Eating In Translation

Mado

Mado's dondurma lays claim to the mantle of "hardest and densest ice cream in the world." Even more so than Middle Eastern ice cream, Turkish dondurma is bolstered with sahlep and mastic; filling my cone ($2) required two strong hands and an implement wielded like a long-handled chisel. And yet whether chiseled, sliced like doner kebab, or bitten off, it melts in the mouth, I can vouch.

Mado
Multiple locations in Turkey
http://en.Mado.com.tr
At Grand Bazaar to Grand Central
Grand Central Terminal, Vanderbilt Hall, 87 East 42nd St. (at Park Ave.), Manhattan
www.TADF.org/images/banners/grand-central-poster.jpg
(The 2013 event, perhaps a one-off, was held on May 14)

Aunt Ooi's Kitchen

The pyramidal rice dumplings that answer to zongzi often seem leaden and gummy. But, as prepared by Ipoh, Malaysia-born Aunt Ooi, who called this by its Hokkien name, bak chang, the rice was moist and abundantly laden with chestnuts, shiitake mushrooms, pork, black-eyed peas, and dried shrimp. I've never tasted a better one in New York.

UNAMA Fundraising Buffet Luncheon

The United Nations African Mothers Association (UNAMA) has held this annual fundraiser since the mid-1980s. Proceeds, which in recent years have been devoted to refugees in Africa, this year benefited Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.

As always (I'm told, since this was my first UNAMA luncheon), the food was prepared by wives of U.N. delegates and served buffet-style. The variety was overwhelming. I noted the names of 16 African nations at the buffet, though many labels were handwritten, some of them on the spur of the moment; it's very possible that the true count was higher.

Likewise, the buffet's identification of dishes was not rock-solid, and though some were close cousins to items I've come across in the five boroughs, others were less familiar. A working knowledge of culinary French and Portuguese would have clarified a few ingredients. To be sure, most everyone spoke English, too. The atmosphere was low-key, and the company, consistently welcoming and gracious.

For more photos, see my slideshow.

UNAMA Fundraising Buffet Luncheon
Church Center for the United Nations, 777 UN Plaza (44th St. at First Ave.), Manhattan
December (the 2012 luncheon was held on December 10)

Cafe Spice

In style as well as words, the logo clearly signals South Asian cuisine. I don't know if the typeface represents a specific Indian language or simply intends to convey "Indian food" in general.

Cafe Spice
Grand Central Terminal (lower level dining concourse), Manhattan
(One of many locations)
646-227-1300
www.CafeSpice.com

Mami PG's Cooking

I'd seen the name and imagined initials.

Okadaman

A fine rendition of Osaka-style okonomiyaki ($8.25), with one reservation. From the cashier's cry of "Pork!" (there's also a seafood version) to the handoff of my okonomiyaki, the time was impossibly brief for a savory pancake to be griddled and dressed to order. Like other Midtown food trucks, Okadaman must make hay during the lunchtime rush, so okonomiyaki are prepared and packaged in advance. It's possible that even night-market methods of mass production might not meet the demand.

Okadaman
Truck parked, this late morning, on 48th St. near Park Ave., Manhattan
646-531-7113
www.OkadamanNYC.com

Num Pang

True, the sandwiches owe some of their heft to the toasted baguette.

Hunan Manor

Though sometimes compared with Sichuan cooking, the cuisine of Hunan province tends to make do without mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorns; extra chillies often take their place. Sour flavors have their say, too. Here, both spicy and sour pervade well-chopped string beans, paired with slippery yam cakes ($8.95 lunch special; $7 to go). See also this slideshow from sister restaurant Hunan House, in Flushing; many if not all the pictured dishes are available at Hunan Manor, too.

Hunan Manor
339 Lexington Ave. (39th-40th Sts.), Manhattan
212-682-2883
Sister restaurant: Hunan House
137-40 Northern Blvd. (Main-Union Sts.), Flushing, Queens
718-353-1808
www.HunanHouseNY.webs.com

Farmers' Loan and Trust Company Building

On the facade of a financial services firm, the meaning of the squirrels seems clear: Gather ye nuts while ye may. But the significance of the peafowl — these look to be mirror-image males, not a peacock and peahen — is more problematic.

Barros Luco

(This venue is closed.) You can't tell the players without a scorecard.

OMS/B

(This venue is closed.) Japanese pot au feu?

Caterina's

(This venue is closed.) This Italian-Hungarian kitchen gave up the goulash earlier this winter; a "building for lease" notice is posted beside the door, and the telephone is disconnected.

You can still find a relatively strong Hungarian community on the far side of the Hudson, but in Manhattan, it's ever more difficult to get a good palacsinta.

Caterina's
316 East 53rd St. (First-Second Aves.)
212-355-5360

Numero 28

(This post is based on a visit to the mini-chain's Spring St. location, which is closed.) You can't tell this slice is actually a snip, can you?

Koglin Royal Hams

(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.

Kar Won

Meat lovers will appreciate the roast-pork-to-noodle ratio.

Gulluoglu

My dining brief on this Turkish bakery and cafe appears in the November 25, 2009 edition of The New York Times.

"Poisson Paysage V"

"Fish Landscape 5," here, with yellow cabs; my effort with a passing, towed coffee cart was not as well-framed. This bronze is one of several sculptures by the late artist François-Xavier Lalanne and his wife, Claude, temporarily installed on the Park Ave. median in the 50s. If you're a fish lover who prefers portraiture, step right up and strike a pose — but only till Friday.

"Poisson Paysage V" ("Fish Landscape 5")
François-Xavier Lalanne, 2007
Park Ave. at 56th St.
Through November 20, 2009

The Leopard

I know little about this "Midtown French-Continental 'time warp'," except what I read in an old Zagat. The New York Times, which reported the restaurant's passage in June 2004 (yes, it's been lying in wait that long for a favorable real estate market), added that The Leopard had "been at 253 East 50th Street since the mid-60's."

Nada-Sushi

Not angling for the Hispanic market, I take it. (See also the apocryphal misadventures of the marketing for the Chevy Nova.) Nada, I learn, is a ward of the Japanese city of Kobe. But I haven't visited the restaurant; wisecracks aside, about it I know nada.

Nada-Sushi
135 East 50th St. (Third-Lexington Aves.)
212-838-2537

Kolache Mama

(This venue is closed.) From above, it bore some resemblance to a traditional Czech koláč.