This new restaurant brings Puerto Rican favorites to Middle Georgia. See inside.

When Lisa Morales — owner of Caribbean Queens Latin Cuisine in downtown Forsyth — opened her restaurant in January, she knew it would be a learning curve for her and Monroe County.

A native of New Jersey and born to Puerto Rican parents, Morales hopes she can introduce her heritage and cuisine to a new clientele. Caribbean Queens specializes in empanadas, which are a crispy pastry filled with meat, vegetable, cheese, fruit or other goodies. But the shop also serves a range of traditional Puerto Rican fare.

Introducing Puerto Rican flavors to Forsyth

For Morales, cooking is deeply personal. She grew up cooking Puerto Rican food with her mother, and much of the food she serves is made with recipes that have roots in her childhood kitchen.

“It brings me joy, it’s my love language,” Morales said. “I’m not a hugger, but I’ll make you a sandwich.”

The menu features a range of Puerto Rican favorites including tostones, carne guisada, black beans and — the star of the show — empanadas. Caribbean Queens offers a range of fillings in a flaky crust, including chicken, beef and cheese, mozzarella and spinach, and guava and cream cheese.

Morales said when she first opened the restaurant, she knew it would be an educational experience for the community because not many people have been exposed to Puerto Rican food.

People strolling through downtown Forsyth often stop in the new restaurant out of curiosity, Morales said. Many of them have never tried an empanada and don’t know much about Puerto Rican cuisine. Morales is happy to educate, offering free samples and explaining each item on the menu.

“It’s like a turnover,” she said one afternoon to a man inquiring about empanadas. “It can be sweet or savory.”

He sampled a bite of the beef and cheese empanada, then walked out with a paper bag of the savory pastries.

She said so far, everyone has reacted positively to the food, and they often buy more after finishing the sample.

“When I ask them, ‘How is everything? Is there anything I could do differently?’ Everybody says, ‘It’s really good, it’s delicious.’”

Caribbean Queens was a long time coming

For Morales, it’s been a long and winding road from New Jersey to her storefront on Johnston Street.

She moved to Georgia to be closer to her sister in 2012, and soon met her husband. They started out in Dunwoody, but moved to Locust Grove, Monticello and Madison before settling in Forsyth in 2024. Along the way, Morales raised her two daughters and gave birth to a third child. She worked part-time while she focused on her children.

When Morales and her husband relocated to Monticello, she was ready for a change. She first thought of opening a restaurant after noticing a lack of dining options in Jasper County.

But the process of finding a location was complicated, and she still had her youngest child to care for. Before she had the chance to figure it all out, someone else opened a similar restaurant.

“The timing wasn’t right, it just wasn’t my time,” Morales said. “That’s okay.”

Her restaurant ambitions were reinvigorated after she moved to Forsyth to be near her oldest daughter and grandchild. She first conceived of a food truck, thinking it may be easier than trying to acquire a commercial kitchen.

It proved to be more difficult than she imagined. The Georgia Department of Health requires food trucks to have a “base of operation” to store and prepare food. Morales brainstormed ways to access a commercial kitchen affordably — including finding a restaurant that would allow her to use their kitchen while they were closed — but was unsuccessful.

Morales feared her restaurant dreams were dead until she spied a faded “for lease” sign in a downtown Forsyth storefront while out for a slice of pizza.

“It’d been there so long that the numbers were kind of faded,” Morales said. “I couldn’t see the phone number on it.”

With the help of her husband, she located the owner of the building who was able to lease it to Morales for a reasonable price.

Caribbean Queens opened in January, and since then Morales said things have been smooth, although there is still a learning curve.

When she first opened, she often found she was cooking too much food and having to throw a lot out at the end of the day. To avoid wasting food, she made less and began offering leftovers to the fire department.

“At first I was cooking for an army,” Morales said. “I’m getting better at going, ‘I need 20 pounds of potatoes, I don’t necessarily need 50 pounds.’”

Morales said she’s been amazed by the community response to her business, and has built a steady customer base over the last few months. She’s already eyeing opening the restaurant beyond its current Thursday through Saturday schedule, and considering dinner service.

“I can reach more people that haven’t had a chance to come and see what Caribbean Queens is all about,” Morales said.