Eating In Translation

Gotham Food

Wandered in this evening to the sounds of Kurtis Blow; circled this little deli grocery for the entire length of "The Breaks" (short version) but picked up nothing more interesting than a Jones Soda Co. root beer (12 fl. oz.; $1.50). Too syrupy for me. Gotham does deliver, though, and I wouldn't be surprised if they serve a lot of neighborhood families; a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a pint of chocolate milk are both on the takeout menu.

Gotham Food
273 Columbus Ave. (72nd-73rd Sts.)
212-595-0010

D.J. Reynolds

Construction workers were taking their lunch all along the length of the bar; my waitress led me to a table in the back of this sturdy Irish saloon. Good soda bread with raisins in the bread basket; a little sour, a little sweet. My Gaelic burger, medium rare ($8.95) loaded its bun with a half-pound of sirloin, plus cheddar, Irish bacon, and sautéed onions; big but not juicy enough, and I could've done without the gloppy orange cheese. Crisp steak fries smelled great, but large as they were, some had a mealy texture inside. D.J. Reynolds does have those little jelly-filled white mints, though.

D.J. Reynolds
351 West 57th St. (Eighth-Ninth Aves.)
212-245-2912

World of Nuts and Ice Cream

Dozens of varieties of chocolates, jellies, nuts, wrapped candies, and more, though it's hard to know how many have malingered in those little bins. If you have a choice of chocolate on your pretzels ($2.25 per quarter-pound), dark is the way to go; saltiness comes through, while staleness is largely disguised.

World of Nuts and Ice Cream
1363 Sixth Ave. (55th-56th Sts.)
(one of many locations)
212-956-8322

Pret a Manger

"Pioneering natural food," Pret asserts on shopping bags and handbills, though they do seem to continually turn out fresh, additive-free food and distribute leftovers through City Harvest. My carrot, orange, and banana juice (16 fl. oz.; $3) specified that they'd tested many combinations before settling on a blend of seven carrots, two oranges, and a third of a banana. Seems to add up; tasty.

Pret a Manger
1350 Sixth Ave. (at 55th St.)
(one of many locations)
212-307-6100

Plaza España

At lunchtime, most of the customers in this stucco-lined walkdown sat at the tiny bar up front and chatted about the news on CNN; Spanish easy-listening music played in the slightly larger back rooms. A bowl of caldo gallego ($5.50), a soup with kale, pork, chicken, potatoes, and white beans, was small but warming.

Plaza España
130 West 58th St. (Sixth-Seventh Aves.), Manhattan
212-757-6434

Metro Diner

For a hearty breakfast, it's hard to beat the likes of a Metro Frittata ($8.50): Chunks of plum tomato, generous slices of sausage, and basil peek out between the mozzarella and that eggy base. Finely diced home fries, plus toast (rye for me) seal the deal. A strong, bottomless cup of coffee ($1) will help you out of your booth or off your stool.

On another visit, a trio blueberry pancakes ($7.50) were heavily studded with fruit.

Metro Diner
2641 Broadway (at 100th St.)
212-866-0800

Mughlai

This glassed-in corner restaurant glasses in its kitchen, too; from the right seat you can look out on Columbus Ave. shoppers and look in on the baker. My friend Dave and I shared a large appetizer of bhel poori ($5.95), a mix of puffed rice, onion, and tomato with cilantro and plenty of sweet-sour tamarind. My kerala pepper chicken ($15.95) made ample use of fresh-ground black peppercorns; on a previous occasion, I've also loved Mughlai's chicken xacutti (shah-Coo-tee), cooked in dry spices and coconut. I traded a helping of chicken for one of Dave's customary adrak ke panje ($23.95), five meaty, spice-and-yogurt-marinated, charcoal-broiled lamb chops.

My mango lassi ($4.95) was thin, on ice, but as for our bread ($5.95), that was the second-largest poori I've ever seen.

