Great ‘home Trinidadian food’ at this new rum bar in Flatbush 

By Scott Lynch

Ariapita (Scott Lynch)

Chef Osei Blackett already co-owns and operates two successful “quick-serve” Caribbean restaurants on Flatbush Avenue (they’re called Picky Eaters; think jerk wings, fish sandwiches, and fries), but when this space opened up over the summer right near Avenue D, he decided he wanted to do something different. So he opened Ariapita.

“Ariapita is Trinidadian,” Blackett tells Brooklyn Magazine. “Not Caribbean. Full Trinidadian. A rum bar with Trini cocktails and what I call ‘home Trinidadian food’.” So when you go- — and you should go, because the food is great and the place gets fun and rowdy as the night wears on — don’t expect to find any jerk chicken on the menu, the Jamaican staple that has come to define Island cuisine in the city.

“Everything here is slightly elevated, but it’s like what we ate growing up,” said Blackett, who spent the first 20 years of his life in and around the city of San Fernando in Southern Trinidad. There are a lot of Indian and West African flavors in the food here, and, somewhat surprisingly, a Chinese vibe to some dishes, which Blackett calls the third most prevalent influence in Trinbagonian cooking.

The latter is most in evidence at Ariapita in his Chinese Chicken, a hacked-up half bird that’s been seasoned with a secret five-spice blend, deep fried, and glazed to stickiness with a mixture of ketchup, soy sauce, and hot sauce. Trini style chicken is also in the house in the form of Blackett’s Geera Wings, which are redolent with cumin and arrive with a tamarind mint dipping sauce.

Chinese Chicken, $9 (Scott Lynch)

The other meaty dish is a Curry Stew Oxtail, which goes great with a side of Buss Up Shut, a mess of “Trini style paratha” that stars a ton of ghee. The sides are actually where a lot of the action is here; there are two types of pelau, or rice and peas, cassava tossed with coconut spinach sauce, and a potato pie in “spiced cheese sauce.”

Curry Stew Oxtail with a side of Buss Up Shut, $16 (Scott Lynch)

The best thing we ate was what the menu rather blandly calls Stewed Fish, presented unceremoniously on a sheet of wax paper covering a generic metal sheet pan. No matter, this is delicious, a deep fried branzino, the skin all crackling, expertly deboned, and drenched in a lively tomato and okra sauce. On weekends Blackett makes curry crab and dumplings, the official national dish of Tobago.

Stewed Fish; market price, usually about $20 (Scott Lynch)

It was quiet early in the evening last Thursday, just a few of Blackett’s buddies and business partners sipping drinks at the bar, but one look at Ariapita’s Insta stories will show you that the place gets seriously lit later on. “After 10 on Fridays we have a DJ,” Blackett says. “People drinking, taking shots … we’re trying to bring the Triniadian culture here to Flatbush.”

Ariapita is located at 1197 Flatbush Avenue, just north of Avenue D, and is currently open on Wednesday through Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m., and later for drinks (347-365-7290)