Latin Caribbean Bistro Owner 'Got Totally Bit By the Restaurant Bug'

Lauryn Small, owner of the Latin Caribbean bistro Ideya on Flatbush Avenue, calls Brooklyn home. So it only made sense, when Ideya’s first SoHo outpost closed in Nov. 2012, that she would take her second location to Flatbush.

“It feels really right to be here,” Small said. “I had been thinking about opening another location in Brooklyn, had been looking around downtown Brooklyn…rents were really high. Things happen for a reason and I walked into [636 Carlton Ave.] and I immediately had that feeling, ‘Oh, it feels like the idea.’”

The bistro – which is famous for its mojitos – features the same menu as before: food inspired by the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Latin countries that border the Careen Sea such as ceveche, bacalatos, salt cod fritters, rice and beans, Cuban fritters, oxtain braised in red wine gravy and more.

Small, who started modeling when she was 15 and eventually went to NYU to study English literature, sought out her masters at NYU in Caribbean and Latin American literature. She waitressed and bartended in grad school and then “got totally bit by the restaurant bug.”

“I felt like there really isn’t anything in New York where you can get Latin food…nothing in the middle that was authentic but also really accessible,” Small said. “It’s this crossroads of many cultures, you have this influence of these indigenous people, Amerindians and the Caribs – which no longer exist – Africans, Spanish, the English…I just find it fascinating.”

Small said her interest in the restaurant industry derives from the people who work in it.

“I think restaurant people are a really special bunch,” she said. “That’s what I’ve missed the most – just the people. The community that’s formed, the conviviality, people make it happen.”

Amy Sara Clark contributed to the reporting of this article.