Support Glenda!!

...I was in my favourite Roti shop the other day, Glendas, and the owner mentioned that she was looking to sell the premises....

this elicited mixed feelings from me, on the one hand it is without doubt the best roti in crown heights....and i felt we should rally together and buy more rotis...

..on the other hand, she would probably get a good price for the house/restaurant (its offered at $900,000) and could retire well....

...Anyway, my point is that perhaps I could try my hand at the restaurant business, but what kind of food would sell the best in this area? (obviously West Indian, but there is too much competition)

...Mexican?.....BBQ?.....Indian?....Thai?.......

Mexican or BBQ but I think for good BBQ you really need a special space to set the ventilation for that up.

Despite all the West Indian food in the area, I feel there's still something missing: A sit-down restaurant a liitle nicer than most where you can "go out" to dinner and enjoy good service in a place decorated more like a tropical resort...maybe potted palm trees, wicker furniture and ceiling fans lazily unwinding overhead.

what's roti?

where is Glenda's?

On St Johns Place , one storefront down from Nostrand. You can see the Caribbean-colored awning from Nostrand.

breatheeasy wrote: what's roti?

Think of it as the West Indian version of a burito, except the basis is potato and curry rather than rice and beans. Its actually a pretty cool cross cultural blend in that the roti refers to the bread originally brought to the west indes from the east indies.

So you've got potato, vegetables, meat and curry that are all spooned into a flat bread, then rolled shut. Unlike a burito, its usually not as easy to consume on-the-go and requires a fork and knife to really get down.

Good roti is a gift from the gods...

Unless the roti is done "bust up shot" Trini style. Then the roti bread is served alongside the curry, and is used to dip into the sauce and pick up pieces of meat (kind of like Malaysian roti canai).

breatheeasy wrote: what's roti?

be careful, roti nubes: if you order a meat roti, such as the delicious chicken there, don't just go and chomp away or you might bust a crown! glenda gives you the real thing, bones and all!

also, ask for extra hot sauce.

can anyone attest to the various drinks glenda serves? i haven't had a chance to try any yet.

mn

I'm always confused by the bones-in roti. for instance, I got a curry goat roti a few weeks ago and then had to dissect it. about half way through dissection I decided I should have gotten a patty and coco bread. le sigh.

I agree. I am not down with the bones.. Some places have boneless chicken rotis or you can always just go potatoe and add some hot sauce- aunt may's is my favorite

If you can't handle the bones, Good For You, on Church Ave and I think 34th St offers their curry goat and curry chicken rotis boneless or with bones, and either can be bust up shot.

alafairnadia wrote: I'm always confused by the bones-in roti. for instance, I got a curry goat roti a few weeks ago and then had to dissect it. about half way through dissection I decided I should have gotten a patty and coco bread. le sigh.

hmm... i dont know if i'd like roti
i do however want to try a beef patty and coco bread -- best place in the hood for that??

breatheeasy wrote: [quote=alafairnadia]I'm always confused by the bones-in roti. for instance, I got a curry goat roti a few weeks ago and then had to dissect it. about half way through dissection I decided I should have gotten a patty and coco bread. le sigh.

hmm... i dont know if i'd like roti
i do however want to try a beef patty and coco bread -- best place in the hood for that??
You should definitely try a roti before writing them off. They're delicious. As for best patty- that's hotly debated.

well i don't think i like curry (or hot sauce or bones) but maybe i will give it a try someday : )

You people are fussy!!!.....

If you dont like bones (stewing meat with bones adds loads of flavor)....I can confirm that the BEEF roti at glendas has no bones.....

I concur with BobbyBrummel that you should order it "spicy"....which means little shreds of jalapeno mixed in with the meat.....it is delicious and just the thing for a cold winter evening.

oldenglishbitter wrote: You people are fussy!!!.....

If you dont like bones (stewing meat with bones adds loads of flavor)....I can confirm that the BEEF roti at glendas has no bones.....

