NYC NOW - May 23, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: May 23, 2024

Representative Dan Goldman, who represents Lower Manhattan and parts of Western Brooklyn, is facing two primary challengers in June: business strategist Bruno Grandsard, who criticizes Goldman for focusing too much on Donald Trump and not local issues, and political organizer Evan Hutchinson, who opposes Goldman's support for Israel in the war with Hamas. Plus, meteorologist Bill Goodman from the National Weather Service forecasts good weather in the coming days. Finally, U.S. Census data shows a significant portion of the Guyanese population in the U.S. lives in New York City, with almost half residing in Queens. WNYC’s Sean Carlson speaks with chef and food writer Farideh Sadeghin, local resident Renny Itwaru, and his nephew Rylee about the local Guyanese food scene.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Thursday, May 23rd. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. Representative Dan Goldman, whose district includes Lower Manhattan and parts of Western Brooklyn, is facing two challengers in the primary election next month. Business strategist Bruno Grasard says he's running against Goldman because the incumbent focus is too much on Donald Trump and not enough on local issues. There's a tendency, I think, to overuse the threat of Trump,

not that he's not a huge threat, but in ways that are not really relevant to our district. Political organizer, Evan Hutchinson, says his main reason for running is Goldman's support for Israel in its ongoing war with Hamas. I saw what was occurring in Gaza and realized that the only weight of pressure the Netanyahu government was via Congress. Goldman has said as an American Jew, he steadfastly supports Israel's right to exist and defend itself as a Democratic state against the Moss's attacks. A spokesperson for Goldman's campaign says he remains focused on delivering for its constituents

and helping take back the House in November. Stormy skies today will give way to a much brighter Memorial Day weekend. That's according to meteorologists. Bill Goodman from the National Weather Service says we won't need the umbrellas for the next few days. Friday looks dry. Saturday, maybe a late day shower, probably a better chance Saturday night. Sunday looks mostly dry and then Monday they increase in chances for showers through the day. Temperatures should hover in the low 80s or high 70s for most of this weekend. Now here's that forecast. 72 and partly sunny now.

A chance of afternoon showers in thunderstorms today, cloudy in 82. Then tomorrow mostly sunny in 85. Holiday weekend, mostly sunny low 80s with a chance of rain on Monday. Stay close. There's more after the break. On WN.MIC, I'm Sean Carlson. According to U.S. Census data, over half of all the Guyanese population of the United States lives in New York City, and almost half of that lives in Queens. While walking around neighborhoods like Richmond Hill, you can see a mix of roti shops and grocery stores with various Caribbean vegetables and cooking staples. Joining us to talk more about the neighborhood is René O'Too, who moved from Guyana to Jamaica. Queens as a kid and his nephew Riley, as well as chef and food writer Faraday Sadigan,

who's been bringing us stories of the city through food and culture. Her most recent stop was Richmond Hill and Ozone Park, which make up Little Guyana. So, Rennie, let's start with you. Like we said, you moved from Guyana to Jamaica Queens when you were a little kid. Can you tell us what you remember about the neighborhood from that time and how it was like growing up there? Well, Guyana is composed of super ethnically diverse people. Today, Guyana is seen as a very homogenous place where people celebrate, you know, the same cultural values. Coming to New York during the early 90s, that was a lot different. You know, here, moving into a new neighborhood where you're running into cultures that you've never experienced, it was a lot of turmoil. There

was a lot of interesting times growing up, but, you know, growing up in New York in a very diverse immigrant, focused community, it was everything you needed. It was everything you needed, especially being close to your community in Guyanese people, Guyanese food, Guyanese cuisine, culture. It was interesting to be in that place, moving from Guyana to New York, but still being very close to your Guyanese and Caribbean culture. This question is for the three of you.

Let's talk about the food. Faraday, you can start. You guys first stopped at a restaurant called Sybilz, which opened in 1976. It's known as the cornerstone of Little Guyana. I've heard of Sybil, but I've never actually been there. Can you tell us more about what you ate there? One of the things we got there was pepper pot, which is known as the national dish of Guyana.

