Eating In Translation

Back Home Bakery

2009-07-10T13:40:00-04:00

Some say pudding, some say pone.

"Back home" might be Guyana, Trinidad, Jamaica, or St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the birthplaces of the four Caribbean bakers who bring their wares to the market. The baker from tiny St. Vincent prepares two sheet-cake-style items, neighbors on the menu and hard to distinguish at a glance: a bread pudding and this cassava pone (square; $1.25). At many other bakeries it's sold as cassava pudding, but under either name it has a compressed starchy texture and a barely sweet, very mild flavor.

Also shown below: the outside of the market, which is otherwise light on food, and the facade of the long-vacated Loew's Kings theater, nearby.

Back Home Bakery
794-814 Flatbush Ave. (at Caton Ave., in the Caton Flatbush Market), Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
347-245-6388

Food-Friendly Events, July 10-16

2009-07-10T00:30:00-04:00

Middle Eastern and North African Street Festival
Saturday, July 11, 10:00-7:00, rain or shine
Great Jones St. between Broadway and Lafayette Sts.
www.NAAPonline.org
Crafts, literature, regional music, dance; only a few food vendors, though they include Paterson, New Jersey's Al-Basha and Bay Ridge's Nablus Sweets & Pastries. Free admission

Sussex County Native American Celebration
Saturday, July 11, 11:00-8:00; Sunday, July 12, 11:00-7:00
Sussex County Fairground, 37 Plains Rd., Augusta, New Jersey
www.RedhawkCouncil.org
"Enjoy Native American singing, dancing, food, crafts, educational programs, and more!" $12 admission, $6 for young adults and seniors, free for children under 6

Rakhaing Thingyan Burmese New Year Water Festival
Sunday, July 12, 11:00-4:00
J.H.S. 56 schoolyard, at the corner of Madison and Montgomery streets, on the Lower East Side
www.ThinGyan.org
"Playful splashing, and the occasional water gun, are generally confined to one corner of the festival, beside a stage for traditional Burmese song and dance," I wrote in The New York Times, "though the swelter of the blacktop schoolyard makes a good soaking increasingly attractive. A less messy option is a bowl of shwe yin aye (shown above), whose loose translation is 'something that cools you'." See a sample of the chow in my previous coverage. Free admission

Bay Ridge Arab American Bazaar
Sunday, July 12, 1:00-8:00
Shore Road Park, 79th St. and Shore Rd., Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
www.ArabAmericanNY.org
"Dance and musical performances, childrens' activities...and food, clothing, and crafts vendors." Free admission

Bastille Day, Cobble Hill
Sunday, July 12, 11:00-8:00
Smith St. between Bergen and Pacific streets (near Bar Tabac), Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
www.Forgeois-Group.com/bastille
Merguez sandwiches on the grill, pétanque in the street

Bastille Day, Midtown
Sunday, July 12, 12:00-6:00
60th St. between Lexington and Fifth avenues
www.BastilleDayNYC.com
Music, can-can, pastries

Afro-Punk Festival Block Party
Sunday, July 12, 1:00-8:00
Clinton St. between Myrtle and Willoughby streets, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
www.AfroPunk.com
"Live music, DJs, and DIY fashion, food, and craft vendors. Not the usual street fair, the block party features the best underground and local artists and artisans." Free admission

Salsa Street Party and Oldtimer's Stickball Game
Sunday, July 12, 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.
West 111th St. between Fifth and Lenox avenues
www.SalsaNewYork.com/events/111th-street-salsa-street-party.htm
Stickball in the morning; music ("mostly pure classic salsa plus some cha cha, bachata, and merengue") in the afternoon. "Especially typical for street festivals in Latin neighborhoods, women who live there set up tables outside their buildings and sell beverages and Spanish food which they've just cooked upstairs in their homes." Free admission

Bastille Day, Tribeca
Tuesday, July 14, 11:00-8:00
241 West Broadway (at North Moore St., near Cercle Rouge)
www.Forgeois-Group.com/bastille
Similar to the Sunday's event in Cobble Hill, though likely on a smaller, weekday scale, and with the promise of an afternoon magic show

Coming soon: Great Annual Hot Dog Cook-Off, July 18 (advance tickets highly recommended); Indonesian Food Bazaar, July 19; Colombian Independence Day Festival, July 19

Clinton Supermarket

2009-07-08T22:55:00-04:00

Plums of some sort.

