Eating In Translation

Taste of Times Square

Hope it really is on the regular menu.

Bulgogi and kimchi cart

Wish it was bulgogi and hotdog.

Hallo Berlin Express

This is much easier to manage when you have a place to sit.

Roofline above Hallo Berlin Express

While I waited for the eatery to open, near the roofline I noticed raised letters that read "9th. Ave. Flat." (Click on this or any other photo for a better look.) Many of these inscriptions were intended as advertisements directed at passengers on the Columbus Ave. elevated train. Also known as the Ninth Ave. El, it reportedly stood, at least in part, until the 1950s.

Surviving signage for a "9th. Ave. Flat."
744 Ninth Ave. (50th-51st Sts.), rooftop level

Red Bull Chaser?

An odd couple of delivery vans making their rounds.

Red Bull and Pat La Frieda delivery vans
Ninth Ave. between 50th and 51st Sts.

Word of Mouth: Hallo Berlin Express

Update, May 7: "We are going to be open tomorrow from 11:30; we just have inspection," I was told by telephone. Thursday, May 8, it is. Previously:

"Do you know when they're opening?" asked the fellow in the sheriff's hat. The two of us were taking the noontime breeze on Ninth Ave.; I'd just emerged from a look at the new Hallo Berlin Express. The workman behind the counter wouldn't say, I told the "sheriff," but moments later a moustached stranger made an appearance. "May 1," said the stranger (who identified himself only as a partner) before he moseyed inside, perhaps to attend to the tap lines; unlike the famous food cart near Fifth Ave., Hallo Berlin Express will be serving beer with its brats. See you 'round these parts again soon, stranger.

Update: Opening day has been pushed back from May 1 to May 7, as you can see from the sign below. Despite the signmaker's uncertain hand and lack of ease with ordinal numbers, another stranger (unshaven, but moustache-free) confirmed the new, later date.

Hallo Berlin Express
744 Ninth Ave. (50th-51st Sts.)
212-333-2372

Szechuan Gourmet

I felt some of the excitement, if not quite the affection, that I remember from the midtown Grand Sichuan.

Piece of Chicken

They were out of breast meat.

Ben's Kosher Delicatessen

A sandwich, or maybe half a sandwich, is the way to go.

Esca

Bloody wonderful.

DB Bistro Moderne

The choucroute is well-composed at Daniel Boulud's sophisticated and amiable bistro.

Anthos

Greek grilled calamari, yes, diner style, far from it.

Pick a Bagel

Decent sized, sometimes a little doughy, not distinctively sour, salty, or sweet — Pick a Bagel's version is pretty standard for Manhattan. More tempting is their all-white cookie ($2), which lacquers an intensely sweet vanilla shell on a slightly spongy base. Sure, it's no work of art, but it's just the thing when you're craving a sugar hit.

Pick a Bagel
200 West 57th St. (at Seventh Ave.)
(one of several locations)
212-957-5151

Burger Joint

In at least one sense, Burger Joint is destination dining. Unless you're standing in just the right spot in Le Parker Meridien's blocklong atrium, you won't spot the only signs of this out-of-place eatery: a neon burger, and, often, a line of customers out the door. At busy times you might wait ten minutes or so to reach the counter — plenty of time to take in the mismatched wood paneling, assorted TV and movie posters, kids' drawings, and miscellaneous scrawled tributes — and another ten minutes before your order is ready.

Landmarc

Bone marrow packs gobs of meat flavor into every bite, especially with the aid of a fat pinch of salt. Landmarc's roast marrow bones ($12) are accompanied by sweet onion marmalade (I prefer parsley, as at London's celebrated St. John) and grilled country bread (here it's a little too thick-cut), but they still make for a fine, finger-licking starter.

If you must have meat, this clean-cut bistro offers many more options, such as this simple burger ($13) dressed with ketchup, mustard, and bread-and-butter pickles, on a firm, juice-absorbent roll. Comes with excellent twice-fried fries that I'd happily order all by themselves.

On a later visit, to the newer, more expansive Landmarc at the Time Warner Center, a strip steak with béarnaise sauce ($28) was good, no better, even when accompanied by those excellent fries. The original, relatively cozy Tribeca location may be less taxing on the kitchen.

Landmarc
179 West Broadway (Leonard-Worth Sts.)
(one of two locations)
212-343-3883

Fika Espresso Bar

Small black-and-white-and-steel café for all your "Fika" needs, should your needs include "taking a coffee break," Swedish style. Laxpudding ($11), a potato-garlic-dill combo, traditionally is served with melted butter, but a squeeze of lemon also suited it well; Kristall brand lingonberry soda ($3) might've paired better with the Swedish meatballs or one of the wraps. A slice of pear and cardamom pie, enrobed in vanilla sauce ($4), was humbler than all that; on another visit I'd reach for one of the more portable chocolate sweets, and a cup of coffee (well-regarded, and reportedly bottomless).

