Eating In Translation

What's Eating In Translation?

This website began as a collection of field notes on interesting food I'd tried, or planned to try, in and around New York. Since its launch, in January 2005, I've visited thousands of venues, from white-linen restaurants to elbows-on-the-table eateries, as well as street vendors, fairs, festivals, grocers, and greenmarkets — and my "to eat" list is longer than ever.

Red White & Que Smokehouse

"Barbecue," in this neck of New Jersey, often summons the image of a Portuguese- or Brazilian-style churrasqueira, where meats are sizzled over a grill or on a rotisserie. At Red White & Que, which I first visited several years ago, not long after it opened on a tree-lined, otherwise residential block behind a high school, the bill of fare focuses on "American Southern barbecue" — a phrase I heard repeated to numerous first-time visitors, less for clarification than as a rallying cry.

In such company, pastrami is a relatively recent addition to the menu. My fat sandwich was very good with the addition of spicy and mustard sauces — but, for first-timers, it would be very hard to pass up Texas brisket with a fresh-cracked black pepper rub (below). Also shown, from a road-show appearance at the annual Hamilton Park BBQ Festival in Jersey City: a whole hog sandwich dressed with sweet and vinegar sauces.

Red White & Que Smokehouse
266 Davis Ave. (King St.-Quincy Ave.), Kearny, New Jersey
201-998-2271
www.RedWhiteAndQueSmokehouse.com

Cock's Bajan Restaurant and Bakery

"Bajan" (Bay-zhun) is a synonym for "Barbadian"; the chef, and his sugar cakes, hail from the Caribbean island of Barbados. The "cakes" are really drop cookies, and the colors are only for color's sake, but "sugar" is spot-on.

Cock's Bajan Restaurant and Bakery
806 Nostrand Ave. (St. John's Pl.-Lincoln Pl.), Crown Heights, Brooklyn
718-771-8933
Closed on Sunday, and lately during the beginning of the week, too

Khiladi

Pappu is the name, in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, for a glorified dal. "Mom's way of making it," says the menu, might involve tomato or mango; for my palakura pappu, split yellow lentils were brightened by spinach. Also shown: my tabletop decoration. I'll bet Mom could make something of this, too.

H/T LauHound, who pointed out the podi idli

Khiladi
175 Ave. B (at East 11th St.), Manhattan
646-791-0351
www.KhiladiNYC.com

Camotes Puebla

Outdoor desserts for autumn: roasted sweet potatoes and ripe plantains from Camotes Puebla, whose carts visit all five New York City boroughs. (On this afternoon I found these fellows on Fordham Rd., in the Bronx.) Most of the condensed milk seeped between the slices of my sweet potato; would you believe the skin was the best part?

H/T Esneider Arevalo, Culinary Backstreets tour leader for Queens

Camotes Puebla
Various locations
347-753-2073
www.Facebook.com/CamotesPueblaNYC
Generally Thursday through Sunday, late afternoon

Food stand outside Iglesia la Luz del Mundo

Pupusas are a specialty at this church food stand — the congregation includes many Salvadorans — but a recent visit uncovered mixiotes, too. The name mixiote (Me-she-OH-tay) denotes both the dish and a parchment-like membrane obtained from the leaves of maguey. This membrane, or, nowadays, more often simply parchment, is wrapped around long-marinated meat. The individual bundles are then pit-roasted or steamed — the latter, I imagine, for my mixiote de puerco, prepared in a Brooklyn church kitchen.

Food stand outside Iglesia la Luz del Mundo
5313 Fourth Ave. (53rd-54th Sts.), Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Sunday only, early afternoon