The ingredients list leads off with "plum, sugar, water, salted" and gives a nod to "yellow #5," but the poetic generality of a label bearing the "Very Good Brand" leaves ample room for ambiguity. This box of "dried preserved fruit candy" (8 oz.; $1.99), from Guangzhou, China, might contain specimens of Prunus salicina, or perhaps P. mume; if you can confidently decode the packaging shown below, do tell. As a stand-in for candy, they're a nice nibble at the movies, but be sure you open the persnickety package before the lights go down, and take your pits with you, please.

Clinton Supermarket
90-96 Clinton St. (Rivington-Delancey Sts.)
212-228-6289

Café Zaiya

2009-07-08T00:30:00-04:00

I prefer a closer shave.

Café Zaiya's shaved ice (small; $3.79), decorated with a tablespoon of azuki beans and a single glutinous rice mochi, is served in just one flavor, an intense green tea fortified with condensed milk. Granted, "shaved ice" isn't synonymous with "snowball" (whose benchmark is served by Hansen's Sno-Bliz, in New Orleans), but by any standard Café Zaiya's is coarse-grained. Even when chopped into a matcha-flavored slush (below), it retains a bit of crystalline crunch. To the kindly server who works Café Zaiya's shaved ice machine: Is it possible to play with the speed dial, and crank it up a notch?

Café Zaiya
18 East 41st St. (Fifth-Madison Aves.)
(one of several locations)
212-779-0600
www.ZaiyaNY.com

The Clerkenwell

2009-07-07T01:15:00-04:00

Red onion marmalade, take one.

During a pre-cinema dinner at The Clerkenwell — a small British-style restaurant whose windowed entryway once displayed mannequins in housedresses, two or three owners ago — my dining buddy and I first encountered the marmalade in the company of thin toast and a ramekin of "country-style pâté" ($10), adding texture but too sweet a contrast. The marmalade appeared again, de minimis between bun and swiss, in a pair of angus beef sliders ($11) that might be more gratifying scarfed down with a pint (the hour was early) and as a cloying shroud atop the two sausages of my Yorkshire toad-in-the-hole ($13). ("Toad-in-the-hole" might possibly refer to the sausage ends, peering out from their pastry basket; I don't see it.)

Piled alongside the Angus sliders, fat naked chips were refreshingly salty and quite good. Sticky toffee pudding (in cutaway view; $8), which arrived after all marmalade had been cleared from the table, was even better.

The Clerkenwell
49 Clinton St. (Stanton-Rivington Sts.)
212-614-3234
www.ClerkenwellNY.com
Closed Monday

Gus and Gabriel Gastropub

2009-07-06T10:25:00-04:00

Comfort food can make adults act like such children. Tell me if this doesn't sound immature: Three grown men dismiss the idea when I order dessert, then when it arrives, grab their spoons and eat half my peanut butter and jelly cupcake.

Actually it was jam, raspberry jam, deep inside a firm but fresh cake that sat a little lower and wider than the cupcake norm (so it was diminished, but never toppled, by a multiple-spoon excavation) and that was crowned with wonderfully fragrant, light peanut butter ($4.95). Also credit the pastry chef for the rich, cushiony biscuits that accompanied batterless fried chicken, giblet gravy, and mashed potatoes ($13.95); bring a basketful and I could eat them, without adornment, all evening long.