Mughlai
320 Columbus Ave. (at 75th St.)
212-724-6363

Scharffen Berger

Small storefront for a Berkeley-based artisanal chocolate maker. This afternoon, since I hadn't had a proper meal, I fought off the temptation of several different samples, but I gave in just enough to try a pair of bilberry-flavored "pate de fruit" (60 cents each). They're a shade larger and about twice as high as a Scrabble tile, speckled with granulated sugar, and more yielding to the bite than those half-circle jelly slices. Bilberries (according to my server's impromptu Googling) are related to blueberries and huckleberries, and in fact "tart blueberries" was my pleasant thought.

On another occasion, raspberry and especially lemon (shown) were very tart, too.

Scharffen Berger
473 Amsterdam Ave. (82nd-83rd. Sts.)
212-362-9734

Bear Farm

(This venue is closed.) Small selection but very amiable service at this greengrocer that seems to manage fine, despite the appearance of a Garden of Eden two blocks away. Some cheese would go nicely with those fresh black figs ($2.49 per pint), said the fellow on duty, but for any sort of selection, I had to venture elsewhere.

Bear Farm
2742 Broadway (105th-106th Sts.)
212-932-8677

Market Café

Going by its looks, this turquoise-toned diner has had a makeover, but I can't be sure what work it had done. It was buzzing at lunch today, although at the counter a few solo diners lingered over their newspapers; that's probably a tough proposition once the Garment District lets out for the day, and the draft beer and mixed drinks start flowing.

A pair of seared sea scallops over potato puree, with brown butter and mache (pictured; $6) might have been a little chewy, but the greens were lightly anointed with vinaigrette, there was just enough potato to mop up the butter, and the dish was clearly assembled with some care. The garlic in my fettucini with cockles (special; $9) arrived moments before my pasta, and it stayed with me; the noodles were a little overdone, too. Still, I'd give this place another go.

 

Market Café
496 Ninth Ave. (37th-38th Sts.)
212-967-3892

De Lillo Pastry Shop

Our cannolis ($2.50 each) weren't filled on the spot. They'd been in the case just "40 minutes," said the counterman; "you're not gonna get a bad one." True, they weren't bad, but 40 minutes was long enough to give fresh ricotta the feel of the fridge.

De Lillo Pastry Shop
606 East 187th St., Bronx
718-367-8198

Roberto's

Walked over from the Bronx Zoo with my friends Bill and Nancy, and their friend Jen, to this cozy, casual space; it's a good middle ground between the clam bars and the pink-tablecloth joints. For appetizers, my first encounter with burrata (special; $14), with capers, caperberries, and cherry tomatoes, was moist, but no more; unless I was looking the other way, there weren't any pockets of cream inside the mozzarella. Halfway decent grilled calamari and gamberi over greens ($16); lovely, tender squid, but tasteless shrimp.

For her "entrée," Jen followed up with a zuppa di vongole e patata ($14), a large serving of clams and diced potatoes in a tomato broth that would have been better if it were lighter. Bill's vitello con spinaci ($21), which also laid prosciutto and melted mozzarella on the veal, blended its flavors well and wasn't nearly as heavy as it sounds. Even lighter were my agnolotti (special; $18), sweet ravioli with fig, prosciutto, and parmesan. Fortunately, Nancy's fusilli alla Pasquale ($18), with tomato, bocconcino, prosciutto, and basil, were within easy reach. Rather than the spirals I expected, these fusilli were slightly twisted, udon thick, and with just the right bite.

Roberto's
603 Crescent Ave., Bronx
718-733-9503

Madras Mahal

I'd never had a dosa, and a meeting of the local Yahoo Foodies group seemed as good an occasion as any. This plain-looking restaurant focuses on South Indian food, so little surprise that bhel puri ($4.95) — a Gujarati appetizer of "puffed rice, Indian noodles, and rice flour crisps topped with onion and sweet-and-sour sauce" — paled in comparison with the freshly mixed version from Sukhadia. The samosas ($4.95 for two sizable turnovers) were an oddity; they arrived in a pool of thin yogurt. Good mango lassi ($3.95).