And it's really the base of it is cassareep, which is a thick black liquid made from cassava root. And it's kind of a cross between molasses and I guess barbecue sauce. And it's a lot of stewed meats. It's really rich and flavorful in spices. And it was so good. And then they also have a refrigerator just full of so many different beverages. There's the peanut punch, which when you open it, there was just like a thick layer. of cream that Rennie showed me just like to make sure you shake it so you kind of break through that

barrier and drink it and it was so delicious. I loved it. And then Rennie, you got the fish sandwich. Tell me about that because that was so good as well. That's your favorite thing. Sybilz was known for pushing Guyanese cuisine, the envelope or Guyanese cuisine. And I thought, you know, the fish sandwich was one of the first things that they did that was sort of different from everyone else's. It's certainly my favorite thing to get at Sybil's, but it's not the only thing. The fish is perfectly fried, and then there's a beautiful amount of hot pepper sauce, as we call it. And I think that makes for the perfect, perfect fix sandwich. You know, Rennie, this brings up a good point, and you might be the one best equipped to answer this.

Guyanese cooking draws influences from several different diaspras, right? Can you talk more about that? Absolutely. So, you know, Guyana's made up a few different immigrant populations that all were brought there by the British originally to work as slaves originally. and then is indentured servitude. We have not in equal parts, but we're made up from comprised of African influences, Indian influences, Chinese,

and the Amerindian who contributes the pepper pot as part of our cuisine. Faraday, you all visited a place called Brown Betty and Shivram's bakery. Can you tell us more about some of the Guineas bread and pastries you had? Yeah, one of the best things there was this Salara bread, which is kind of a pastry. It was rolled and had this bright red, flicked coconut, in it. And it was so good. And that was one thing that I know Rennie mentioned that he used to have. It was a favorite of his when he was a kid. And I loved that so much. We also tried some of the

Guyanese Chinese food, like a fried chicken with a fried rice and chalmine, which were also really good. Yeah, this is a super interesting aspect of this, Guyanese Chinese food. Can you talk more about that, Reni, and how it's different from mainland Chinese food and what dishes you tried? Which ones you liked? So I've pretty much had all of them. You know, Guyanese Chinese food is Chinese food with Caribbean spices. Just like Indians that left India, they couldn't find all of the ingredients they had in their foods back in India in Guyana.

Chinese did the same. When they immigrated to Guyana, they also weren't able to find all of the ingredients that are typical in their cuisine. And I think, you know, because of that, it created a different effusion of Caribbean and Chinese influences where you get the black bean sauce, but then a hint of sweetness that comes from things like in the Caribbean, such as pineapple, et cetera, et cetera. Reni, you also visited a rum shop, which is important throughout the Caribbean and serves as places for people to gather, exchange news. Can you tell us about what rum shops represent in

Guyana and how your visit to one in Queens was? You know, in Guyana, the rum shop is the social hub of Guyana. Men, usually men, at the end of the workday, they find themselves at a bar. what we call a rum shop, but it's more than just a typical bar. It's where people get to gather with their friends, discuss politics, play dominoes. It's literally a place where community and connections happen. Faraday, what was it like for you being in there? I mean, if it's a traditionally male-dominated space, is it a place where you felt welcome? We went to one and we ordered some food and it was really cool.

The walls were kind of mirrored. there was definitely some cricket on the TV playing and we ordered some food. And we did walk into another one later on the walk home, which was totally packed and just full of men. And I definitely, when we walked in, I felt like everyone kind of turned to look at me. Like, you know, Riley is younger. I'm a woman. And we kind of were like, oh, hi, just us. Don't mind us. You know, so it was, it was kind of just like funny, but totally fine. And just kind of walked in and check it out and then kind of carried on. But yeah, it was, it was cool. It was definitely. interesting. That was Reni Tuaru from Jamaica, Queens. His nephew Riley and chef and food writer

Faraday Satigan. Thanks so much to all of you for joining us. Thank you. Of course. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. Also subscribe wherever you get your podcast. We'll be back this evening.