Gus and Gabriel Gastropub
222 West 79th St. (Broadway-Amsterdam Ave.)
212-362-7470

Carmine's Italian Deli

2009-07-05T11:30:00-04:00

The first few times I paid a call on Carmine's, my belly was already full, but I observed that the heft and satisfying appearance of the heros and hot entrees was matched by the heft and satisfied appearance of the patrons.

On a day I returned with something like an appetite, two respectably fit-looking officers of the JCPD held down one table; the others were occupied by couples, and a family, with the easy-shouldered posture of regular customers. Most were settled in over plate meals, but like the men in blue, my modus operandi favors mobile deli grub.

Ordered at the counterman's recommendation, that's the sandwich with grilled chicken, roasted red pepper, and fresh mozzarella. The "small" ($6.50) provided a hot half-sandwich at the deli, but the balsamic dressing (tweaked with a little garlic) didn't fully kick in until the cooler second half, down the road. Carmine's fresh mozzarella makes an appearance in many cold sandwiches, too; on a return visit, rare roast beef will be a likely pairing.

Carmine's Italian Deli
165 Mallory Ave. (Williams Ave.-Union St.), Jersey City
201-434-5155

Mural behind an auto-body shop

2009-07-05T09:30:00-04:00

It's not the auto body that needs attention.

That egg-shaped, slushy-wielding fellow graces a mural facing the rear parking lot, just a few blocks from the street corner shown below. He'd have a much better figure with a little more romaine, a little less sip.

Mural behind an auto-body shop
Near West Side and Sip avenues, Jersey City

Delicious BBQ

2009-07-04T14:35:00-04:00

Not low and slow, but definitely big and meaty.

In the Philippines, slow-cooked dishes like dinuguan typically take on a stewy appearance; so does the pig's blood stew at this Jersey City joint, in its steam-table basin beside the pancit. But unlike true 'cue, which bides its time in a smoker, the Filipino style evokes backyard "barbecue" that cooks relatively quickly on a grill. Both these skewers ($2.50) — pork in front, chicken behind — were well-moistened with a sweet marinade and especially notable for their heft, which my photo doesn't do justice. Unlike a stick of Japanese yakitori or Indonesian satay, which you can usually lift with thumb and finger and often clear with a single swipe, Delicious BBQ's skewers are best dispatched with a two-handed approach. You know, like corn on the cob.

Delicious BBQ
221 Mallory Ave. (Lexington-Roosevelt Aves.), Jersey City
201-451-0080

Word of Mouth: Filipino meats in the Meadowlands

2009-07-04T14:30:00-04:00

A gentleman outside Delicious BBQ mentioned that beginning July 18, on Saturdays there'll be Filipino grilling going on in the Meadowlands parking lot. Only for a couple of months, I imagine, between the finale of the State Fair Meadowlands in early July and the kickoff of the big tailgating season in September.

Adriana's Laundromat

2009-07-03T15:00:00-04:00

Behind the main room, where customers at the 100-plus machines paid little heed to the NASCAR race droning away on the small screen, I found a semi-enclosed four-stool snack bar with its own TV and better AC. The sandwiches and packaged sweets held little attraction, but Diet Pepsi (20 fl. oz.; $1.60) in hand, I chilled out for 15 minutes as Marion Crane attempted to take refuge in a refreshing shower.

Adriana's Laundromat
389 West Side Ave. (Yale-Claremont Aves.), Jersey City
201-435-9798

Food-Friendly Events, July 3-9

2009-07-03T00:30:00-04:00

International African Arts Festival
Continues Friday, July 3, through Sunday, July 5, 10:00-9:00, rain or shine
Commodore Barry Park, Navy St. between Park and Flushing Aves., Brooklyn
www.IAAFestival.org
Much stronger on arts, crafts, and fashion than food, but I also came across Caribbean and Southern chow as well as one stall featuring cuisine from the Brazilian state of Bahia (shown above). Admission by donation

Multicultural Festival
Friday, July 3, 11:00-4:00
St. John's Place between Bedford and Rogers avenues, Brooklyn
This event was buried among listings of many other street fairs, and the stretch of street isn't large, but it is close the route of the annual West Indian Day Parade. No further information available.

