Dominican immigrant Luis Miguel Collado has opened two El Castillo de Jagua restaurants on the Lower ... [+]
When Luis Miguel Collado acquired El Castillo de Jagua, a Caribbean restaurant on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1986 from its previous owners, the neighborhood was still scruffy, filled with tenements and some people not always out to do good. By 2024, the Lower East Side gentrified and is now filled with boutique hotels and upscale clothing stores, but El Castillo de Jagua is still thriving by offering value on its menu.
At most coffee shops in Manhattan, two eggs, home-fried potatoes and toast, or French toast, cost $10 to $12 a serving or more. But at El Castillo de Jagua, the eggs and the French toast go for a mere $6 a serving. It also offers $10 lunch specials consisting of a choice of baked chicken, chicken stew, roast pork or spare ribs with a choice of rice and beans.
A Pan-Caribbean restaurant El Castillo de Jagua on the Lower East Side is demonstrating that offering cut-rate prices can help an eatery to flourish.
Keeping Prices Low
Osiris Torres, the manager at El Castillo, attributes its ability to keep its prices down to “high sales volume. The affordability of our menu gives us a competitive edge, making it an attractive dining option for people from all income brackets.”
Owner Collado is now 81-years-old and is still healthy and involved in running the restaurant. Now he serves as host, creating a warm, genial and neighborhood atmosphere to greet its guests.
Originally from the Dominican Republic, Collado started out as a busboy at the Sheraton Hotel in 1964, saved $5000 to enter into a restaurant partnership, to open El Olivo restaurant on the Lower East Side. He sold that and used that profit to open El Castillo de Jagua with a partner Maximo Torres, whose interest was bought out the following year.
In 2006, Collado opened a second El Castillo de Jagua on Grand Street, also on the Lower East Side. To finance it, he obtained a $100,000 bank loan supplemented by his own savings.
A Pan-Caribbean Restaurant
Manager Torres described both eateries, which have the same menu, as “Caribbean restaurants that showcase a fusion of culinary influences from various Caribbean cultures including the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Puerto Rico.” Indeed its name, El Castillo de Jagua is linked to a historical site in Cuba.
For example, its sancocho or rich stew flavored with herbs and spices is Dominican as is its mangu, or traditional breakfast dish of mashed green plantains; its arroz con pollo or chicken cooked with rice, vegetables and spices and pernil asaldo, slow-roasted pig, are Cuban.
Initially, it appealed mostly to immigrant workers in the SoHo area and weekend shoppers on Orchard Street. But as the neighborhood morphed, it is frequented by a “younger demographic of Gen Zers and Millennials,” Torres says.
The most popular items selected on its menu are baked chicken, fried chicken and the Cubano sandwich, which is grilled with ham and Swiss.
Like a diner, El Castillo serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, and is open 363 days a year, except Christmas and New Year’s.
While many local eateries shuttered during the pandemic, El Castillo endured, Torres said, due to the sacrifice of its staff and governmental loans.
Though Collado is still involved, his family is set to take over the business when he’s ready to retire, as his daughter Yremil Rosario runs the Grand Street location.
When this reporter dined there on a wintry night with two friends, our friendly waitress Rosie served us boneless chicken, snapper and salmon, with heaping portions of rice and beans or plantains, providing leftovers for the next day. Torres says its large portions are a tradition of home-style cooking.
Many Yelp reviews were mostly positive such as Amy’s who hails from Rockville, Maryland. She called El Castillo’s food “delicious but a little greasy, and will put you in a food coma.” She liked the fried pork chunks and fried boneless chicken chunks and plantains. She said the interior “looks like a diner, but a genuine Dominican Spanish restaurant. Go ahead and try for yourself,” she wrote.
Asked the keys to its sustained success, Torres replied: 1) Staying true to using fresh ingredients; 2) Keeping prices affordable, 3) Building a team that upholds the restaurant’s core values.
Might we see expansion? Torres replies, given New York City’s restaurant vacancy landscape, “you could see a third, fourth or even fifth eatery.”
