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.

Malaysian Food

The proprietor of this street cart with a straightforward name, emblazoned in both English and Chinese, tells me she comes from Johor Bahru, the shortest of train rides north from Singapore. My curry cheong fun was actually a combination of menu items — curry chicken, fish balls, pig skin, and broad, thick, often tightly wrapped rice noodles — in imitation of the fellow who ordered before me. We perched on neighboring plastic stools in the shade of the side street. Previously, the onion-laced sambal and coconutty rice of her nasi lemak (shown below) were particularly good.

Malaysian Food
Cart on 58th St. near the southeast corner with Eighth Ave., Sunset Park, Brooklyn
929-339-2814

Han Shi Bao Zi

Ring bell for service: a socially distant ramp-and-basket bao delivery system. Inevitably these fluffy steamed buns flatten when you take a bite. Mine was filled with vegetables — presaged, on top, by a tiny curl of carrot.

Han Shi Bao Zi
4002 Bowne St. (Roosevelt-41st Aves.), Flushing, Queens
917-687-1789

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