When ripe, doudous mangos ($1.50 each) are golden without, cantaloupe-colored within. The creamy, very moist flesh suggests cantaloupe in sweetness and lack of acidity, too, though this pair also lacked any particular depth or nuance of flavor. In Washington Heights and other neighborhoods with large Dominican populations, these are commonly labeled as gole mangos.
Green Boy Fruit & Vegetable
123-16 Liberty Ave. (at 124th St.), Richmond Hill, Queens
On my earlier visits to these premises, conversations were conducted in English, Dutch, and Javanese.
The typeface signals a second cuisine in combination with Caribbean, even if you're not close enough to read the legend "Guyanese Chinese food" in the window. The small insignia of a waiter, bearing a tray draped in a checked cloth, is a nod toward classy service on otherwise modest premises. The flower and the steaming, covered plate are well and good; this being a halal restaurant, we'll trust that the bottle contains nothing more potent than sparkling water.
Carifesta Restaurant
126-15 Liberty Ave. (126th-127th Aves.), Richmond Hill, Queens
718-322-2210
Many restaurants wear their national colors, but the facade of this husband-and-wife operation encircles them in an uncommonly tight closeup: He comes from Guyana, she comes from Trinidad. Below, a small star and crescent indicate that the restaurant keeps halal.
The menu offers many light bites such as saheena ($1.50), a fritter usually made from a split-pea batter laced with young taro leaves, and shaped into a ball or patty. S&A's employs spinach, a common substitution, and is served folded in two. Like doubles, it carries a messy but delicious payload of curried chickpeas.
S&A West Indian Restaurant
103-06 Liberty Ave. (103rd-104th Sts.), Ozone Park, Queens
718-925-2224
Open seven days, but only till 6:00
The downstairs bar, grill, and pool room isn't open at the moment, said the taciturn fellow behind the counter as he rang up my Mello Yello ($1.50). I imagine he's the owner, too; on occasion he takes the air at the table beside the front door. Whenever I've passed by, no matter the time of day or day of week, the kitchen has been idle, but the example of another pool room persuades me to keep stopping by.
Williams Grocery & Deli, Bar & Grill, and Pool Room
126-02 Liberty Ave. (126th-127th Sts.), Richmond Hill, Queens
718-845-1328
The colors of Guyana, Trinidad, Jamaica, and the United States hang above the small bar, but whatever flag you fly, there's room enough for a crowd in the sprawling dining area.
Richmond Hill, Queens
Sunday, October 7, 2012
(click on photo for more details)
This personable roti shop and restaurant occupies the ground floor of a wood-framed building, and it packs quite a lot into one little room.
"GT," as I discovered on another excursion, signals "Georgetown," the capital of Guyana. Like many restaurants serving food from that South American country, the chow is split between Chinese and Caribbean; anything with cassareep (Cazh-uh-rip) belongs to the latter.
In what can be a painstaking process, cassareep is prepared from the juice of the cassava root. Boiled until thick and brownish-black, and seasoned with spices, hot pepper, and brown sugar, the ultimate molasses-like product has a bittersweet flavor.
This day, cassareep pork was sold out; most likely, the midafternoon cricket-match crowd had seen to that. A worthy fallback: cassareep chicken ($9.75), accompanied by jeera daal for my rice.
GT Rice Bowl
114-09 Liberty Ave. (114th-115th Sts.), Richmond Hill, Queens
718-323-4000
Though often sold side-by-side with husked, pale green coconuts meant for human consumption, these — sighted the day before the annual Phagwah (Holi) celebration — are fit for the gods. In Hinduism, "pooja" denotes a variety of offerings made to various deities or to distinguished (mortal) guests. The coconut, whose shape suggests the human head, is symbolic of selflessness and devotion, and, when opened, of the breaking of the ego. A tuft of coir, or coconut fiber, is traditionally retained on top; I don't know why.
Pooja coconuts
Richmond Hill, Queens
(This venue is closed.) Indonesian, out of Java, by way of Suriname.
Pot, it's not, not with those leaves.
"Linden" is a common toponym, applied around the world to many localities where linden trees grow. "Hawtree" is rather rare; surely it refers to the hawthorn, a populous genus of trees and shrubs found in the northern hemisphere.
I didn't attempt to follow the road as far south as Howard Beach, where Hawtree Basin accepts the ebb and flow from Jamaica Bay, and I don't know what flora survives there. But I'd like to imagine that in times past, hawthorns stood along the creek, and their small fruits were harvested and preserved as they still are in the South.
Hawtree Creek Road
Sign at the corner of Linden Blvd., Ozone Park, Queens
Thin and crispy, for a grandma slice ($3.50).
Also serving up Sabrett's hot dogs, Gabila's knishes, and another New York street-food standard stealthily introduced here.
"Come in...we like you," beckons the clown, but by all other indications he packed it in years ago. The current tenant, Cho-Cho Deli Grocery, has all the charm appropriate to a business whose headline offering is "lotto"; the "Thai food" also mentioned on the awning was not to be seen.
Need a cold soda on a hot day? Cho-Cho has you covered. As for Lefferts J&L Deli, can any Eating In Translation reader supply the back story?
Surviving sign for Lefferts J&L Deli
Today the site of Cho-Cho Grocery Deli
111-41 Lefferts Blvd. (Linden Blvd.-111th St.), Ozone Park, Queens
718-322-7167
(This location is closed.) This shopworn "ice cream parlor and restaurant" stirred up a fine vanilla egg cream ($2.10).
Note to self: When ordering crab roti, try to remember that nobody but you is going to pick that crabmeat. (The first of many lessons that didn't take was my encounter with "crab cooked with beer" at the old Saigon restaurant on Mulberry St.) Anil's rendition ($6.50), I'm glad to say, featured an unusually plump crustacean, so this finger-lickin' mess had a meatier-than-average payoff.
Anil's Roti
125-01 Liberty Ave., Richmond Hill, Queens
718-845-2800
Karela ($2.49 per pound) is one of a number of vegetables that also answer to "bitter melon" or "bitter gourd." The ampalaya you'll find at Filipino restaurants, and the "bitter" vegetables in Chinese and Okinawan cuisine, are varieties with a similar shape but a less gnarly rind. When it's cored — choose a thinner one for less pith and fewer seeds — the karela can actually be the basis for a fresh salad, but frying or even blanching it will tame the bitterness considerably.
Banana Country
120-01 Liberty Ave., Richmond Hill, Queens
718-641-5253
(This venue is closed.) "Sourie" seemed like just the right name, but only at first bite.
Thank you!
