Eating In Translation

Chipichape Bakery

"Chitterlings," a name most associated with the American South, nowadays denotes boiled or stewed small intestine from a pig. Often there's a funky aroma, no matter how well the chitlins are washed.

"Chunchullo" may well have a common etymology, but these were funk-free, with a delicate flavor. One reason might be that this Colombian kitchen's version ($8) is made with beef; another, that the intestines are commonly filled with ground meat (presumably also beef). The short-order cook certainly knows his business, too: Both chunchullo and patacones were fried to a turn.

Chipichape Bakery
45-53 45th St. (Greenpoint-47th Aves.), Sunnyside, Queens
718-392-5480

Alpha Donuts

Alpha may not have been the first donut shop in Sunnyside, but nowadays it's surely the oldest.

Habibi

(This venue is closed.) Bathed in a rosewatery liquid, this cupful of khoshaf ($3.50) included pistachios, slivered almonds, a trio of apricots, dates, golden raisins, and assorted cryptic cordovan-colored objects. Cranberries, asserted Joe DiStefano, who also ascertained the name of this catch-as-catch-can nut-and-fruit concoction. Your khoshaf may vary.

Habibi
43-02 43rd Ave. (at 43rd St.), Sunnyside, Queens
718-706-0600

Souk El Shater

Halawet el jobn ($1.25) — the name can be spelled with myriad other vowel combinations — is a Middle Eastern stuffed pastry. The casing is made of sweet cheese blended with semolina, sometimes farina; the traditional filling, kashta, is not unlike clotted cream. You can understand, then, that though many online recipes depict ranks of snugly rolled pastries, sometimes halawet el jobn flattens of its own accord.

Souk El Shater
43-03 Queens Blvd. (43rd-44th Sts.), Sunnyside, Queens
718-392-2702

KPTL Express Vegetable Grocery

You might have to manage without the yak butter.

Mangal Kebab

The baked-dough menu features a flotilla of pideler.

Cafe Marlene

Slovenia borders the Alps, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean, and its cuisine looks to influences from many directions.

Mi Bolivia

Two points for the customized neon sign: one for the shoutout to salteñas, Bolivia's take on empanadas, and one for troubling to add the tilde, even if it lacks a squiggle. Minus one point for the neighboring neon (not shown here) that dilutes the Bolivian mystique with the message "pollo con sabor Peruano." Minus another point for the dining room devoid of staff and customers, despite the illuminated "open" sign.

Net: not an auspicious hour to sample those salteñas.

Mi Bolivia
44-10 48th Ave. (44th-45th Aves.), Sunnyside, Queens
718-784-5111

Takeout Burmese

(This venue is closed.) Three weeks later I was still picking away, one pinch of fish and garlic at a time.

Arsi's Pateseria

Bullseye.

Nita's European Bakery

Largely a Romanian bakery, by the looks of the newspapers behind the counter, though one was in Hungarian and two or three eluded quick identification.

Baruir

The soujuck on the counter didn't look anything like the soujuck in the refrigerator case.

Childs Restaurant

The marine motif isn't original to Rite Aid, the tenant as of 2010; that's evident even from a distance.

Fish House

Not for arthropods only.

El Shater

Is this the place with the brain sandwiches?

Victoria's II

Is that a cloud of ricotta, or just a cloud? Given that the awning features menu items that are predominantly Mexican and not Italian (note the extension on the awning; I've never set foot inside), we might also wonder: Why isn't the eagle perched on a cactus and clutching a snake?

Victoria's II
43-46 46th St. (43rd Ave.-Queens Blvd.), Sunnyside, Queens
718-361-1162

"Corn in Cup"

Is this an effort to commercialize esquites? I might have expected to see this poster on Roosevelt Ave. or in Sunset Park rather than in Sunnyside, whose Mexican community is comparatively small. The CupItFood website, however, indicates broader ambitions: Corn in Cup recipes include "original, Southern, Mumbai, East/West, Roma, Moroccan, West Indies, and Parisienne," and the company also markets products named Potato in Cup, PotaCorn, and Waffle in Cup.

I was hurrying to an appointment and couldn't stop to investigate. If you try Corn in Cup before I do, please post a comment for your fellow readers.

"Corn in Cup"
40th St. south of Queens Blvd., Sunnyside, Queens

I Love Py Bakery Cafe

Vori vori, solamente en Viernes.

Pecas y Más

Somewhere between fruit salad and frappe.

Euro Shop

(This venue is closed.) "Hungarian smokehouse specials...everything is homemade!" proclaimed the handwritten sign out front of this little market.