Eating In Translation

Gastronom Arkadia

"Herring in an overcoat."

Georgian Bread

Torn from the headlines.

Café "At Your Mother-In-Law"

My review of this Brighton Beach venue, staffed by Russian-speaking ethnic Koreans hailing from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, appears in the July 14, 2010 edition of The New York Times. For additional photos, see my slideshow.

Coney Island Farms

Native to southern Brazil and nearby regions of South America, the feijoa has been naturalized in warmer climes in North America, Europe, and Asia. This Dadmali brand jam (360 g.; $3.29) was imported from Azerbaijan. Compared with the ripe fruit pictured on the label, the jam has the color of Fig Newton filling, and the same grainy consistency; the flavor suggests two of the feijoa's other common names, pineapple guava and guavasteen.

In this form it's best spread on toast, but if I find them fresh (was that them, at Manhattan Fruit Exchange, in Chelsea Market?), I'll consult this guide on "How to Eat a Feijoa," by a Kiwi.

Coney Island Farms
2896 West 12th St. (Surf-Neptune Aves.), Coney Island, Brooklyn
718-265-0404

"Table for two, with lemon wedge and cocktail sauce"

Cute couple, but I also like the top-hatted customer hurrying in to his own table, and the proud host guiding the way. All of them, candidates for the shellfish department at Suicide Food.

"Table for two, with lemon wedge and cocktail sauce"
Gyro Corner Clam Bar
Coney Island boardwalk, Brooklyn

Major Markets Prime Meats

(This venue is closed.) Coney Island development marches on.

M&I International Foods

Even the small, $2 portion is a sturdy pint.

"$5.99 lunch, $6.00 bathroom"

The sign to the left promotes a $5.99 lunch special; the sign to the right notes that the "bathroom is for customers only," with the handwritten qualification that they must "spend $6 or more." It's a rare instance when a customer might be happy that tax is not included.

"$5.99 lunch, $6.00 bathroom"
Coney Island, Brooklyn

Nathan's Famous

Even dead center on the menu board, they wouldn't be your first thought at Nathan's.

Home Cooking Cafe

The more compelling signs were the trays of fresh, savory pastries being shuttled outside.

Together in New York Community Festival

Some of the performers, such as the Armenian dancers above, were charming. This daylong event, part of a Russian Heritage Festival that runs through the month of June, also promised "mouthwatering foods," but I found little more than corn on the cob, bags of sunflower seeds, and reheated blintzes. There's better to be found nearby.

Together in New York Community Festival
Asser Levy Park (a.k.a. Seaside Park, at Ocean Pkwy. and Seabreeze Ave.), Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
www.RussianAmericanFoundation.com/heritage.html
Early June

Kebeer

Lamb kebabs + draft beer = Kebeer? The Uzbek grill Eastern Feast is giving way to a new "draft bar & grill." Behind the security gate, a bare-bones renovation notice adds few details, with nary a word about Mrs. Stahl and her knishes.

Kebeer
1003 Brighton Beach Ave. (at Coney Island Ave.), Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
718-934-9608

Seventh Continent Supermarket

(This venue is closed.) Look for it in the tkemali aisle.

Timurlan

(This venue is closed.) This Uzbek restaurant stretches the Central Asian canon with dishes such as norin — a soup of "handmade short noodles" with dried veal — and a cucumber-carrot salad topped with sauteed ground beef.

Big Al's

(This venue is closed.) Thoughts of a Chicago-style dog, on a poppy-seed bun, all but vanished when I ventured close enough to read the paper-plate "menu" posted in the window (gyro, anyone?).

Bakery "La Brioche" Café

Russian, despite the name. Nice variety displayed within arm's reach (but please use tongs!) on counters, shelves, and those large rolling racks. A few open-faced sandwiches, too, if you need a savory nosh. For the more delicate treats, morning would be a better time to visit; by early evening these pastries (cherry, apple, and cheese; $1.50 for three) looked a little exhausted.

For a previous, late afternoon nosh, I fared much better with a sturdier item, this hefty square ($1.50) loaded with dates and walnuts and bound together with just enough honey.

Bakery "La Brioche" Café
1073 Brighton Beach Ave., Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
718-934-0731

Odessa

When refrigeration wasn't widely available, pickling was a much more common method of preserving food. The pickled-food section of Beijing's Chongwenmen Caishi Chang displays a continuing fondness for briny flavors; so do many salad bars in Brighton Beach. Though it seemed to have plenty of takers, the watermelon didn't quite work; I much preferred the rind-only version from Grey Mouse Farm. On the other hand, pickling tarted up a golden delicious apple very much to my taste — normally I find them much too sweet — even if Odessa couldn't bother to peel off that little sticker.

Odessa
1113 Brighton Beach Ave. (14th-15th Sts.), Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
718-332-3223

Café Kashkar

One of the few restaurants in New York that specialize in Uighur (Wee-ger) cuisine, native to the region in and around what's now Northwest China; much friendlier than many of the eateries along Brighton Beach Blvd. Sometimes Uighur food shows Chinese roots (but even at the popular Xin Jiang Muslim Restaurant in Beijing, that wasn't the case); at Kashkar the eats lean toward the familiar Central Asian line. Lick your lips over lamb rib kebab ($3.50 for four pieces like this).

Also at our table (click the photo to see more): kebabs of chicken ($3) and ground beef ($3); lagman ($5), lamb broth with noodles, meat, and vegetables that our server gladly split for us into half-orders; carrot salad ($5) and eggplant salad ($5); the thin-skined lamb dumplings called manty (four for $6); samsa ($2 each) dough pies with lamb that today were offered in two cholesterol levels (get the fatty lamb, if it's not sold out); naryn ($6), a curious combo of dough with seasoning, sliced sausage, and tripe; and naan ($2), here in the form of a Frisbee-sized flatbread.

Café Kashkar
1141 Brighton Beach Ave. (14th-15th Sts.), Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
718-743-3832

Mimino

(This venue is closed.) This Georgian takeout joint also has four seats at the window, if you're just passing through. That's where I had at my harcho ($3.99), a spicy and oily soup with tomato, onion, lots of cilantro, and two fatty hunks of lamb. A quarter-slab of lavash was indifferent; even when it came to soaking up soup; the harcho itself was appetizing but not filling. Judging by the continued flow of what seemed like regular customers, however, this might be a good place to provision a picnic on the beach.

Mimino
1111 Brighton Beach Ave., Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
718-934-2600

Gold Label Gourmet Food

Call it the Fairway to M&I's Zabar's. It's all on one level, and from outside it seemed quite full of specialty items and Saturday shoppers. At this point in the afternoon, since I didn't have the inclination to battle my way past the front door, I went to the streetside counter for a flaky but somewhat dry poppyseed puff (80 cents).

Gold Label Gourmet Food
281 Brighton Beach Ave., Brighton Beach, Brooklyn