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This small Jamaican take-out joint—located amidst the 99-cent stores and hair salons of Flatbush Avenue—is the neighborhood's go-to spot for jerk chicken. Under a psychedelic Bob Marley poster, overworked mothers and hungry bachelors lean against half-mirrored, tropical-green paneled walls as a stone-faced counter staff plucks tender birds from the industrial steel grill then hacks the meat into quarters on a plastic yellow cutting board—all to a blasted reggae beat. The flavorful blackened skin on each order, though speckled with ground chile, proves surprisingly mild. To get a real kick, you're going to need to sprinkle your plate with Peppa's fiery red jerk sauce, a vinegary concoction dotted with serious pepper flakes. Oxtail, curry shrimp and escoveitched fish add Caribbean authenticity to the menu, as does the breakfast menu of callaloo with codfish and banana porridge, and the cooler stocked with peanut punch and pineapple soda. But most folks opt for the chicken with rice and peas (slang for "beans"). — Nicole LaRosa

Peppa's used to be part of the Flatbush-Avenue-famous Danny's and Pepper's, jerk stand, but the warring factions split in 2004, when Pepper spiced up his name and opened his own shop.