Street Food of the Bronx

By Emily Chalas

A surprising number of enterprising Bronxites make a living selling food in carts and trucks. Food stands stretch from 196 Street and Grand Concourse to Fordham Plaza to the East Tremont and Crotona areas of the Bronx. Some of these communities are very poor, with annual household incomes from $21,000 to $26,000. Yet food vendors in these neighborhoods often spend years hawking their wares and many report making a decent living.

Juan’s Flan

Juan Medina is from Ponce, Puerto Rico. He wakes up every day at 5 a.m. to prepare flans to sell on the corner of East Tremont and Crotona. He sells his pans of flan for $5, six days a week, in rain and snow. Medina says he found it hard to get a job due to his conviction for killing his sister’s husband.

Medina says he found himself defending his sister on many occasions when her husband would beat her. One day during a heated fight, says Medina, his brother-in-law fell, hit his head on the corner of a dinner table, went into a coma and later died.

Medina was convicted of murder and sentenced to 15 years. Once released, he had trouble finding work and instead turned to making flans. Medina says the flan business has been good. He is able to support his family and recently financed a new car.

Esperanza’s Pastelitos

Esperanza is from the Dominican Republic and she’s lived in New York for 25 years. She walks around East Tremont with a cart yelling out “pastelitos!” For $1.25, customers can buy chicken, beef and cheese pastelitos (deep fried pastries), along with lemonade or passion fruit juices. These fresh homemade juices wash down the tasty Dominican staple.

Esperanza said she lost count of how many years she had been selling on the streets, adding that it was close to when her children all started going to school. Around 1995, she began selling the pastelitos at public schools when school had finished. She said she had few options at the time and selling food gave her a flexible schedule.

“I wanted to be able to be home with my children, as a single mom, but also provide for them,” said Esperanza. “This gave me the ability to do both, so I did it and I made money. People actually like my stuff.”

With the money she’s made, Esperanza says she has been able to put her three children through college and to build a home in the Dominican Republic.

“I’m just waiting for my youngest to graduate college and I’m leaving,” she said. “New York has been really good to me, really good but, it’s too cold and I want to finally live in the house I’ve built.”

Errol’s Jerk Chicken

Jerk Man Erroll is an elusive man to track down. He never has a set schedule when he sells his chicken on Bronx Boulevard. And, he resists efforts to pin him down. When asked, “Where have you been?” he just laughs and says, “I’m here now mon! Wah gwan?” (What’s up in Patois).

Erroll is from Negril, Jamaica, and came to New York in 1996. He began working in a hospital doing custodial work but he says he felt the need to connect with the growing Jamaican community in the Wakefield section of the Bronx.

In the summer of 2000, he decided he was going to recreate the jerk chicken he had back in Jamaica. He decided to set up his drum barbecue grill on late nights in the summer and fall and the smell would lead you to the best jerk chicken you probably ever had.

Erroll sells jerk chicken and jerk pork accompanied by hard dough bread for $10. He says the jerk chicken reminds him of home. “It makes me happy and makes you happy!”

He adds that he doesn’t need a set schedule. “When the people come, they come,” he said. “I believe in attracting love rather than money.”

And, he has no plans to change careers any time soon. “I love what I do!” he said.