Eating In Translation

Printon 56

For a "you pick 'em, we mix 'em" salad, I chose field greens with beets, diced tomatoes, carrots, and cucumbers ($5.75) from among the 50 or so possible ingredients. OK, though at a late lunch, the fixings were a little tired.

Many European chocolates near the checkout. Cadbury Dairy Milk Turkish (48 g.; $1.50) oozed too much for what it claimed was a "Turkish delight filling," and it had an artificial rosewater flavor.

Printon 56
50 West 56th St. (Fifth-Sixth Aves.)

109 St. Gourmet Deli

Negra Modelo (six 12 fl. oz. bottles; $8), Mexico. Reddish brown; fast-disappearing head. Faint fruity aroma, light carbonation, slight caramel taste, not much body.

Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat (six 12-oz. bottles; $9), Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin . Deep gold with a scant white head; clean, orange-pineapple aroma; lemony, slightly sour, monotone flavor (due in part to coriander); fades but doesn't quite finish.

109 St. Gourmet Deli
990 Amsterdam Ave. (at 109th St.)

Café Mozart

(This venue is closed.) Always a bit of a wait here on a Sunday afternoon, given its proximity to Lincoln Center and Central Park. Joined Mom and a friend for a light lunch, but since I can no longer read my notes, all I can say is that the service was pleasant if absent-minded, given the hectic setting, and that our shared desserts were nice enough. Been here several times before; when it's busy at Café Mozart, it's so crowded that I can't really enjoy the food.

Café Mozart
154 West 70th St. (Broadway-Columbus Ave.)
212-595-9797

Barcade

Doc's Draft cider (draft pint; $5). Very pronounced nose; tart and very refreshing after several hours of walking around Ridgewood.

Barcade has about two dozen (primarily U.S.) brews on tap; it also offers about that many reconditioned '70s and '80s video games in its warehouse-like space. For 25 cents, Tetris provided 10 minutes of kicks; next time — perhaps after dinner at Dumont — I'll take a spin at Asteroids, and maybe even try my hand at Punch-Out.

Barcade
388 Union Ave. (Ainslie St.-Powers St.), Brooklyn
718-302-6464

La Unica Colombia Café Bakery

Despite the two-week-old Valentine's Day décor, I tried the pan guayaba ($1). The buttery roll was scantily smeared with guava; perhaps I could have picked up a better one that morning.

La Unica Colombia Café Bakery
690 Seneca Ave. (at Palmetto St.), Queens
718-418-8511

Muncan Food Corp. No. 3

"That's what you're smelling" said the counterman as he offered me a sample of "cracker" — fried pork rind that down the block might have been called chicharron, except for its smokier flavor. Lots of great barbecue possibilities at what's primarily a butcher shop, but for today I bought just a quartet of Kras "animal kingdom" milk chocolates (four 15 g. bars; $1). Didn't try them myself, but the kids at a get-together the next afternoon seemed to like them.

Muncan Food Corp. No. 3
676 Seneca Ave. (at Gates Ave.), Queens
718-418-2212

Polamia

A steam table in the back room of this deli offered "Polish-style dinners," but only if you want your meat, potatoes, and boiled vegetables to go. A dozen kinds of kielbasa and many grocery items in front.

Runoland "borowka do mies" (lingonberry meat sauce; 7 oz.; 99 cents). Also includes apples and sugar. Good balance of tart and sweet; must pick up some more before next barbecue season.

"Lesna" ("Foresty tea"; 3.52 oz.; $1.79). Includes aronia, apple peels, hawthorn, briar, rowanberry, raisins, flower of hibiscus, elderberry. Smells and tastes of dark berries; a little sour.

Winiary "budyn o smaku smietankowym" (pudding mix; 60 g.; 89 cents). Can't figure out what flavor this is by looking at the package (and I forgot to ask in the store), but this package and a similar photo (found online) each picture daisies. Butterscotch, perhaps? Some sort of crème fraiche flavor? Even after dessert, I'm still not sure. (Update: "Sweet cream" is what's meant, observes a Polish-speaking reader.)

Polamia
690 Woodward Ave. (at Palmetto St.), Queens

Bosna Express

There's room enough for four diners at the one booth, especially if everyone orders the pljeskvica ("our celebrated Bosnian burger"; $6). This grilled, flattened patty — a full eight inches across, cut in quarters for ease of handling, but just a quarter-inch thick — comes loaded with lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, and a mild, thick red pepper sauce, pressed between two toasted rounds of pita, equally wide and nearly as thick. (So thick, in fact, that technically, "pita" might not be the right name.)

