For more than 60 years, New Yorkers in search of Caribbean beef patties and fruit cakes soaked in rum have found their way to Allan’s. In Brooklyn, on a stretch of Flatbush lined with takeout counters selling roti, oxtail, and jerk, the offspring of Allan and Gloria Smith run a bakery that’s become known as a one-stop shop for Caribbean staples: hard dough bread, patties stuffed with saltfish, coconut rolls, and doubles.
Its third-generation owners steered the business through the pandemic, when customers lined up for baked goods outdoors in masks, and opened a bar next door last October. This fall, they are expanding the company outside of Brooklyn for the first time with a location at 116B Allen Street, near Stanton Street.
Unlike the original, which spans three street addresses along Nostrand Avenue, the Lower East Side shop is 400 square feet. The menu will be limited to the most popular items in Brooklyn, including Caribbean beef patties, coconut drops, codfish balls, bake and saltfish, and currant rolls. The approach: “More depth than breadth,” says Christian Smith, the grandson of the bakery’s founders.
Beyond the staples, there’s talk of selling ice cream cakes and black cakes, the rum-soaked fruit cakes that are eaten around Christmas. All of the baked goods at the shop will be made in Brooklyn. Read More
Fortney, L. (2023, August 23). After 60 Years, a Caribbean Bakery Expands to Manhattan. Eater NY. https://ny.eater.com/2023/8/23/23834964/allans-bakery-opening-lower-east-side-nyc-caribbean-currant-rolls-beef-patty
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