Where Manny, Papi, and many get home plates

September 17, 2006|Mark Shanahan, Globe Staff

NEW YORK -- Care to wager where Big Papi and Manny are hanging while the Red Sox are in New York this weekend?

You could look for them at the Copa or Crobar, I suppose, but your best bet may be to take the A train uptown to 190th St., then amble one bustling block north. There, at 1618 St. Nicholas Ave., you'll find El Nuevo Caridad, a Dominican restaurant that's favored by many of Major League Baseball's best Latin ballplayers, from the two Sox sluggers to Albert Pujols and Vladimir Guerrero. In fact, in the six years since it opened in the shadow of George Washington High School -- Manny Ramírez's alma mater, by the way -- El Nuevo Caridad has become the de facto dining room in New York for Dominican ballplayers of both leagues.

Check out the dozens of framed photos that line the walls. There's Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado, Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez (who was born on St. Nicholas Avenue), Braves shortstop Edgar Rentería, former catcher Tony Peña, slugger Sammy Sosa, a preternaturally baby-faced Pedro Martínez, and many, many more. In each picture, the star is standing alongside Miguel Montás, El Nuevo's owner.

``These are my friends, my friends, my friends," Montás said recently, patting his heart with an open hand. Montás, who came to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 1985, doesn't speak much English, so as he talks excitedly about his baseball buddies, his fresh-faced nephew Jonathan Páez, 15, translates.

``He says [ Yankees ] Robinson Canó and Octavio Dotel left just before you came in," Páez said, smiling.

Montás, it turns out, only got into the restaurant business after concluding that a career in professional baseball wasn't in the cards. He now owns four New York eateries -- at 116th, 172d, 177th, and 191st streets -- and all of them are called El Nuevo Caridad. But because it's in Washington Heights, an uptown neighborhood dominated by Dominicans, this is the one where the ballplayers break bread.

``When the guys are in town, they'll just pop over there," said Ray Negron, a Yankees executive who has taken many players to Montás's place. ``It's a comfort zone for Latin players."