You’ve been there. Inside that small Caribbean restaurant down the block, staring at the juicy patties, stuffed with spicy meat or veggies. And then you glance at the clear counter shelves holding a loaf of coco bread, and you think, “If just for a minute, I could smoosh them together for the ultimate sandwich.”
EBONY cover star and Power 100 awardee Kwame Onwuachi is making those delicious dreams a reality. The famed chef and Tatiana restaurant owner has launched Patty Palace, a casual dining spot inside Citi Field in Queens, N.Y. It will officially open on April 4, when the Mets baseball team plays its first home game at the stadium.
“As a New York City kid, grabbing a patty with coco bread from the local Jamaican spot after school was a staple—quick, filling, always satisfying,” Onwuachi wrote on Instagram. “Now, having Patty Palace inside Mets stadium, repping at both the Hudson Whiskey Club and Clover Marketplace, is surreal. Curry chicken patties, coco bread, ginger cabbage slaw, green seasoning aioli, jerk BBQ sauce—more locations opening soon!!!!!
The star player on this menu is the chicken patty. Onwuachi stews up curried chicken as its filling and then serves it on coco bread, which is topped with jerk barbecue seasoning, green sauce and a ginger-cabbage slaw.
In addition to the Queens location, Onwuachi plans to open a food truck in Manhattan’s Lincoln Center Plaza, right outside Tatiana restaurant. He’ll expand the menu to include a vegetarian mushroom patty and other tasty concoctions.
In September 2024, Onwuachi opened Dōgon, an Afro-Caribbean restaurant inside the Salamander hotel in Washington, D.C.
This latest venture is his ever-expanding mission to present food roots that explore and honor African diaspora cuisines, especially those that represent his Nigerian, Jamaican, Trinidadian and Creole heritages.
