Largely a Romanian bakery, by the looks of the newspapers behind the counter, though one was in Hungarian and two or three eluded quick identification.
(This venue is closed.) This German-rooted provisioner's housemade ham lard — with onions, apples, herbs, and tiny cubes of schinken, or smoked pork loin — is absolutely decadent atop a crust of bread.
"Is it good?" asked the family next to me when I asked for a blueberry ice. Never tried it before, I told them; I ordered blueberry because the Mets were home that evening.
This tiny Haitian restaurant sits across from a playground on a dingy stretch of Amsterdam Avenue, but the colorful interior and a friendly "bonjours" quickly put that out of mind.