Fika Espresso Bar
41 West 58th St. (Fifth-Sixth Aves.)
(one of many locations)
212-832-0022
Closed most days by 7:00

Minamoto Kitchoan

This purveyor of the exquisite (and expensive) traditional Japanese pastries called wagashi is a wonderful place to just to look around, an assortment of wagashi might make a striking gift for a friend or relative. Before you ask for the gift-wrap, though, try one or two yourself; pastries made from beans, grains, potatoes, and sesame seeds aren't to everyone's taste. That said, I don't know anyone who would find fault with the sakura daifuku (shown in "biteaway" view; $2.50), a seasonal offering sweetened with the very light, clean flavor of cherry blossoms.

On numerous other occasions:

Yakiimo (literally, "sweet potato"; $2.50) was an autumnal-colored confection blending white bean and sweet potato paste wrapped in a cinnamon crepe, sliced on a bias to reveal its tuberlike core, and dotted there with tiny black seeds. I lingered much longer over my yakiimo than over many more sizable desserts.

Kurimanju ($1.90), which Minomoto described a sweet pastry with a flour, honey, and butter extract, had a white bean and (slightly chunky) chestnut filling.

Kuridaifuku ($2.80) was a pale-green sugar-dusted rice cake filled with red bean paste, surrounding a chestnut that was hard to corral into two separate bites.

Its cousin mamedaifuku ($2.50) coupled whole red beans — some poking through the wrapper — with the bean paste.

Jyukushi (bottom photo; $1.60) was a white-bean jelly flavored with minced persimmon.

Minamoto Kitchoan
608 Fifth Ave. (entrance on W. 49th St.)
212-489-3747

Kim's Aunt Kitchen

Nice catch amid the gyro-and-chicken carts: an amply loaded fried whiting sandwich ($3.50) on a soft loaf with lettuce, tomato, and hot sauce. This cart is run by a man — perhaps Kim, certainly not Kim's aunt — but whatever his name, it's a mystery he doesn't do more business.

Kim's Aunt Kitchen
Cart on the north side of 46th St., east of Sixth Ave.

West 53rd St. Halal Food Cart

A chicken-and-rice platter ($4), with white sauce and hot sauce, was also infiltrated by a bit of black pepper. Their gyro, which I've tried only on pita ($3) is OK, but the chicken has more tang.

West 53rd St. Halal Food Cart
South side of 53rd St. west of Sixth Ave.

Cafe Edison

With a little applesauce and a lot of salt and pepper, matzo brie (rhymes with "Midwood High"; $7) is still pretty bland, but at the tail end of Passover, it's the most popular comfort food at the "Polish Tea Room." Perhaps a side of honey, or horseradish, would be more becoming.

This well-worn hotel coffeeshop has seen better days, but whether you walk in off the street or shoulder through the tourist-strewn lobby of the Edison, you won't find a better bowl of matzo ball soup ($2.50). For dessert, the "blueberry crumble" (as I'll call it; $2.75) was great, too — very nearly a solid mass of berries.

Cafe Edison
228 West 47th St. (Broadway-Eighth Ave.)
212-840-5000

Sophie's Cuban Cuisine

Very crowded at lunchtime. Goat stew ($8) with a spiced-up salad plus rice and beans, was OK, but seemed insubstantial; a guanabana shake ($3) was thin, too.

Sophie's Cuban Cuisine
23 West 56th St. (Fifth-Sixth Aves.)
(one of several locations)
212-315-4313

Norma's

Worth the plunge: upstream eggs benedict ($18), with smoked salmon and fingerlings (potatoes, that is), and fresh-squeezed orange juice ($7) that tastes like a $7 glass of OJ should. I later read but can't confirm that free refills are available for the asking.

Norma's
118 West 57th St. (Sixth-Seventh Aves.)
(Inside Le Parker Meridien)
212-708-7460
Breakfast and lunch only

Ernest Klein & Co.

Ossau iraty ($19.99 per pound), a sheep's milk cheese from the Basque region of southern France. Peelaway tan rind with a butter-colored interior; sharp, almost grassy lactic aroma; firm, more creamy than crumbly; earthy but mild flavor.

Ernest Klein & Co.
1366 Sixth Ave. (55th-56th Sts.)
212-245-7720

Tuscany

Although Tuscany seems set up primarily to handle catering and large delivery orders, construction workers chowing down outside seemed a promising sign. Both the somewhat dry chicken, bacon, provolone hero (shown; $6.50) and the sauced-down chicken parmesan hero ($6) are packed with meat.

Tuscany
61 West 55th St. (Fifth-Sixth Aves.)
212-582-4421

Junior's

The "famous No. 1 original cheesecake" ($5.95). Well named.

Junior's
1515 Broadway (at 45th St.)
(one of several locations)
212-302-2000