Jose Coto’s nearly 40-year-old Fordham Heights lunch counter remains one of the city’s most vital temples to pork. Watch in awe as counter workers cleave through a golden chicharron Dominicano — a crunchy and gelatinous pork candy bar of sorts — then feast on anything that looks good, including garlicky pernil, starchy alcapurrias (empanadas made from yucca), filling mofongo platters, and aromatic cups of morir soñando forged from freshly squeezed orange juice and condensed milk. Do not by any means overlook the morcilla, a bouncy and light blood sausage with a fragrant cilantro kick.

Malecon is perhaps the city’s most well-known mini-chain of all-day Dominican establishments. The Washington Heights location opens for breakfast at 8:30 a.m. serving mangu (mashed green plantains) with longaniza, eggs and salami, and stays open until 2 a.m. on weekends, offering an almost infinite variety of Dominican specialities. The signature item here, however, is the rotisserie chicken; it’s slowly spit roasted to allow for tender flesh and stretchy, supple skin.

La Isla in Mott Haven, like Bakery 188 in Fordham Heights, ranks among the city’s top cuchifrito parlors, a dwindling class of affordable lunch counters purveying top notch pork products. Everything here is grand, including the morcilla, but pernil might be the king of this location. The swine is slow roasted until its exterior caramelizes and glistens like rare gemstones.

Chef Raymond Mohan and Leticia Young are the duo behind this popular Harlem seafood shack, which was inspired by their time in the Caribbean and Cape Cod. The stars of the menu are seafood boils featuring crawfish, crab legs, or shrimp swimming in richly flavored broth that can be customized with Lolo’s signature sauces. Appetizers here are not to be missed — the rich and creamy “crabby dip” with plantain chips and the light Belizean conch fritters with tangy remoulade sauce are a great addition to your seafood spread.

Freda’s Caribbean and Soul Cuisine on the Upper West Side feels like being invited into a West Indian and Southern family’s home for dinner. The menu is a greatest hits of soul and Caribbean food and includes Jamaican brown stew chicken, fried whiting, curry chicken, macaroni and cheese, and peas and rice. It’s all affordable, too, with the generous portion costings under $20. Bonus: BYOB

Here you’ll find some of the city’s best Cuban sandwiches, vaca frita (skirt steak fried to the texture of soft jerky), lechon asado (slow cooked pork) and minty mojitos. Warning: The mojitos are strong, which is especially dangerous on Tuesdays when they’re just $6 apiece. Swing by after a show for live Cuban music every night. Open late on weekends.

All of the basics are covered at this Long Island City institution serving classic Jamaican dishes. The dining room is sparse and often filled with locals digging into plates of moist jerk chicken, and tender, stewed oxtails. Be sure to try the ackee and saltfish — the national dish of Jamaica — at breakfast and curried goat at lunch. 

Chef Derick Lopez runs this Astoria-based ode to the foodways of Puerto Rico. Expect all the usual suspects: alcapurrias, sorullitos, pernil sandwiches and hearty mofongo platters. But the pasteles, which are available for nationwide shipping, play a big role in making this such a special place. For that preparation, Lopez mashes together steamed taro, pumpkin, and plantains — a blend of mildly-flavored roots that let the pork and olives stuffing shine.

Venezuela, like neighboring Colombia, boasts a long coastline along the Caribbean — and accordingly shares a number of culinary traditions with the region’s islands and archipelagos. And while Caracas Arepa Bar isn’t necessarily a Caribbean restaurant, it is a fine establishment that sells, like so many other Venezuelan spots, one of the South American country’s signature dishes, the pabellon criollo, a style of beans and rice found throughout the maritime basin. Caracas serves it as a bowl — mixing the rice and beans with the dish’s other staple ingredients: fried sweet plantains, shredded beef, and cotija cheese — or in an arepa, without rice.

Imani has dishes ranging from spicy spare ribs with pineapple to an ackee and saltfish spring roll, but the restaurant most notably has options for vegans looking to satisfy a craving for Caribbean (or non-Caribbean) comfort food. The cozy brownstone restaurant in Fort Greene serves curried vegetables with chickpeas and okra, as well as a Beyond Meat burger.

This is your go-to Bed-Stuy spot for Cuban bakery staples. Expect Cuban buttered toast, baked chicken or picadillo empanadas, tamales, cafe con leche, and of course, flaky pastelitos with guava and cheese.

Christopher Roberts and Joan Lewis opened this Caribbean restaurant in Queens in 2000 and quickly found fans of their homey dishes like Jamaican curry-laced goat and steamed snapper with okra. The specials are often the best option; some nights include stew peas with pig feet and goat stew.

Seafood shines at Park Slope’s Negril BK, as so does the atmosphere; the restaurant has three themed rooms that each give off a different island vibe. The crispy stuffed snapper served with pumpkin rice is a standout, though classics like braised oxtail and curry goat are also on deck. For dessert, try the rich bread pudding. Cocktails mostly fall under $15, and include options inspired by flavors of the islands, such as with a soursop rum punch.