Eating In Translation

Big Apple Barbecue Block Party

The (relatively) cool evening before the barbecue is a wonderful time to get a taste of things to come.

Bonobo's Vegetarian Restaurant

Even at the height of the Big Apple Barbecue or when the lines are long at Shake Shack, across 23rd St. there's little or no wait for dessert.

Philippine Independence Day Festival

Festival-goers and chefs both felt the squeeze.

Cato Corner Farm

It's one of my favorite places for cutting corners.

Quattro's Game Farm

Pheasant kielbasa?

Goodburger

Good 'n' meaty.

Ess-a-Bagel

It takes a firm crust to make a creamy sandwich.

Dunkin' Duck Pierogi?

Even though it's speaking to the discriminating customers at Ess-a-Bagel, across the street, this three-storey-tall banner ad for The Russian Tea Room is keeping some curious company.

A Voce

A Voce preferred not to have photos taken of the food, so I can't share with you the chef's roasted beet salad, surmounted by greens; his grandma's ravioli, generously filled with (reportedly) a mixture of beef, veal, and pork and dressed with tomato sauce and parmigian cheese; and choux (under a different name) that would send Beard Papa packing. See for yourself; for the Restaurant Week prix fixe ($24.08 at lunch only, weekdays through February 1), a party of two, or a very lucky party of four, has a decent chance of scoring a walk-in table if they arrive by 12:30 or so.

A Voce
41 Madison Ave. (at 26th St.)
212-545-8555
www.avocerestaurant.com

Word of Mouth: Manhattan Filipino

The two counterwomen at Pommes Frites didn't look or sound Belgian; in fact, they were speaking Tagalog. Asked about the best Filipino restaurant in the neighborhood, they recommended Grill 21 over the nearby options on First Ave. As for the possibility of adding chicharon bulaklak to their own deep-fried offerings, they offered only a giggle.

Migliorelli Farm

Apples are all over; sightings of pear cider are much less common.

Craftbar

With a name like Craft, you'd better be sure your dishes are conceived and presented with great care.

Locust Grove Farms

Hide them away for a few days, and these juicy little pears ($1.40 per pound) may be a favorite of yours, too.

Shake Shack

If you like the looks of Shake Shack's "custard calendar" but not the lunchtime line, there's a shortcut.

Breezy Hill Orchard

For warming up during a chilly walk, it's hard to beat hot cider (large; $2). I also plucked two apples ($1.29 per pound) for snacking at home: a deep red, very tart winesap and a green, speckled mutsu that was crisp yet pearlike in its sweetness and juiciness.

Hill Country

At an Independence Day affair in Madison Square Park, the juicy jalapeño-cheese sausage from Kreuz (rhymes with "Friday Night Lights"; $6) was a green-flecked beauty with a spicy attitude; the "Texas black-eyed caviar" ($4) had only their name to commend them. Circled back later for a trio of immense pork spare ribs ($7) whose strikingly pepper-flecked, ruddy exterior concealed pinkish, rubbery meat that I didn't feel obligated to fully clean from the bones.

The brisket — which I finally tackled at Hill Country's restaurant-market — is fantastic. Some reports suggested ordering half lean (lying across the top; $16.75 per pound) and half "moist" (front and center; $18.50 per pound), then mixing the two; next time, the fattier cut will do me very well by itself.

Chipotle deviled eggs ($3.95) tasted of lime, too; baked beans ($9.50 for about a pint) had a burnt molasses tang but precious few burnt ends; corn pudding ($8.50 for about a pint) was a warm, pleasant palate-cleanser. The banana pudding with vanilla wafers ($6) is nice, even if the wafers had been submerged for a spell.

Hill Country
30 West 26th St. (Broadway-Sixth Ave.)
212-255-4544

Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop

I'm very fond of egg creams, especially Eisenberg's briskly stirred rendition ($1.75), but their soda-and-syrup cherry lime rickey (shown; $1.75) gets equally personal attention from the counterman. It's also stands up far better against the hot pastrami on soft rye ($7.50) — not overstuffed, but well-filled with tender strips of meat, sided with sour pickles, and dressed with mustard scooped from Eisenberg's standard condiment server, a coffee cup.

Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop
174 Fifth Ave. (22nd-23rd Sts.)
212-675-5096

Muffin Madness

The name is almost too cute, but when I finally settled on an almond cookie ($1.75), I found it exceptionally light; indeed, the raised lip concealed an air pocket. Can Muffin Madness manage that with the peanut butter chocolate chip?

Muffin Madness
Johnson City, New York
At the Union Square Greenmarket
Wednesday only

Blue Moon

Not cooking tonight? Stop by anyway: The Greenmarket's preeminent supplier of fresh seafood offers smoked selections all year 'round. Bluefish ($6.59 per pound) had an oily denseness that was even a bit heavier than expected, but I must try the monkfish; curious about the sea robin, too.

Blue Moon
Mattituck, New York
At the Union Square Greenmarket

Deep Mountain Maple

Fiddleheads ($7 per pound), young ferns that never got to spread their fronds, make a snappy stir-fry, provided you uncover them during their brief late-spring appearance.

On a previous occasion: Though Deep Mountain offers maple candy ($13 per pound) in coconut and ginger versions, I went for the pecan (native to the mainland, albeit south of the Mason-Dixon, I told myself; seems more traditional). Call me a maple sugar purist, though; another time I'll take the unflavored version, and maybe a jar of maple butter for back home.

Deep Mountain Maple
West Glover, Vermont
(at the Union Square Greenmarket)

Oak Grove Plantation

Despite plumbing the depths of the swing-top freezer, I've never located Oak Grove's green onion sausage, but the "country style" sage version ($6.95 per pound) browned up well for breakfast. I was less successful with the scrapple (1 lb.; $3.50), a Pennsylvania Dutch favorite that begins as a mush of pork leftovers and cornmeal that's condensed into a brick, to be sliced and fried. Overeager defrosting and sloppy slicing led me to make a hash of things, and that's being unfair to hash. Another attempt to follow.

Occasionally Oak Grove also sets out a table of baked goods; one brisk day, a pumpkin whoopee pie ($2) was very creamy and nicely spiced.

Oak Grove Plantation
Pittstown, New Jersey
(at the Union Square Greenmarket)

Grill 21

A pair of turones ($3): bananas in egg-roll wrappers, deep fried.

Grill 21
346 East 21st St. (First-Second Aves.)
212-473-5950
At the Philippine Independence Parade and Street Fair

Wild Hive Farm

Stout snack that's better for your diction than your diet: a salty peanut chocolate Guinness biscuit ($1.75). Could use a touch more of that sea salt.

Wild Hive Farm
372 Clinton Corners Rd., Clinton Corners, New York
(at the Union Square Greenmarket)
845-266-5863

Stand

When your burger is dressed with homemade ketchup, onion marmalade, or green peppercorn sauce (with a dressy price to match), why should your milkshake be limited to vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry? This go-cup holds ricotta-pistachio ($6), one of Stand's smooth custom blends; pumpkin, apple pie, and especially toasted marshmallow are lined up for later visits.

Stand
24 East 12th St. (Fifth Ave.-University Pl.)
212-488-5900

Gotham Bar and Grill

A vertical seafood salad ($18) was well-integrated to the point of prissiness, though granted, with very good ingredients. The firm, thick-cut New York steak, grilled medium rare ($36) was exemplary, as was a stack of onion rings (think Michelin Man with a tan); accompanied by "marrow mustard custard," a small disk of Dijon concealing an even smaller nubbin of marrow. For dessert, the meyer lemon soufflé ($12) was airy, and just tart enough; small, but accompanied by pink grapefruit tres leches and dulce de leche sorbet.

Gotham Bar and Grill
12 East 12 St. (Fifth Ave.-University Pl.)
212-620-4020