Eating In Translation

Seventh Continent Supermarket

Look for it in the tkemali aisle.

Timurlan

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. And unlike its Brighton Beach kin, it's directly north of the Wonder Wheel, so you can give it a try as an alternative to Nathan's (or in my case, and perhaps yours, as a follow-up).

Since I had only about ten minutes to spare, the fellow taking a break out front suggested a samsa ($2.25); Timurlan's version of this baked pastry stuffed with lamb meat was chunkier, chewier, and more oniony than most. Next time I'd call in a special order: For a dollar more, the restaurant will supplement a samsa with lamb short rib, or prepare an "extra heavy" version with lamb meat and extra fat.

Timurlan
1047 Surf Ave. (at West 12th St.), Coney Island, Brooklyn
718-266-0016

Nathan's Famous

It's snappy, even buried in beans.

Big Al's

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" (gyro, anyone?). Rather than befuddle the one server on duty — an amiable fellow, but no Big Al — I stayed on-menu by ordering a chili dog ($2.50), which arrived smothered like a sloppy joe in a thin, ultimately punchless sauce. That dog had no bite, either.

Big Al's
3007 Stillwell Ave. (at Surf Ave.), Coney Island, Brooklyn

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

M&I International Foods

Not quite the Zabar's of Brighton Beach, as it's often billed; this expansive store is limited primarily to products from the former Soviet Union. From Russia, here's the Monastirsky brand version of the thirst-quencher called kvas (0.5 l.; 99 cents), a carbonated, nonalcoholic beverage fermented from rye, wheat, barley, or in this instance some unspecified combo.

M&I's upstairs dining area, though inelegant, does alway seems to have open seats if you need to take a load off. Selections in the refrigerator case are hearty if quirky; I especially noted a cloudy congealed salad containing carrots, hardboiled egg, and something else, perhaps fish, lurking at the bottom. A smaller dining area downstairs also serves through a window to the street, where you can snack on one of these oblong meat pastries (80 cents).

M&I International Foods
249 Brighton Beach Ave., Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
718-615-1011

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 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

Vintage Gourmet Specialty Foods

Few meats, many sweets, vast number of offerings in open bins. Dogonay brand salgam acisiz (sweet fermented carrot juice; 500 ml.; 99 cents), from Turkey, is prepared from purple carrots blended with turnips; it tasted like salty beet juice. This was the "sweet" variety; I'll leave it to someone else to sample the "hot" version.

Vintage Gourmet Specialty Foods
287 Brighton Beach Ave., Brighton Beach, Brooklyn

Efe

Relatively small, hubbub-free store whose owners, judging by the name, hail from Turkey (like Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia, it borders the Black Sea). Not a huge selection, but a good place to pour yourself a cup of coffee and, perhaps, pick up a bargain, like these very lemony wafers (100 g.; 35 cents) from Belarus.

Efe
243 Brighton Beach Ave., Brighton Beach, Brooklyn

Southern Deli

Good meat and prepared-food counters, as well as a large sweets section plus a bakery counter upstairs; although you can sit down at one of two tables with your coffee and pastry, Southern Deli is more for takeout. I took a taste of "tarchun" (330 ml.; 99 cents), but sadly this Russian soft drink had little hint of the namesake tarragon.

Southern Deli
239 Brighton Beach Ave., Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
718-891-6569

Taste of Russia

Just a taste: Small though interesting selection of treats in this homey store. Just a little English spoken, too. Peterburgsky nut torte with caramel (290 g.; $2.59), from Russia, hides the taste of hazelnut under too much caramel and chocolate flavor. Nonetheless, it disappeared very quickly at the office.

Taste of Russia
219 Brighton Beach Ave., Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
718-934-6167