There’s something about the first cool days of fall that makes me think about a pot simmering on the stove. And lately, the dish that keeps turning up in conversations, restaurant menus, social media feeds, and my own cravings is oxtail. Rich, slow-braised and built for patience, it feels especially right for the season.
This oxtail craving takes me back to a summer visit at MangoSeed in Brooklyn’s Little Caribbean, where I had the chance to step into the kitchen with executive chef-owner Paul Burrowes and watch him prepare his signature braised oxtail. This wasn’t just a stop for lunch. It was a chance to see how a chef builds the flavors that make a familiar dish distinctly his own.
Four stages of Chef Paul Burrowes’s oxtail preparation at MangoSeed in Brooklyn: raw oxtails, additional seasonings, fully seasoned oxtails, and browned oxtails ready for braising.(Kysha Harris photos) 
Chopped onions, celery, and carrots — the base of the braise — go into the oven.(Kysha Harris photos) 
MangoSeed restaurant on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.(Kysha Harris photos) 
The wood-burning oven used to make oxtail pizza.(Kysha Harris photos) 
MangoSeed Chef-Owner Paul Burrowes outside the Flatbush restaurant.(Kysha Harris photos) 
AmNewsFOOD Editor Kysha Harris with MangoSeed Chef-Owner Paul Burrowes.(Kysha Harris photos)
While I came prepared with my apron to lend a hand, Chef Burrowes had everything prepped and ready to go. His first step introduces something not traditionally associated with Caribbean oxtails: mirepoix. He coats the onions, celery, and carrots with oil reserved from a red pepper confit he makes for another dish, then roasts the vegetables. Separately, he seasons 30 pounds (a “small” quantity by his count) of oxtails with his dry blend of salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper; a traditional brown-stew mixture that includes brown sugar; and a puréed sofrito made with tomatoes, celery, onions, carrots, and garlic. He roasts the mirepoix and seasoned oxtails before moving them to the next stage.
As the trays roast, the dish speaks to the restaurant’s larger family story. Paul and his brother Jermaine built MangoSeed into a neighborhood destination, but the pandemic and the loss of their original building forced a change. That necessity still shapes how Paul thinks about business. He says the restaurant would need to charge about $45 for oxtail to make a profit, but he cannot ask his neighborhood patrons to pay that. Serving his community means finding another way. MangoSeed found a new home alongside the family’s ZuriLee Pizza Bar, bringing Caribbean cooking together with Neapolitan-style pizzas baked in the wood-burning oven at the back of the restaurant. In fact, Chef Burrowes says the family was making oxtail pizza long before today’s viral versions, and he let me in on the small preparation detail that makes theirs distinctive — a kitchen secret I’ll keep. Plus, their brother Johann’s bicycle business adds another layer to this distinctly Brooklyn family enterprise.
Once the oxtails and mirepoix emerge from the oven, Chef Burrowes transfers the roasted meat into a large pot holding a shallow layer of liquid, then adds the vegetables. He follows with rosemary and thyme, the remaining dry seasoning and brown-stew mixture, and a pour of good drinking red wine. Using a long paddle, he works everything together. The braising liquid reaches only about halfway up the oxtails. He brings the mixture to a boil, lowers it to a simmer, and lets the oxtails braise until tender, creating a rich gravy from the meat’s fat and collagen, the roasted vegetables, and all those layers of seasoning.
I visited MangoSeed during the summer. Now that the weather is turning, I’m thinking about those oxtails all over again — and about the care over something that can look deceptively simple on the plate. Oxtail has become a star on menus across the city, but it still asks a cook to slow down. At MangoSeed, the payoff is tender meat, a deeply savory sauce, and a reminder that some of the best food demands time and care, no matter how many times a chef has prepared it.
Thank you, Chef! I will return for your original oxtail pizza soon.
Thanks for reading and happy eating!
Kysha Harris is a chef, culinary producer, and food editor for the NY Amsterdam News. As a consultant and owner of SCHOP!, a personalized food service in NYC for over 23 years, she remains on the hunt for the city’s next great bite. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook, @SCHOPnyc.
Questions, comments, requests, feedback, invitations! Email us at AmNewsFOOD@SCHOPnyc.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook, @NYAmNewsFOOD.
