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Twenty-five years of hard dough bread and oxtail deserve more than a hurried goodbye. If Errol’s Caribbean Delights has been part of your Brooklyn restaurant routine, it's time to make room for one more visit this week.
The longtime Flatbush favorite, on the corner of Hawthorne Street and Flatbush Avenue, will serve its final customers on Saturday, October 24. According to News 12 Brooklyn, workers say the owners, both in their 80s, are retiring and plan to spend more time with their grandchildren.
The business opened in fall 2001 as Errol’s Bakery and Catering, initially selling Caribbean breads, buns and pastries. Hard dough bread, rolls and fruit cakes helped establish its following and the addition of hot meals gave neighbors another reason to stop by.
Its repertoire grew to include curried goat, oxtail, jerk chicken and chicken foot soup, bringing Jamaican and Caribbean cooking to the corner all day. In 2018, the business became Errol’s Caribbean Delights, a name reflecting how far its offerings had expanded beyond the original bakery.
Customers have been sharing their memories ahead of the closure. Renee Rogers told News 12 she has visited since high school and recalled her mother buying escovitch fish there. Another regular, Jamaica-born Inga-Lee Black, neatly explained the attachment: “It feels like home.”
The neighborhood has already fought to keep that feeling around. When Errol’s faced eviction in late 2016 and 2017, community pressure helped the business secure a new lease, allowing it to continue operating for almost another decade. That extra time meant years of additional meals and milestones for customers who had made the restaurant part of their lives. Now, some are planning personal send-offs: customer C.J. Mitchell told News 12 he intends to bring flowers and a handwritten card.
Black, meanwhile, has a farewell strategy: repeat visits. She told the station she planned to come every day until the closing.
Whether your usual order involves a loaf of bread or a full dinner, the deadline is the same: this Saturday, October 24. Bring your appetite and make time to say goodbye.