Some of the best food in New York City can be found along the 7 subway line in Queens: crispy samosas in Jackson Heights, fiery aguachile in Elmhurst, and chili oil-smeared rice rolls in Flushing. And now, under the Calle 103-Corona Plaza station, you can find tripa mishqui from Ecuador, guisado from Guatemala, and tlayudas from Oaxaca, Mexico.
The aroma of roasted poblano peppers and fresh dough wafts onto the subway platform from a market filled with up to 46 vendors selling comfort food from all over Latin America — the kind you won’t easily find in restaurants. Down in the plaza, tortillas are garnished with beef shavings and chopped onions. Shrimp sprinkled with cilantro and garlic sizzle on a griddle. The pork rinds crunch as the suckling pig is sliced.
Corona Plaza is a significant achievement for street vendors, the majority of whom live in the neighborhood. Last summer they established an organization, The Corona Plaza Street Vendors Association, to run the market. Most Corona Plaza vendors do not have the permits the City requires, and many have been ticketed or told to leave. They hope that the association they created can build a better relationship with the authorities.
“If we organize ourselves, we can work with the City and they can see that we are important,” said Mary Carmen Sevilla, owner of a taco stand and secretary of the association.
Sevilla was standing outside her booth, Tacos Los Dos Compas, and waving to everyone who passed by. She operates the business with her husband, Miguel Ángel Padilla, and her brother, Jairo Sevilla; they immigrated from Puebla, Mexico, at different times during the last two decades.
Their tacos are made to the exacting standards of the family. Each order brings tortillas freshly made by the trio and a few workers. For one of their most popular tacos, carnitas, they marinate pork in hot citrus and spices for several hours, then gently sear it. Padilla garnishes each taco with white onion and cabbage, then advises diners which of the sauces goes best.
Sevilla and Padilla opened the position after losing their jobs during the first months of the pandemic. Sevilla made wigs for cancer patients and Padilla cooked at an Italian restaurant in Manhattan.
Corona Plaza was not always so busy. The plaza was created as a public space in 2012. It expanded in 2018 when the City created a pedestrian zone that began to attract vendors. Their ranks exploded during the pandemic, when many Corona residents lost their jobs and were unable to apply for unemployment benefits because they were undocumented.
“We were struggling to survive,” said Froilán García, who helped his sister, Cristina García, with her tamale stand. Once he ended the lockdown, he set up his own stall: colorful drink dispensers.
Their aguas frescas have flavors like cucumber, lemon, and chia seeds, and they only use fresh vegetables and spring water. On a good day, he said, he will win $500. The self-described extrovert said his favorite part of being a salesperson is interacting with customers. “They all come and visit me,” he said. “People come from Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Chicago.”
In a city with about 20,000 street vendors, the wait list for a permit is at least 10 to 15 years, said Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez, deputy director of the Street Vendor Project, a nonprofit organization that helps vendors. Various City agencies have addressed street vendors in recent years, including the Police Department, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and most recently, the Cleaning Department. The NY Department of Transportation sees value in Corona Plaza. He is working with the vendors’ association to bring in a market operator so vendors don’t need permits to vend food on the street.
Ydanis Rodríguez, the department’s commissioner, said the food he sells “is important to the culture and to New York City.”
By: PRIYA KRISHNA
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6748842, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-06-06 22:50:08
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