Puerto Rican restaurant relocates to Belmont

By Brandon Klein

bklein@vindy.com

LIBERTY

Carmelo Morales, owner of PaPa’s Puerto Rican Cuisine & New York Style Pizzeria, has been on the move for more than two decades.

The take-out restaurant opened for business for the first time in Youngstown on Jackson Street in 1990. Morales said he and his family moved to Youngstown from New York to start a business.

The restaurant relocated to the South Side on Market Street. Morales said they eventually leased the kitchen at the former Barley’s Club in downtown until it was shut down in December 2011. PaPa’s started up again on Mahoning Avenue in Austintown, and then on Matthews Road in Boardman.

The restaurant has been operating at its new home at 3225 Belmont Ave. for six months.

PaPa’s offers a variety of dishes from Puerto Rico including pernil asado, roasted pork served with rice and beans, and pastelillo, a pastry stuffed with either beef or chicken.

“Everybody loves it,” Morales said. “Everything is made from scratch.”

The restaurant also offers New York-style pizzas. Morales said it’s common to see New York restaurants “mix and match” various cuisines.

Morales’ parents immigrated from Puerto Rico in the 1950s to New York where Morales was born and reared. His mother taught him how to cook the cuisine from her homeland.

“She inspired me to cook,” he said.

Morales puts in 12 hours a day at the restaurant that includes the preparation of the food.

“This is hard work,” he said.

Six people work at PaPa’s, all of whom are related to Morales, including his wife, Jeanette, and his second-oldest son, Jonathan.

“It’s all family,” he said.

Additionally, PaPa’s made an appearance at the Youngstown Spanish Heritage Festival in downtown last August.

“We were the No. 1 sellers there,” Morales said.

Despite relocating over the years, loyal customers have continued following the business, Jonathan said.

As for the future, Morales said he’s interested in opening a fine-dining restaurant for Puerto Rican cuisine downtown.

“We’ve been looking into it,” he said.

Jonathan said he would like to expand the business to also include a food-truck service for events such as the Canfield Fair.

“The possibilities are endless,” he said.