
It would be easy to think Bibi Bethune named her 24-hour restaurant GT Kingston Diner to reflect the neighborhood’s Guyanese, Trinidadian, and Jamaican populations, but that’s not the case. Rather, it’s a tribute to her and her husband’s roots. GT stands for Georgetown, the capital of her homeland, Guyana, and Kingston, is the capital of her husband’s homeland, Jamaica.
In 2019, Bethune decided to open her 24-hour restaurant specializing in West Indian and Guyanese comfort foods in Richmond Hill for two reasons: foot traffic and the fact that there were no restaurants open around the clock. As at all good diners, breakfast is available all day at GT Kingtson Diner. For Guyanese that means curry bigan—eggplant with roti—while Jamaicans like to start their day with ackee and saltfish as well as fried dumplings. There’s even traditional American breakfast staples like omelettes and red velvet pancakes.
“Back home every girl must know how to cook before they get married,” Bethune says.
“I love cooking, it’s my passion.” In fact she loves it so much that every week she hosts an informal Facebook Live cooking lesson called “Cook, Sip, and Chat With Bibi.” Sometimes she even features dishes that aren’t on GT Kingston Diner’s menu.
Some of the restaurant’s most popular dishes are cha chi kai chicken, a spicy West Indian take on Chinese style chicken, curry duck, dhal, and jerk pork. When she’s not in the kitchen, Bethune likes to grab traditional Guyanese pastries at Bakewell. Richmond Hill’s culinary celebrity gets her nails done at Double Easy Nail Salon (109-02 Liberty Ave.), and as for her locks, she trusts them to Rose Mansion Beauty Salon (113-13 Liberty Ave.)
Bela Qadir
Bela’s Herbal Beauty
917-602-9393
108-07 Liberty Ave.
Bela Qadir started her namesake beauty business out of the back office of an Indian supermarket a little over 20 years ago with just a single broken salon chair and a mirror. Today, the Bombay born facial specialist owns five beauty salons throughout Queens, providing bridal beauty services like henna tattoos to the Indo-Caribbean community in addition to standard treatments like laser face lift and micro dermabrasion.
Qadir originally studied to be an ob/gyn in Calcutta. When she came to the United States, she was devastated that she couldn’t continue her studies. So she returned to India, where she was trained in naturopathic techniques of facial care.
Upon returning to Queens, she knew she wanted to open a beauty salon, so she approached the owner of an Indian grocer on 101st Avenue. “He started laughing at me and said, ‘What can you do with such a tiny space?’” she recalls. Qadir persisted, convincing him with an offer of $500 in monthly rent, and the rest is Richmond Hill beauty salon history.
Today her clientele at the salon on Liberty Avenue is as diverse as the community itself with customers from Bangladesh, Guyana, India, and Pakistan. There’s even a sign in the window announcing the services of a Dominican hair stylist.
When it comes to dining, Qadir likes to cook Indian food at home, but when she does dine out she likes to visit Darbar’s Chicken & Ribs (126-09 Liberty Ave.)
Gurjot Singh
Baba Makhan Shah Lubana Sikh Center
https://www.facebook.com/Gurdwara-Baba-Makhan-Shah-Lubana-NY-USA-114271343
113-10 101st Ave.
“I love that you can go anywhere and get any type of Indian food, you can get turbans, you can get traditional Indian attire like kurta pajama,” says 20-year-old Gurjot Singh a member of Baba Makhan Shah Lubana Sikh Center, which he and many other members colloquially refer to as “Gurdwara 114,” after its cross street. The other cross street, Punjab Avenue, a designation that was bestowed upon 101st Avenue between 111th and 123rd streets in October 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the pandemic, Gurdwara 114 offered vaccine shots and donated food to the homeless as well as to area hospitals. The giving out of food via the free daily communal meals offered called “langar” is key to Sikhism, Singh points out. “No one who comes to the gurdwara leaves hungry or goes unfed,” he says. “Anyone’s allowed, it doesn’t matter what religion or ethnic background,” Singh says, adding that he loves the diversity of Richmond Hill.
Singh’s father, Daler, is a master of the Sikh martial art gatka, which involves sword play and stick fighting as well as hand-to-hand fighting. Having learned from the master, the younger Singh now teaches gatka himself. When not teaching Punjabi martial arts (deleted “himself”), Singh pursues a double major in engineering and architecture at New York City College of Technology.
When not teaching or studying, Singh and his friends like to tuck into plates of naan and dal at their favorite restaurant Punjabi Diner (116-01 101st Ave.).
Seema Ahluwalia
Indian Fashion House
(347) 684-9130
https://www.facebook.com/Indian-Fashion-House-709498555866096/
116-02 101 Ave.
Seema Ahluwalia, owner of the purple awninged Indian Fashion House, opened her emporium specializing in traditional attire 10 years ago, when she saw the space for rent. At the time, 101st Avenue had yet to be redubbed “Punjabi Avenue,” but she knew there were plenty of Indian women living in the area who’d be eager to shop for saris and ankle-length lehenga skirts to pair with choli crop tops.
Plenty of Guyanese people of East Indian descent shop at her store, too, she says.
“They like bright colors like orange, pink, and magenta to complement their skin.”
“I love it here in this part of Richmond Hill because I never miss India,” Ahluwalia says. “When I see a lot of Indians, Punjabis, and neighbors, and my temples and all the food and celebrations. I feel like I’m in my home back home in India.”
When she’s craving a taste of home, Ahluwalia enjoys the vegetarian cuisine at nearby Punjabi Dhaba, especially their papri chaat and aloo tikki. “All their vegetarian food tastes so good and fresh.”
Chief Samsair
Bakewell Bakery Restaurant
(718) 322-5600
https://www.facebook.com/bakewel/
127-08 Liberty Ave
Even though his Guyanese bakery got its start in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, Chief Samsair loves Richmond Hill, Queens. “I am sorry I didn’t come to the neighborhood sooner,” he says. “This is what we call home, you walk and every storefront you see a part of Guyana. I just feel right at home.”
Back in 2016 when he opened Bakewell at the corner of 127th Street and Liberty
Avenue the stretch near Lefferts Boulevard had yet to be rechristened “Little Guyana Avenue.” Nevertheless, he knew he had to bring his baked goods—lemony tennis rolls to enfold fried eggs, ruby red spirals of cinnamon scented coconut salara, and pine tarts—to his countrymen in Queens.
In addition to popular Guyanese treats and breads, Bakewell’s Richmond Hill location features a full menu, including Guyanese-Chinese style dishes like chicken fried rice as well traditional Guyanese fare like mutton curry served with dhal puri. “We have a Chinese chef on board along with our Guyanese chef,” says Samsair, a Guyanese Muslim who notes that all of Bakewell’s food is strictly halal.
When he’s not busy at Bakewell or saying hi to customers, Samsair likes to go down the street for a snack at Anil’s Roti Shop (125-01 Liberty Ave.), but not for roti. “I like to get their doubles because we don’t carry them,” he says of the fried bread sandwiching curried chickpeas sluiced with tart and spicy chutneys and sauces.
