Brisas del Caribe—Caribbean breeze—is a restaurant that holds a special place in Ted Durand’s heart because it reminds him of the Peruvian food his mother used to make.
Latin spices grace the air 15 feet outside the restaurant at 1227 Raymond Boulevard in Newark. Durand’s stomach starts to grumble as he looks forward to a special treat. Durand comes to this restaurant at least once a week during lunch to feel like he is at home in Peru. “My mom used to make me rice and beans all the time. It’s like I’m at home in her kitchen,” he says. As he walks in, he stops for a moment to breathe in the smells of home. He walks up to the counter where there are several different stews, rice and beans. A girl in a pink waitress outfit greets him with a familiar smile.
He orders in Spanish. He doesn’t speak Spanish very often because his field—computer services—calls for English. “The only people I really talk to in Spanish are my cousin and my daughter,” he says. However, when he comes to Brisas del Caribe, he jokes and laughs with the waitresses in Spanish, as if he is talking to his sisters.
The menu of Brisas del Caribe—which is written in both English and Spanish—contains an array of Latin foods. There are items such as pig-feet stew, fried yellow plantain, oxtail and codfish bits. There are also delicious dishes such as pork chop stew and chicken stew that can be eaten with rice topped with beans. For dessert, there is Spanish custard, homemade cake and bread pudding.
Brisas del Caribe has Latin music and music videos playing loudly on the sound system and television. Durand looks up from his food often to watch young Latin stars dance on TV. He sings and moves his shoulders to the beat. He knows all the words. And yet, this visit to Brisas del Caribe is the only time during the week when he can watch Latin music videos because he is much too busy to take time out otherwise.
Between the beautifully hand-painted plates, the brightly dressed waitresses, the upbeat Latin music videos, and the stews and the rice and the beans, eating at Brisas del Caribe is like taking a small vacation to a Latin haven in the middle of the day.
For Durand, Brisas del Caribe is more than a restaurant. It’s an escape from the daily grind and a visit back to his childhood. The restaurant also serves as a place where he can connect with his roots—a place to remember that perhaps he is not too far from home after all.
Elise Anne Revere is a Rutgers-Newark student.