Chinatown Community BBQ Gathering
Saturday, July 4, 11:00-6:00
Columbus Park
"Free BBQ with a live DJ and games" pretty much sums up the available info; this may be a scaled-down version of an Independence Day festival that, in years past, was spread across this Manhattan neighborhood

Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest
Saturday, July 4, noon
Corner of Surf and Stillwell Aves., Coney Island
Or watch it on ESPN. Free admission, either way

Bangladeshi Block Party
Sunday, July 5, 8:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.
Starling Ave. between Olmstead and Castle Hill avenues, Bronx
The true starting time can't possibly be that early (I'm simply retyping the info from another uninformative listing of street fairs) but if you find yourself in the vicinity sometime after noon, it could be interesting: This neighborhood saw some South Asian stirrings last summer

South Asian Festival
Sunday, July 5, noon-6:00 p.m.
37th Rd. between 74th and 77th streets
Same deal, but from a much-better established South Asian community

Wine Film Festival: Sideways
Sunday, July 5, 7:30 showtime; rain date Monday
In the garden of Enoteca on Court, 347 Court St. (at Union St.), Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
www.EnotecaOnCourt.com
"Two men reaching middle age, with not much to show but disappointment, embark on a weeklong road trip through California's wine country just as one is about to take a trip down the aisle." Free admission

World Financial Center Restaurant Showcase
Thursday, July 9, 11:00-2:30
World Financial Center Winter Garden, 220 Vesey St. (Washington St.-North End Ave.)
"From pasta and dumplings to gelato and crème brûlée, the WFC’s restaurants will please the most discriminating palates with sample signature menu items for $1-5." Free admission

Great Tastes of Summer
Thursday, July 9, noon-2:00
The Shops at Columbus Circle
www.NYCGo.com
"Enjoy VIP gourmet tastings from top NYC Restaurant Week restaurants, including Tribeca Grill, Porter House New York, Bice Ristorante, Spice Market and DB Bistro Moderne; complimentary Coca-Cola signature beverages; special appearances by celebrity chefs; exclusive performances by cast members of Hair." Free admission, if you can get anywhere close
Via Tasting Table

"Is It Breakfast or Supper?"
Thursday, July 9, 5:00-7:00
Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum, 5816 Clarendon Rd. (East 58th-59th Sts.), Brooklyn
www.WyckoffAssociation.org
First in this summer's series of "Fireside Feasts by Carolina Capeheart, which feature demonstrations of Early American recipes cooked at our outdoor fire pit." $5 museum admission, $3 for students and seniors

Coming soon:Rakhaing Thingyan Burmese New Year Water Festival, July 12; Colombian Independence Day Festival, July 19

Stark's

2009-07-02T01:45:00-04:00

"Steaks" — tube steaks?

Well, probably steak steaks, which are much more difficult to caricature in neon. "Frys," though — that's an uncommon spelling for a side of potatoes. I like to imagine a Hangtown fry, best-known from San Francisco (though recently spotted on the menu of one Manhattan restaurant). Do any Eating In Translation readers know more about Stark's?

Stark's
Surviving signage on Newark Ave. (Tonnelle Ave.-Senate Pl.), Jersey City

Paratha Junction

2009-07-02T00:30:00-04:00

This is as close as I got (on a day I shuttled between many station stops of my own), but even from a distance I saw the bar-and-circle logo that signaled a connection to the London Underground. Indeed, one of the restaurant's owners was born in that city, the other, in New Delhi; their previous venture is the English-style Brick Lane Curry House. I hope to pay a visit soon, after hopping the subway, then the PATH to Journal Square.

Paratha Junction
779 Newark Ave. (John F. Kennedy Blvd.-Herbert Pl.), Jersey City
(one of two locations)
201-533-1555
www.ParathaJunction.com

Café con Leche

2009-07-01T00:40:00-04:00

This recently expanded Ecuadorian eatery bills itself as a panaderia, or bakery, and a picanteria, too.

