Bite Of The Day: Roti & Oxtail At Suzy’s Roti Parlour

As a creature of habit, I am stubbornly resistant to change, especially when it comes to my favorite restaurants. If I find a spot with reliable and affordable food, I tend to eat there until I’m swallowing my pride along with eat bite, smiling sheepishly and avoiding eye contact with waiters as I order the same dish, week after week.

That is why, when I heard that Shayna’s Restaurant on Church Avenue was changing hands, I was miffed. But after visiting with the new owners and tasting the roti, I’m happy to report that the standards are still Shayna-quality, and everything else has only gotten better — including vegetarian options, and renovations that open up the small storefront into a welcoming, light-filled place to eat and chat.

While owners Narvin, Mei, and Suzy Seemungal finalize the new business name, they’re still displaying Shayna’s old awning outside of 907 Church Avenue. But that’s not the only tradition that remains — before opening, the family spent three months apprenticing under Joyce Bittan (head cook and previous owner of Shayna’s Restaurant), soaking up her secrets and meeting regular customers. Suzy is a new pro chef, but as the matriarch of a large Trinidadian family, she is no stranger to bulk cooking.

The Caribbean Roti dish typically refers to curried or stewed meats and vegetables wrapped in a thick, flour wrap that’s thinner than bread but spongier than a pancake. The wrap doesn’t quite stay together, especially when stuffed to the gills with stewed meats, so it tends to be a messy sit-down meal. But Suzy’s is trying to modernize the dish by making it more portable, offering a boneless option that holds together like a burrito.

Suzy’s Curry Chicken Roti ($6.50) didn’t stray much from Shayna’s classic: soft pieces of dark and white meat, starchy curried potatoes, with additional chick peas for added flavor. I also tried the Veggie Roti ($6) — a new offering, which came full of surprisingly fresh vegetables including carrots, broccoli spinach, and cabbage.

But for me, the real star of this show was the oxtail with rice and peas. Oxtail is a delicacy of Caribbean cuisine, a bony and rich meat that is slow-cooked or stewed. Suzy’s Oxtail with Rice & Peas ($12) is a hearty meal by itself, drenched in a thick, sweet and spiced gravy that seeps over into the flavored rice and peas (a.k.a. small beans). The entire meal was rich and flavorful — not one dull bite on the plate.

Yelp reviewers seem to love not only Suzy’s food (“You can tell that they cook with a lot of love”) but also the friendly service (“The owners… have lovely stories. It’s rare in the city to have people like them.”)

Suzy’s Roti Parlour, with a traditional yet accessible Trinidadian menu, is located at 907 Church Avenue at the corner of East 10th Street (one block from Coney Island Avenue), open from 11am until 8pm. In the coming weeks, look out for Suzy’s expanded evening hours, and delivery service through Grub Hub and Seamless. In the meantime, call them at 718-282-8190.