Eating In Translation

Java Village

Spicy beef, spicy chicken, curry tofu and egg, and noodles fill out nasi Surabaya ($7), one of eight rice-combo plates at this café-style Indonesian eatery. That slab of beef is much more tender than appearances would suggest; that red patch of sambal terasi, a fierce chili sauce laced with fish paste, much hotter. Awaiting a return visit: spiced lamb soup in coconut milk; shrimp, sator, and tofu in chili sauce; and rujak manis, a brown-sugar-sauced jumble of mango, pineaple, jicama, fried tofu, and cucumber.

Java Village
86-10 Justice Ave. (near 52nd Ave.), Elmhurst, Queens
718-205-2166
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, seven days

Indo Java

In addition to packaged sweets like crumbly wedge-shaped peanut "cookies" (below; 4.5 oz.; $2) and many jars of fiery variations on the condiments called sambals, this spare little Indonesian grocery stocks an intriguing selection of locally prepared goods. You won't find the likes of lothek, made to order during the summer food bazaars behind Astoria's Al-Hikmah Mosque, but you now have a year-round source for tape (Tah-peh), fermented rice with a sweet-sour flavor and an alcoholic twang. Fermented yuca, too.

Indo Java
85-12 Queens Blvd. (south side, west of Grand Ave.), Elmhurst, Queens
718-779-2241

Royal Kathin Celebration

At the end of Thailand's rainy season — in New York and other less tropical climes, figure on mid-autumn — lay Buddhists pay their respects on the monks at the local temple.

Ploy Thai

It sounds like a goofy school of martial arts or an episode of "I Spy," but a regular reader tells me that Ploy Thai prepares a very good rendition of the chopped-meat salad called larb. He's "definitely going back," and I hope to join him.

Ploy Thai
81-20 Broadway, Elmhurst, Queens
718-205-2128

Chao Thai

What's the story, morning glory?

Antique's Coffe Shop

This vowel-challenged enterprise has retained the hanging sign, and most of the soda-shop fixtures, from the previous tenant, the Woodside Avenue General Store.

Rincon Criollo

This old-timer has the "ambiente familiar" of one of my favorite restaurants in South Beach, so even if my Cuban sandwich ($4) didn't come together — the counterman had to retrieve it from hiding, and unwrap it, before applying the press, and the flavors didn't marry — I'd like to visit it again on some warmer sunny afternoon.

Rincon Criollo
40-09 Junction Blvd. (near Roosevelt Ave.), Corona, Queens
718-458-0236

Silver Bell Bakers

"Renaissance Bakery" is the current name, according to their website and to numerous posts by others, but as long as the wrappers themselves also read "Silver Bell," I'll stick with that.

It's also unclear who's at the ovens. On the day I bought a package of pleasantly sour farmer's rye (about 1 lb.; $2.10), the only employee on the premises was conducting a extended phone call in Spanish, and many of the fresh items in the display case had the not-quite-neon hues I've seen in many in Mexican bakeries.

Does anyone know more?

Silver Bell Bakers
43-04 Junction Blvd., Corona, Queens
800-806-9245
http://www.bake4u.com/
Closed Sunday

La Esquina Criolla

Mmm, mmm, morcilla.

Sarita's Bakery

This Colombian corner eatery lays out a decent spread, and it doesn't put on airs; at noon, the tables were filled with blue-collar types on their lunch hour. Looks like a good place to chow down, if you can beat the rush.

Sarita's Bakery
94-12 Corona Ave., Elmhurst, Queens
718-760-1034

Coma Pan Bakery

They don't seem to use an undue amount of sugar.

Upi Jaya

It's a colorful way to spice up your day.

La Esquina Argentina

This sunny corner had a drowsy feel in midafternoon — even a goal, during the televised Argentine league football match, barely drew a response from the clientele — and I departed soon after with a beef empanada enriched with hardboiled egg ($1.25). But one evening, when La Esquina Argentina fires up the pizza oven, I hope to return for slices of their fugazza and faina.