Arrive with an appetite and the staff will make you a savory plate like chuchucara (above; $10), an intriguing if somewhat dry mélange of roast pork, french fries, plantain, fried hominy, lettuce, onions, and oversize boiled kernels of corn. If you're keen to try roast cuy (platter, $30-$45, depending on the size of the rodent), here's the place to find it; for the less daring, there's "rottis chicken."

Follow your entree with an excellent alfajor ($1.25), two crumbly biscuits joined by dulce de leche and topped with powdered sugar. Or try the morocho (small; $2), a smooth, sweet drink that blends white corn with milk and cinnamon and that carries a payload of raisins and whole kernels at the bottom of the cup. One stray clove slipped into mine.

Café con Leche
102-03 Roosevelt Ave. (102nd-103rd Sts.), Corona, Queens
719-458-5393

La Ecuatoriana

2009-07-01T00:30:00-04:00

Straightforwardly strawberry.

Fioravanti (300 ml.; $1) was first sold in Ecuador in 1878, and the brand was acquired by the Coca-Cola Co. in 1991; apart from a brief trial run in Spain, however, this may be its first appearance outside its home country. Fruit-flavored beverages often suffer from a candylike aroma and flavor, but Fioravanti makes a more modest appeal to the senses.

Also shown below (and downed immediately after the Fioravanti): Hansen's natural cane soda (12 fl. oz.; $1.50), "flavored with extracts of Yucatan mandarin and Colima lime," seems to try too hard; it's fine.

La Ecuatoriana
88-09 37th Ave. (88th-89th Sts.), Jackson Heights, Queens
718-205-0845

"Fink means good bread"

2009-06-30T00:50:00-04:00

After shared cabs home from CBGB to Morningside Heights, College Inn was my favorite destination for breakfast before bedtime, ideally in plenary session at the round booth in the back corner. When the only seats were closer to the windows facing Broadway, often I'd see the Fink delivery truck on its pre-dawn rounds. To me, the bakery's familiar motto didn't promise good bread — it was the grace note to a good night out.

College Inn closed its doors for good in 1997, and Fink (or to be precise, its successor company) followed suit five years later. The bakery's trucks still haunt the streets, under new ownership but sometimes with ghostly traces of their old paint jobs; this one recently made a fleeting appearance in Corona, Queens.

"Fink means good bread"
Seen on a repurposed truck
Roosevelt Ave., Corona, Queens

Deshi Bazar

2009-06-29T23:25:00-04:00

Despite the brand name, I've never tried the cola version of Pakistan-made Pakola.

The "ice cream soda" flavor (330 ml.; 99 cents) smacks of sparkling rosewater. Also from the beverage case, Balsam (12 fl. oz.; $1.79) — its label bears a crescent moon that may signal a lack of alcohol (the market carries many halal products) or a lack of stimulants (sleep tight) — combines the round currant-like flavor of sorrel with a gingery biting finish. Three Rivers brand apricot chutney (280 g.; $2.99), from Pakistan, delivers a heavy dose of black pepper; despite the runny consistency, it's great on hot dogs.

Under its original name, 1 Stop Pharmacy & Food Mart, the store stocked garlic and lemon pickles, hot sauces, and chutneys on one range of shelves, while the "pain relief" and "stomach aid" sign hung just down the aisle. Recently I saw that the market had changed its signage indoors and out, but I gladly secured a chutney refill.

Deshi Bazar
71-17 Roosevelt Ave. (at 71st St.), Jackson Heights, Queens
718-899-8200
Closed Sunday

Mei Li Wah Bakery

2009-06-28T23:40:00-04:00

There's one thing that keeps picking at me.

You won't find a fluffier, more satisfying steamed pork bun (80 cents) anywhere in the city, but it does share an annoying trait with many lesser buns: a square of paper pressed to the bottom that won't come away clean. Outside the bakery, peeling carefully, I recalled those old-time strips of candy buttons that had a similar problem, so often I found myself picking little bits of paper from my lips.

