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Last week, local restaurateur Fabiola Maldonado opened her latest endeavor: Paloma’s BK, which, despite sharing most of its name with a Mexican restaurant she also owns on the Ridgewood-Bushwick border, has a decidedly different character.
For those unfamiliar with the original Paloma’s, which Maldonado opened in 2016, its menu focuses on a mix of dishes that Maldonado learned on repeat visits to Puebla and Oaxaca, Mexico, combined with gluttonous, familiar Americanized classics like burritos and nachos. Paloma’s BK skirts the latter and concentrates on more traditional fare.
On a recent, snowy afternoon at the new location on Knickerbocker Avenue, Maldonado, formidable in her chef’s whites, walked out of the kitchen with a pile of dishes, including quesadillas de flor de calabaza (a squash blossom), ceviche mixto, a jicama agua chile (ceviche, but spicier) and chicken thighs coated in dark mole.