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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, APR. 8-14, 2022 BXR
Chocobar Cortés brings Caribbean delicacies,
Puerto Rican roots to redeveloped Mott Haven
BY JASON COHEN
Mott Haven is not only becoming the
trendy place to live with waterfront views
of Manhattan, but foodies are now flocking
there too.
In December 2021, the popular Caribbean
chocolate restaurant, Chocobar
Cortés, opened its first location outside
of Puerto Rico in the South Bronx’s Mott
Haven area, at 141 Alexander Ave. Its allchocolate
menu brings a unique dining
and cultural experience to the Bronx and
NYC landscape.
The concept is an extension of the original
Chocobar Cortés in Old San Juan,
which opened in 2013, and was named the
Best Restaurant in the Caribbean in 2017
by USA Today. Chocobar Cortés offers allday
dining, features a chocolate and coffee
shop, breakfast and pastries, lunch,
a lively cocktail and dinner atmosphere,
and brunch on the weekends.
In addition to their signature chocolate
grilled cheese with chocolate butter, the
menu features a chocoburger featuring
“chocochup” or chocolate ketchup, chocolate
hot sauce, guacamole with chocolate
and a chocobar salad bowl with chocolate
vinaigrette. The beverage selection
includes the famous Chocolate Cortés hot
chocolate served with cheddar cheese, a
special edition 80% dark chocolate made
with Puerto Rican cacao.
“We have chosen the Bronx because
it is one of the strongholds of the Puerto
Rican and Dominican communities that
grew up with our chocolate,” said Carlos
Cortés, the executive director of the
Chocobar Cortés brand, who runs the restaurant
in the South Bronx. “We hope to
inspire the city and the world with the
taste of our chocolate, the richness of our
culture and the warmth of the Caribbean.”
The Cortés family has been manufacturing
Caribbean chocolate from farmto
bar since 1929. Currently, Cortés is the
largest chocolate manufacturing company
in the Caribbean and is one of the most
recognizable brands in both countries and
their diasporas.
Elaine Shehab is the founder and creative
mind behind Chocobar Cortés. Together
with her husband, Ignacio Cortés,
CEO of Chocolate Cortés, Shehab toyed
with the idea of opening a chocolate concept
for years. After thorough research
around the world, they set out to create a
unique concept that celebrated the family’s
rich history where Chocolate Cortés
played the starring role.
Carlos Cortés, 34, who has been living
in NYC for 16 years, never envisioned
himself running a restaurant, let alone
being in the family business.
He moved emigrated from Puerto Rico
in 2005 to pursue his undergraduate studies
in economics and philosophy at Columbia
University. After graduating in
2009, Cortés worked in the family business
from New York for a year, increasing
sales and distribution of Cortés chocolate
products in the Northeast U.S.
With a desire to help people and an interest
in mental health, he switched gears
and enrolled in medical school at NYU in
2013. However, while he was in training,
Puerto Rico fell into a fiscal crisis, and was
then destroyed by Hurricane Maria. Disillusioned
with the medical system and feeling
a sense of responsibility to help Puerto
Rico’s situation, he combined his medical
degree with a Master of Business Administration
from the NYU Stern School of
Business to pivot away from medicine.
“I was thinking how could I hep Puerto
Rico,” he said. “I felt a responsibility to
give back.”
He spoke with his parents often and
saw how much stress his mom was under
to run the business in Puerto Rico. He
soon decided he wanted to open the restaurant’s
second location — in NYC. While
his mom was gung-ho, his dad was a bit apprehensive.
“My mother was on board, and she said
‘we got to expand,’ and my father said ‘no,
we don’t,’” he said.
According to Cortés, his father knew
the potential of a second restaurant, but
The chocolate grilled cheese, which the Chocobar
Cortes restaurant in the South Bronx is
known for. Photos courtesy Chocobar Cortes
also understood how tough the business is.
With most of the family’s history in wholesale
and manufacturing, he knew it would
be a big leap for them to launch in NYC.
But he eventually relented trusting
his son’s vision to expand and bring the
unique flavors of Chocobar Cortés to the
Bronx. He began to search for a location
and scoured numerous neighborhoods
throughout the city.
Through networking, he was introduced
to Marlene Cintron, president of
the Bronx Overall Economic Development
Corporation, who told him about the upand
coming Mott Haven area and how it
would be perfect for the restaurant.
Cortés rebranded the company, improved
the website and social media, and
was ready to take the South Bronx by storm.
“The sky’s the limit in terms of a demand
for a concept like this,” he said. “I
knew how this neighborhood was changing,
but it is also a beautiful street and I
love the connection the Bronx has to our
people. Really, the Bronx is a cultural powerhouse
and it’s underappreciated.”
Since opening, many customers have
told him dining at Chocobar feels like being
back home in the Caribbean and said
they are happy it came to the Bronx. With
warm weather on its way and the city’s
COVID-19 vaccination mandates having
drawn to a close, Cortés envisions a bright
future for the restaurant.
“I don’t even see myself as running a
restaurant,” he said. “I’m continuing my
family business. Almost daily someone
will say thank you for coming and that we
needed a space like this. I love what I created
so far and now it’s like where do we go
from here?”
A chocolate martini served at Chocobar Cortes
takes the idea to the next level.
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