La Esquina Argentina
96-01 Corona Ave. (at Junction Blvd.), Corona, Queens
718-592-9825

Pasiones del Sur

This pleasant little store is devoted to goods from Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, though as I walked in, one of the owners was engaged in a lengthy telephone order regarding "Cameroon" and "Croatia." (Football jerseys, you may have guessed, even without a look in the window.)

As for food, Oriete brand fig jam (500 g.; $1.40) has a thin, puddinglike texture; it's sweet without going overboard. Not worthy of passion, but hard to beat on price.

Pasiones del Sur
94-63 Corona Ave., Elmhurst, Queens
718-271-8101

El Arrayan

"Chilean myrtle" is another name for the arrayan, an evergreen that grows in the central Andes, but for me, the menu's aquatic entries are the standouts. They include seafood empanadas, as well as the typical beef and chicken varieties, and at least one Chilean entrée that's all about the abalone.

El Arrayan
91-06 43rd Ave., Elmhurst, Queens
718-478-6245

Bolivia Grocery

With the exception of the ladies sitting behind the counter, this tiny deli-grocery didn't seem very Bolivian; for a badly needed drink, the best I could manage was a Colombiana kola (12 fl. oz.; $1). None of the packaged goods were from Bolivia, and in the late afternoon the only food still on call from the cookstove was bacon and eggs, but a return visit earlier in the day might be rewarded with salchipapas, a jumble of french fries and sliced sausage doused with one or more sauces, or a salteña, the Bolivian variation on the empanada.

Bolivia Grocery
90-22 Corona Ave., Elmhurst, Queens

Lao Bei Fang Dumpling House

Featured ingredient: fennel.

Pop Diner

The menu seems to round up the usual suspects plus a handful of international adventurers, but it's hard to be sure; you try reading small orange lettering against a glossy turquoise background. Pop Diner also sports an illuminated cabinet for mints and gum at the cash register and a tabletop jukebox at every booth, but the rotating display of pies and cakes is more techno than retro: The lowest level caters to the late-night crowd with cans of Red Bull and bottles of water.

Pop Diner
80-26 Queens Blvd. (at 51st Ave.), Elmhurst, Queens
718-426-2229
www.popdiner.com

Bahar

Apparently unaffiliated with the Bahar on Coney Island Ave., this Afghan restaurant has won praise for dishes like narlenge palow, "zafron colored rice [sic], topped w. orange peels, almonds, pistachios, and chunks of lamb kebab."

I'm not inspired to order item number 88, but it's interesting to note the sentiment behind the "Freedom Fries." Bahar's laissez-faire attitude toward orthography doesn't entirely exclude the French, however; asking for number 86 will secure you a side order of "Raisons & Carrots."

Bahar
82-19 Queens Blvd. (north side, near 51st Ave.), Elmhurst, Queens
718-426-5822

Ally's Grocery Store

The best time to visit Ally's might be after a visit to nearby Wat Buddhathai.

Tacos Guicho

That's the firm, full-flavored cecina, or dried beef ($2), dressed with onion and cilantro (by the chef) and a dribble of thin, deep red hot sauce (by me). No lettuce, tomato, or pico de gallo in sight; the only other condiments at hand were sliced radishes, lime segments, and what seemed to be pieces of dark green pepper mingled with carrot. Must look into this stand some more.

Tacos Guicho
Street cart on Roosevelt Ave. (south side, at Gleane St.), Elmhurst, Queens

Lin Taiwanese Gourmet

A palate-stretching menu, even by New York standards: marinated pig's ear, spicy marinated smelt, pig's liver with sesame oil, chives with duck blood, a soup of pig's stomach with lotus seeds…and, pray, just what is sautéed "A" vegetable? (Even the Chinese name includes that Roman letter.) Must round up the usual dining suspects for a group meal.

Lin Taiwanese Gourmet
84-02 Broadway, Elmhurst, Queens
718-429-4818
Closed Wednesday

Taste Good

Exhibit No. 1.

Mian Grocery & Halal Meat

Like the storefront, the shelves inside make efficient use of limited space.

Sugar Club

This narrow storefront also rents Thai videos, but the featured attraction is the spread of snacks at the counter and on the facing shelves.