The International Restaurant
The International Restaurant is a restaurant, as its name tells us, that served food that was more than just American. This restaurant, located on 5th Avenue, served lots of foods and actually had a menu that was written in both Spanish and English so that most people could understand it. Lots of the customers were Hispanic and basically everyone was speaking in Spanish in the restaurant so it almost seemed as if the English writing in the menu was not needed until I saw some Asians and Middle Eastern people walk in and order some food in English.
The place was obviously owned by Dominicans because of the flag that was hung inside of the restaurant and also since some of the items on the menu were noted as Dominican. The restaurant was, however, a place where you could find anything to eat. A whole section of the menu was catering to Italian “Specialties”. In addition to Eggplant Parmigiana there was also the generic spaghetti with meat sauce. There was also muffins and bagels and coffee. Almost anything one could imagine was offered at this restaurant including French fries and burgers and also the place delivered, it definitely made me miss living in the city so much more. I decided to go with my comfort zone and ordered mofongo which is a dish made with platanos and its usually served with a sauce and I also need to mention that I was disappointed at the fact that alcapurria was not offered on the menu.
The International Restaurant was almost like a microcosm of Sunset Park in the way that it was international foods of all sorts. Sunset Park boasts a very diverse population and everyone from Caucasians to Asians, Middle Easterners to Latinos, they all live in Sunset Park. Just sitting in the restaurant while I ate gave me a taste of the diversity of the neighborhood by who walked in and the languages I could hear outside of the door. People from all walks of life walked into the restaurant and every single one of them ordered something different. It was wonderful.
