Where to Eat in Poinciana: The Cypress Parkway Food Row
Poinciana eats on Cypress Parkway — one of the most honestly Puerto Rican food corridors in Florida, from Borinquen’s mofongo and pizza to Boriken’s empanadillas.
2 minute read
Poinciana eats on Cypress Parkway. The community’s commercial heart is a single east–west parkway across its middle, and its restaurant row is one of the most honestly Puerto Rican food corridors in Florida — which stands to reason in a community where, by the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, close to half of residents speak Spanish at home. The paper’s Top Businesses rankings have not scored a Poinciana kitchen yet — this hub says so plainly, and our Poinciana hub labels the nearest ranked tables, in Kissimmee and Hunter’s Creek, as nearby. What follows is the corridor as it actually is: researched, named and unranked.
The Cypress Parkway row
Start at Borinquen Restaurant & Pizzeria, at 888 Cypress Parkway — a Puerto Rican kitchen and pizzeria under one roof, serving mofongo, pernil, alcapurrias, pasteles and tripletas alongside hand-tossed pizza, the two great comfort cuisines of the community sharing a menu. A few doors west, Boriken Latin Food at 853 Cypress Parkway does the breakfast-and-lunch shift: empanadillas, Colombian empanadas, sandwiches and a breakfast cream regulars swear by. Unidos Restaurant, at 367 Cypress Parkway, flies the same flag — Puerto Rican plates, stewed chicken with rice and beans. JJ’s Caribbean Restaurant, at 872 Cypress Parkway, carries the Jamaican side of the corridor, and Le Petit Restaurant & Bakery at 884 Cypress Parkway covers the Caribbean bakery case.
Pizza is a Poinciana food group
LeMay’s Pizza at 821 Cypress Parkway and the pizza half of Borinquen’s menu tell you something real about this community: a large share of Poinciana arrived from New York and New Jersey by way of Puerto Rico, and the slice is a hometown food here, not a fallback. Order accordingly — the corridor’s pizza is made by people who grew up on the standard it is judged against.
How to work the corridor
There is no wrong door, but there is a right order. Breakfast belongs to the bakeries and Boriken’s counter. Lunch is the Puerto Rican plate — rice, beans, a stewed or roasted meat, something fried from the fritura case. Dinner splits between Borinquen’s dining room and the pizza counters. And when the occasion calls for the paper’s ranked tables, they are a short drive north: the Kissimmee hub gathers that city’s ranked barbecue and dining, each entry labelled with its real address, and the Top Spots Map plots all of them. Poinciana’s own rankings will come as the program works south; until then, the corridor needs no ranking to be worth the drive.
Orlando Citizen by email
The weekly edition, in your inbox
One email, every Saturday: the week’s edition of Orlando Citizen — the week’s stories, rankings and winners, gathered in one place. Free, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Related Stories
Editor’s Picks
Spotted an error? Tell us — corrections · How we rank