Given the thinness of the pressed-meat patty, "medium rare" would have had little meaning, and I was already prepared for a taste much like the cevapi — grilled, skinless ground-meat sausages — that I tried last year at Cevabdzinica Sarajevo. I wasn't disappointed, and I even needed to pause briefly, midway through my burger.

As I was finishing up, a couple asked if they could sit down at the one table with their platefuls of cevapi, accompanied by the same trimmings plus yogurt, which they assembled into their own mini-sandwiches on those quartered pita rounds. I'll look forward to the DIY approach next time.

Bosna Express
791 Fairview Ave. (at Putnam Ave.), Queens
718-497-7577

MeKong

Some tasty food here, but a non-Vietnamese-speaking waitstaff suggested a lack of authenticity. Grilled squid ($6.95) was actually quite nicely cooked. Papaya salad ($6.95), spring rolls ($4.95), hot and sour soup with shrimp or salmon ($7.95 each), and pad thai were fine.

MeKong
44 Prince St.
212-343-8169

New Beer Wholesale

Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale (23.4 fl. oz.; $5.95), from Naka-gun, Ibaraki, Japan. Cloudy straw color, with a light fruity aroma and a lemony, effervescent taste that fades slowly and pleasantly. Had this beer on its own; I could imagine pairing this with Japanese bar food at an izakaya, but it would probably overwhelm sushi or sashimi.

New Beer Wholesale
167 Chrystie St. (Rivington-Delancey Sts.)
212-473-8757

Blue Ribbon Sushi

On a very snowy evening, most members of my sushi dining group bailed out, so only Chester and I were left to snag a small table in the back room. Looks like a West Village walk-down restaurant — stylish, but not an atmosphere that matched all the hype I'd read. And no squid this evening, either, which meant no tiger's eye; a mixed sunomono (mixed seafood in vinegar; $9.50) was good, if small.

I've always loved catching (if not cleaning) blue crabs at the Jersey shore, so a spicy blue crab roll with shiso ($8) and a piece of kani sashimi ($3.50) were at the top of my list, but they proved uninteresting. Good, again, but they didn't bring summers at the shore to mind. Hamaguri sashimi (littleneck clam; $2.25) was at least true to form.

Two more-recent favorites of mine, kurage (jellyfish; $2.75) and baby anago (sea eel; $2.75) each showed off very fine flavor; the maguro (tuna; $3.25) was a very nice cut.

We split two desserts: green tea crème brulee was pretty good; a sesame mousse with raspberry and ginger ice cream tried a little too hard.

All in all, high-quality seafood and smallish portions at relatively high prices.

Blue Ribbon Sushi
199 Sullivan St. (Bleecker-Houston Sts.)
212-343-0404

Pizza Villagio

Though freckled with oregano, cruller-shaped garlic knots (three for $1.25) were so sweet they must have included sugar, too. The ricotta on my bianca slice ($2.50) tasted like cream cheese and didn't blend in well. Another time, a meatball hero ($5.75) seemed less impressive than the heroes of my childhood — only two halved meatballs, but at least with a nice oniony flavor.

Pizza Villagio
1412 Sixth Ave. (57th-58th Sts.)
212-355-2211

The Kosher Marketplace

A "homemade spinach knish" ($2.50) had been sliced from the center of a roll before being packaged; no weight given, but seemed about 10-12 oz. Also seemed wrapped in phyllo dough, though that didn't make the list of ingredients: potatoes, spinach, salt, and pepper. Bits of red potato skin flecked  the pretty green and white filling, which also included a little onion; needed more.

I also spotted a small display of KoJel "jel desserts" in many flavors, with equally colorful packages; the unsweetened diet KoJel is packaged entirely in black and white.

The two rude cashiers were interested more in chatting with each other than in serving customers.

The Kosher Marketplace
2442 Broadway (90th-91st Sts.)
212-580-6378

Antica Venezia

In a room with brick walls, it's no wonder that normal conversation was difficult, but that's no reason it should be too dark to see the food as well. A mozzarella, tomato, roasted pepper, and grilled portabello mushroom appetizer was fine, as was penne with tomato and basil (one of a pasta trio). Gnocchi with basil was too doughy; paparadelle with mascarpone was good.

Pollo scarpariello — chicken breast in a white wine and garlic sauce was good; sautéed veal in a mushroom au jus was just fine. Snapper marichiera, sautéed in white wine and tomatoes, was OK, but I'm not fond of tomatoes on my fish.

A dessert trio of tiramisu, ricotta cheesecake, and chocolate mousse was also OK.