At the latest Fancy Food Show, I came across a maker of candy buttons, with the unlikely name of Stichler, which attends to that detail using slightly glossier paper. If it's good for candy buttons, would it work for steamed buns?

Mei Li Wah Bakery
62-64 Bayard St. (Mott-Elizabeth Sts.)
212-966-7866

Eldridge Street Synagogue

2009-06-28T21:30:00-04:00

Like the cornucopia that accompanies it, the fruit is associated with abundance.

"A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey" was the promised destination of the Jewish people after 40 years in the wilderness. "Vines" refers to grapevines, and the "honey" was actually a syrup made from dates, so the photo below, a detail of the facade, might show a circle of grapes or, more likely, figs, olives, or dates seen on end. (I can't say which, but I'd appreciate hearing from someone who can.) Above, the pomegranate is easy to identify; as for its location in this cornucopia, I can only make an educated guess.

Eldridge Street Synagogue
12 Eldridge St. (Division-Canal Sts.)
212-219-0302
Also home to the Museum at Eldridge Street

Ka Wah Bakery

2009-06-28T10:00:00-04:00

Double shot of my red bean's love.

Double only because I bent this pastry back where it (like its fellows) had been crudely scored, probably to release excess heat while in the oven, revealing numerous pastry layers and a smoky-flavored filling (70 cents). If you wake up one morning feelin' bad, you might be happier with one (or two) of this tiny bakery's full-sized and mini egg tarts; they come highly regarded.

Ka Wah Bakery
9 Eldridge St. (Division-Canal Sts.)
212-226-0133

Gold Medal Flour

2009-06-28T00:50:00-04:00

You can just make out the name "Washburn's," a reference to the manufacturer, if you click on the photo (for a better view) and look above "Gold." The script lettering at the very top is the truncated version of the flour's long-running slogan, "Eventually — Why Not Now?" That ad campaign gave up the ghost the early 1950s, which makes this painted sign at least a half-century old; eventually it will vanish entirely, but not just now.

Gold Medal Flour
Surviving signage near the northeast corner of Delancey and Eldridge streets

Bilingual workers need not apply

2009-06-27T10:40:00-04:00

"Part-time employees wanted; must speak Cantonese, Mandarin, and English."

Notice posted at Hong Kong Station
45 Division St. (Market St.-Bowery)
(one of two locations)
212-966-9682

American Fu Zhou Grocery

2009-06-26T11:15:00-04:00

That popeyed profile and those sturdy pecs could only belong to a mudskipper, an amphibious fish related to the goby that can muscle its way across mud flats using its strong pectoral fins. (Here's a clearer view of a related blue-spotted species; there's even an entire website devoted to the mudskipper.)

I never imagined them on any bill of fare, but American Fu Zhou Grocery (where English is not the first language, and maybe not the second) must be confident of the market: These mudskippers were swimming in a foam box marked with an Air China waybill.

American Fu Zhou Grocery
101 E. Broadway (Market-Pike Sts.)
212-385-0658

Fish out of water

2009-06-26T10:25:00-04:00

I was tearing at a steamed pork bun on Bayard St. when a seafood broker's truck pulled to the curb; the driver popped out across the street while his passenger caught some quick Zs. Behind the cab of the truck — a drab Mitsubishi Fuso marked with an address on the nether end of the Navy Yard — the open bed carried a large wooden tank hooked up to rubber tubing and tarnished aeration canisters. One poor fish, which must have expired before being handed over to a restaurant, was lying forgotten on the crosspiece of the tank (let's hope forgotten, and not being set aside for some penny-saving stew).

Several minutes later, after walking through the Elizabeth-Bowery arcade, I saw the fish again, gleaming in the distance, as the truck made the sweeping turn onto the Manhattan Bridge ramp, headed home to Brooklyn.

Fish out of water
Bayard St., New York