09.27.08

Building Trust With Tacos

Posted in RW1 Class Stories tagged , , at 11:33 am by matuas

José Francisco Ortega can still remember the smell of the tomato sauce he made at the Italian restaurant where he first worked as a dishwasher and later as a chef.

Nowadays, Ortega, a Mexican immigrant who arrived in New York in the eighties, makes his own sauces—and dishes—at Real Azteca, an often-teeming restaurant on East 163rd Street in Hunts Point that he started nearly decade ago with his brothers, Carlos and Javier.

“I don’t like the food of other restaurants,” said Ortega. “I make the Mexican meal, the same as my mom.”

Real Azteca Restaurant serves sumptuous Mexican dishes to a diverse clientele

Real Azteca Restaurant serves sumptuous Mexican dishes to a diverse clientele.

Ortega’s story is common in this South Bronx neighborhood. Mexican immigrants, once a rare sight in Puerto Rican-dominated Hunts Point, are on the rise in the area. As more Mexicans moved into the community in the past decade, they’ve demanded their own food, and entrepreneurs like Ortega responded by opening traditional Mexican restaurants. Today, eateries like Real Azteca and Pedro Food provide a rallying point for the Mexican community and its culture. But the restaurants also serve up an effective way to help improve relations with other ethnic groups in the neighborhood.

Real Azteca has become so popular that earlier this year it expanded into the building next door, opening a large dining room. The restaurant’s Mexican staples such as traditional, stacked plates of non-folded tacos and massive, bulging, sauced-covered burritos appeal to residents.

“It ain’t Taco Bell, but it’s damned good,” said James Small, an African-American on his way out of the restaurant, steaming gordita in hand.

Ortega’s guiding principle is that his food should be simple and real. It’s also cheap—a concern for his customers, as the area is one of the city’s poorest. Many items on the menu are under $3, and customers can get an incredibly filling lunch for $5.

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09.23.08

One dead after fight in Flatbush turns deadly

Posted in RW1 Class Stories tagged , , , at 3:01 pm by matuas

One man is dead and another is in the hospital after a fight between two groups of young men escalated into a shooting in the lobby of an apartment complex in East Flatbush, Brooklyn Monday night, police said.

Jamel Wisdom, a 19-year-old who lived on nearby Ocean Avenue, was declared dead shortly after police and ambulances arrived, police said.

According to Ellen Borakave, a representative from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Wisdom died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head, torso, and right arm.

“When I see that one go in the ambulance, he wasn’t doing nothing,” said the superintendent of a nearby building who declined to give his name. “He was just white.”

The injured man, a 19-year-old that police have yet to publicly identify, was taken to nearby Kings College Hospital, where he is recovering from a gunshot wound to the leg, and is in stable condition, police said.

The altercation began last night between two groups of youths, thought to be in their late teens or early twenties, outside of an apartment building at 68 E. 19th St., police said. Police confirmed that both groups knew each other.

Just before 11:00 p.m., Wisdom and at least two other youths ran into the building’s lobby, where Wisdom and one other victim were shot, police said.

The building’s superintendent, Carlos Ayala was eating dinner with his family when he heard several gunshots. He said that there was a group of about eight people outside of his building at that time.

“Some guy is shooting in the lobby, he kills people,” he said. “All the time, it’s in the street. This time, it’s in the building.”

Some eyewitnesses, who refused to give their names out of fear that the gunman would attack them, said they saw a man with a gunshot wound in the knee run around the corner shortly after the gunshots.

Police and ambulances arrived shortly thereafter, responding to a quick 911 call, while residents quickly streamed outside to watch the commotion, police and Ayala said.

A 22-year-old man who declined to give his name knew the injured victim but only identified him by his street nickname, “Geddy.”

The altercation was caught on the lobby’s video cameras, Ayala said, and South Brooklyn detectives were on the scene reviewing the tapes and looking for possible eyewitnesses Tuesday morning.

A handful of uniformed police also stood outside of the building, garnering glares from passing residents. Residents and witnesses were reluctant to give details to reporters.

While few residents spoke to police and reporters, friends of Wisdom quickly made a heartfelt online memorial for him on MySpace. The mournful page contains pictures of Wisdom and identifies his by his street name, “Smooth.”

Police said that there have been several shootings in the area recently, including one on nearby Parade Place.

As of Tuesday night, police said that no arrests had been made and that the investigation is ongoing.