Antica Venezia
396 West St. (at 10th St.)
212-229-0606

Hello Deli

This cluttered sandwich shop is best-known for its appearances on the "Late Show with David Letterman." Named for the show's longtime announcer, the Alan Kalter (smoked turkey, avocado, red pepper, lettuce, and pesto on a baguette; $6.50) was unexceptional in flavor and size. On a later occasion, a bright green lemon-lime slurpee (about 20 fl. oz.; $2.95) was thin.

Hello Deli
213 West 53rd St. (Broadway-Eighth Ave.)
212-489-7832

Duane Reade

I would've guessed that white chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (1.5 oz.; 75 cents) had more calories, or more fat calories, than the milk chocolate version, but I would've been wrong. Now, if we can just get this second variety loaded into the office vending machine…

Duane Reade
224 West 57th St. (at Broadway)
(one of many locations)
212-541-9708

Blu

Sunday brunch on the Hudson this afternoon was intended to offer a respite from the poor service that Uncle Joe, Aunt Ann, Mom, and I had encountered at the Chart House in Dobbs Ferry, but Blu succeeded only in that regard. The restaurant overlooks not only the river but also a broken-down pier; our table also had a view into the kitchen, which could have been screened off with very little effort.

Perhaps I was overreaching with a grilled shrimp cocktail with candied fennel and mache ($12) and a rare seared tuna nicoise salad ($17). The other orders at our table — poached eggs with mushroom cream sauce and sautéed potatoes ($12) and buttermilk pancakes with blueberries, served with warm maple syrup and bacon — seemed to go down well. But when half the items on the menu include seafood, I expected better.

Blu
100 River St.
Hastings-on-Hudson, New York
914-478-4481

The Brazen Head

I'd revisit a number of beers from the Brazen Head's Cask Ale Festival, especially the spicy Heavyweight Ginger Altbier. With food I'd give another go to the bitter Dark Star, the hoppy amber Inveralmond Thrappledouser, and the Blue Point Oak Aged Imperial Stout. The Magic Hat HI.P.A. (pronounced "High P.A.?") helped me understand what it means for a beer to be "grassy"; I'd order this again, too, if only to see if I could find some food to pair with it. For me, none of these will serve as a "session beer," but I have a few more "familiar faces" I can look forward to seeing again.

The Brazen Head
228 Atlantic Ave. (Court St.-Boerum Pl.)
718-488-0430

Rite Aid

Yuengling Lager (six 12 fl. oz. bottles; $4.99), Pottsville, Pennsylvania. A dark amber lager with the faintest of aromas and even less flavor. "A good drinkin' beer," as Jimmy Breslin used to tout Piels.

On numerous later occasions:

Rheingold Beer (six 12 fl. oz. bottles; $4.99), New York. Murky golden color; aroma of corn (or some other vegetable. It's not bitter, not sweet, but it's not an extra-dry treat, either.

I've always liked Necco wafers (1.5 oz roll; 65 cents) because the lemon and orange flavors (though certainly not the chalky texture) remind me of long-ago flavors of Junket. Those other Necco flavors: lime, cinnamon, wintergreen, licorice, chocolate, and clove.

Brooklyn East India Pale Ale (six 12 fl. oz. bottles; $7.49). Medium amber; fruity, hoppy aroma; thin mouthfeel with an insistent, sour aftertaste.

Presidente "pilsener type beer" (six 12 fl. oz. bottles; $7.39), Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Brewed from a "fine selection of malting barley, hops and corn grits." Pale yellow; aroma suggests nothing other than the thin, nondescript taste.

Red Stripe Jamaican lager (six 12 fl. oz. bottles; $7.39), Kingston, Jamaica. Straw colored; smell and taste reminiscent of spoiled vegetables. I recall this beer tasting much, much better, and if only for sentimental reasons, I'll find occasion to give it another chance.

Rite Aid
2833 Broadway (at 110th St.)
(one of many locations)
212-663-3135

The Wicked Wolf

After a museums meetup at the Whitney, a dozen of us sallied east to this oversize Irish pub restaurant. The Wicked Wolf has the kind of character that comes with time (the hand dryers were manufactured in "Phila 6, Pa."), although the staff also give themselves a little too much permission to be characters, too.

An appetizer of smoked trout ($6.95) with onions, pickles, lemon, and (strangely) beans was delicate and delicious, though small enough that you'd think the fisherman would've thrown it back. My neighbor's stuffed clams were pretty good. My entrée of broiled sea bass (special; about $20) was flavorful and hearty; fries and string beans helped fill the plate.

The Wicked Wolf
1442 First Ave. (at 75th St.)
212-861-4670