Chibcha Restaurant

Back in the day… circa late 80s… Jackson Heights was a wild scene and if you wanted a good dose of it you would eventually wind up here … felt like another world and in another time … a nightclub with gangster, big shots and wannabes. This place was filled with all sorts of people and stories.

Remember that long, unedited shot at the beginning of Goodfellas, where Ray Liotta walks through this night club, and everybody knows him, and the booths are filled with grinning fat cats and their brightly-​colored tarts who laugh and drink, and this whole, deep, amazing underworld just opens-​up its bosom to him, and you are awash in cigarette smoke, and the air is filled with bright brass, and you feel sultry all the way down to your bones? Chibcha is just like that on a Saturday night, except the fat cats are Colombian and the tarts are twice as good-​looking and five times easier than anything that ever decorated Joe Pesci’s arm.
This is a date-​night sort of place. Dress up. Go at NIGHT on a WEEKEND. Chibcha serves food almost all day, but during the day it’s just another one of several really good Colombian restaurants within a few blocks (chiefly, Tierras Colombianas). What you want to do is show up about 9:00 PM on Friday or Saturday and order a bunch of food and spend 2 hours eating it and drinking till the show starts at 11PM. Over the years Chibcha has drawn some of the most recognizable Latin music acts, including Celia Cruz, Marc Anthony, and Enrique Iglesias. Did I mention it’s good to dress up.