For an entrée, a mysore masala dosai ($7.95) — a "spiced crepe rolled with lightly spiced onion and potato" — shaped up, surprisingly, as a giant triangle, more than 12 inches on each side, and crispy rather than soft. Two of the curved edges, folded underneath, were empty; broken off, they served to sop up coconut chutney and sambar, a lentil sauce. (As for the taste of mysore, the namesake spice of a large South Indian city that flavored the crepe itself, I don't know that I'd recognize it next time.) The onion and potato was pretty much a hash; filling, though.

Madras Mahal
104 Lexington Ave. (27th-28th Sts.)
212-684-4010

The Burger Joint

The sidewalk chalkboard that read "$1 Sirloin Burgers, Free Delivery" had to be a joke, but it was one I wanted in on. No joke: this Burger Joint (unrelated to the Parker Meridien eatery) cooks up a small burger with sautéed onions and serves it on a soft potato roll, for just a buck (I didn't test out the delivery options). On another occasion I'll try fries, and maybe the Bosco on tap, too.

The Burger Joint
241 Third Ave. (19th-20th Sts.)
212-228-1219

Rickshaw Dumpling Bar

Peking duck dumplings (six for $4.95), with shredded cabbage and scallion, would have been better without the cinnamon. Chicken and Thai basil dumplings were bland; their "spicy" peanut sauce was hardly that. A green tea milkshake (about 16 fl. oz.; $3.50) was more like a slush; it certainly didn't seem to contain ice cream or milk. I had only half of a "chocolate soup dumpling" (three for $3); cute enough that I'd try it again.

Rickshaw Dumpling Bar
61 West 23rd St. (Fifth-Sixth Aves.)
212-924-9220

Waldy's Wood Fired Pizza & Penne

My half-oval ($6.50) — Waldy's bakes 'em oblong — was topped with wonderful sweet and hot sausage, plus red peppers, but the crust had little more character than a cracker.

Waldy's Wood Fired Pizza & Penne
800 Sixth Ave. (27th-28th Sts.)
212-213-5042

Legal's Test Kitchen

It's just a new concept for the local chain Legal Seafoods, said my server; the recipes are all well-tried. My second pass of the day at Rhode Island Style calamari ($9.95) was overfried and dry; with garlic and (not so) hot peppers. Tamed for the airport crowd, most likely; I would have preferred to try the Logan version of Summer Shack's exemplary calamari, but "open whenever there are flights" doesn't apply to their kitchen. My flight was pushed back an hour, too, but at the end of a long day, a pint of Sam Adams ($4.95) was especially good.

Legal's Test Kitchen
Logan Airport, Terminal A, Space 23, Boston
617-568-1888

Dairy Fresh Candies

(This venue is closed.) Small place with a few old-time packaged sweets, fruits and nuts, chocolate pretzels, and a variety of local and imported chocolates. Though tempted for a moment to carry a box of gummy lighthouses back to the office, I picked up a bag of horehound drops (one pound; $3.99) with a strange yet pleasant syrupy flavor.

Dairy Fresh Candies
57 Salem St., Boston
800-336-5536

Modern Pastry

A Modern cannoli (top photo; $2), freshly filled on the spot with ricotta and dusted with sugar, seemed a shade smaller but slightly more elegant than a cannoli from Mike's Pastry (bottom photo; $2.50). The shell from Mike's was airier yet firmer; I preferred the thinner Modern shell even though, on the second bite, a partial collapse freed a puff of powdered sugar.

A dark shirt and dark slacks, I should add, are usually much more forgiving during taste tests. I also liked that the Modern ricotta was moister, though no less dense, than Mike's version. A box of Mike's might travel better, but today, my cannolis weren't traveling more than a few feet outside the door.

Modern Pastry
257 Hanover St., Boston

Yankee Lobster Fish Market

Since Crab Beer, prepared especially for this seafood joint, was nothing more than root beer, I thought I'd cool off with Lobster Juice (12 fl. oz.; $1.50). This "raspberry-lime" soda has virtually no trace of lime, and as a raspberry soda, it's only average. Just a gimmick.

Yankee Lobster Fish Market
300 Northern Ave., Boston
617-345-9799