I concur with BobbyBrummel that you should order it "spicy"....which means little shreds of jalapeno mixed in with the meat.....it is delicious and just the thing for a cold winter evening.

awesome to know!

patties - if I'm doing the whole coco bread thing, I like Christies on Flatbush near Sterling/GAP. she has bottles of hot sauce out on the tables and I basically sit and chew for an hour or so while adding hot sauce to each bite. YUM.

roti - I have yet to find roti I think is worth the trouble. but this boneless beef roti ... I'll check that out. but I have gristle fear.

Subject: pepper sauce

Glenda's wonderfully balanced and delicious curries do have some peppers in them. They need no doctoring, but if you want to feel the heat, you can ask for supplementary pepper sauce.

I am far from being an expert, but I think the peppers are scotch bonnet peppers. Or habanero peppers. They're both very "hot", i.e. have superelevated levels of capsasin. A jalapeno pepper may be 5,000 scoville units. A scotch bonnet pepper or a habanero pepper may be 300,000 scoville units. This measurement is how many units of water must be added to a unit of pepper before it can no longer be tasted. The exact chemistry of an individual pepper depends largely on growing conditions.

You can ask for more pepper sauce by saying "nuff pepper" or "plenty pepper". If you're a real pepper fiend, you have to make that clear. At Glenda's, they have humored me on occasion by putting in so much extra pepper that they were laughing at it. I may be wrong, but i do believe that it does cure the common cold.

One thing i really appreciate about Glenda's roti is the bread. I find it lighter than most: just so excellent.

Sad news to hear that the restaurant may go out of business. I haven't been by there in a while, and did not know it. For as long as it lasts, the restaurant does have tables to sit down at, and charming prints of the Trinidad of yesteryear. Sometimes the radio is too scratchy-noisy for my ear, but it is nothing that can't be ignored.

where is glenda's?

Glenda's is on St. Johns Place , one storefront down from Nostrand. You can see the Caribbean-colored awning from Nostrand.

I've been in the neighborhood almost five years and this thread prompted me to try Glenda's for the first time on Friday. I got a chicken roti to go. I liked it a lot. Next time I'll definitely go for "plenty pepper"!

Maybe we should all hook up there one night this week.

i got a roti to go on saturday and i think it would have been one of those laugh-at-the-sucker, much-pepper situations had i stayed. had to down a half gallon of milk along with it!

MMMMmmm. the secret is out.. I love Glenda's and she is ahoot.

Subject: Gloria's?

uh, what about Gloria's???? I LIVE for her Roti.

Subject: Re: Gloria's?

Whatchuwant wrote: uh, what about Gloria's???? I LIVE for her Roti.

where's Gloria's and what's good?

There's 2- one on the corner of Empire and Nostrand... and the other's on Nostrand on the north side of the parkway, don't remember exactly where. sorry, Alafairnadia!
I get chicken roti, extra skin on the side.
Oh Yeah! for all the people out there who can't deal with bones in their roti, you really need to NOT eat roti. The bones are part of the whole experience!!!!

but why are bones so important? isn't it supposed to be like a taco or burrito or sandwich or pita or a patty? I just don't see the point in making, essentially, a sandwich out of ingredients that aren't fully edible. I'd rather just get a plate of goat or chicken and eat with a knife and fork. is that bad?

See, cause it isn't a sandwich. It's, gosh how can I explain this? It's like a stew, right? Only instead of buss up (bust up, whatever, I've heard it both ways, i.e.-bread on the side) you get it right on the bread.
The IDEAL way of eating it is fork in one hand and fingers on the other hand.
One fork, one hand, one love.
So, you pick off some bread, grab some stew, use your fork if ya need to, and shove it in. Fuckin' beautiful.......and now I'm craving!!!! Too bad it's zero degrees...................

I guess I'd rather have the stew over peas and rice, OR ethiopian - the bread is the fork. and no bones.

but boneless roti or veg roti - I'm all over it.

Saw your old post for a bar crawl. I'll be down once the weather gets nice. Like 20 degrees nicer...first roti, then drinkin'!
Ever been to that place (a bar) on Underhill and Eastern Parkway, I can't remember the name for the life of me. A new restaurant Gloria's Global Soul (no relation to aforementioned Gloria's, I don't think) is right next to it.
Nice place.

Sepia. it's a great bar. yay bar crawl!