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.

New York-area food events, January 17-24

Valrhona Hot Chocolate Festival Kickoff Party
Thursday, January 17, 5:30-7:30
Ladurée New-York Soho, 76 Thompson St. (Spring-Broome Sts.), Manhattan
www.Eventbrite.com/e/valrhona-hot-chocolate-festival-kickoff-party-tickets-53738529388
Tickets: $40

The Serious Side of Food Reading: Diet for a Small Planet
Thursday, January 17, 5:30-7:00; continues monthly through March 2019
NYC Department of Records and Information Services, 31 Chambers St. (Elk-Lafayette Sts., in the Rebecca Rankin Reading Room), Manhattan
www.Eventbrite.com/e/the-serious-side-of-food-reading-series-w-jane-ziegelman-and-andrew-coe-tickets-49503054970
Free admission with online registration

Zlatne Uste Golden Festival
Friday, January 18, 7:30-12:30; Saturday, 6:00-2:00
Grand Prospect Hall, 263 Prospect Ave. (Fifth-Sixth Aves.), Park Slope, Brooklyn
www.GoldenFest.org
Complimentary Balkan and Middle Eastern snacks, cash bar
Tickets: adults $35 Friday/$55 Saturday; children ages 12 and under, free

Northern Wangmandoo Dumpling

The name "mandoo" (or "mandu") might bring to mind the image of thin-skinned Korean dumplings that are boiled, steamed, or pan-fried. A "wang" ("king"-sized) mandoo, by contrast, generally resembles a bun; here the English language signage calls it just that. Shown: kimchi with pork.

For the evocation of eating "inside a small dumpling factory to get an intimate look at the process while you wait," H/T Wander Sauce, whose very name suggests napkins at the ready.

Northern Wangmandoo Dumpling (aka Northern King Dumpling — Wang Mandu)
14944 Northern Blvd. (149th Pl.-150th St.), Murray Hill, Queens
718-461-8878

Lhasa Fresh Food

Compared with tiny, windowless Lhasa Fast Food, hidden behind a Jackson Heights cell-phone store, its newer Elmhurst sibling Lhasa Fresh Food offers a large, sunny dining room, an expanded Himalayan menu, and the same great momo. This one's filled with beef and chives. For more photos, see my collection on Flickr.

Lhasa Fresh Food
8109 41st Ave. (81st-82nd Sts.), Elmhurst, Queens
917-745-0364
http://Lhasa-Fresh-Food.business.site

Tong

This Bangladeshi street cart prepares its own crisp shells for fuchka (Foosh-kah) and fills them with well-seasoned chickpeas. Here the shells are hard to see under a litter of grated hardboiled egg.

Tong
Street cart on 73rd St. near the northeast corner with 37th Ave., Jackson Heights, Queens
929-257-6996
www.Facebook.com/BangladeshiStreetFoods
Tuesday through Sunday, midafternoon till about midnight

Keki Modern Cakes

Heavy on purple yam, light on Amish cream cheese: ube "bouncy" cheesecake.

Keki Modern Cakes
315 Fifth Ave. (entrance on East 32nd St.), Manhattan
212-889-0251
Also at 79 Mott St. (Canal-Bayard Sts.)
646-863-2094
www.KekiNYC.com