Eating In Translation

David Copperfield's

A burger, medium rare, with fries ($7.99) was fine. Blue Point blueberry ale (pint; $6) had an unmistakable aroma but thankfully a much drier flavor; tart yet smooth.

David Copperfield's
1394 York Ave. (at 74th St.)
212-734-6152

Fruit Juice Stand

More fruit than punch: This cup ($2) was filled with chunks of fresh mango, papaya, cantaloupe, and banana, plus a few grapes and maybe some mamey.

Fruit Juice Stand
Roosevelt Ave. near 105th St., Corona, Queens

Quetzal Café

(This venue is closed. Mi Ranchito, which serves Guatemalan and Peruvian food, now operates at this address.) Much of the food at this Guatemalan lunch counter is reportedly prepared elsewhere and reheated here; sadly, my pache de pollo ($1.50), a potato-based tamale filled with chicken, was bland overall, and the meat was dry. Given more time, I would have done better to follow the lead of the construction workers who chowed down on bowls of chunky soup. My licuada de fresa (strawberry; about $4) was fresh and frothy.

Quetzal Café
262 Hope St., Stamford, Connecticut

My Place

Of the specialty pizzas from My Place, my first choice was the white casino (large; $17), with baby clams, hickory smoked bacon, peppers, and garlic, but the clams weren't nearly as prominent as the large but undermelted gobs of ricotta, and other flavors didn't come together. This veggie works pie (medium; $15), which arrayed red roasted peppers, green peppers, fresh mushrooms, fresh basil, onions, garlic, broccoli, spinach, and eggplant, is a superior selection.

My Place
8 Queen St., Newtown, Connecticut
203-270-7061

Café d'Alsace

Crowded restaurant that handles attention well. La moelle (bone marrow; $8.75) oozed decadently across thick-sliced grilled bread; I could quibble that the salt wasn't coarse enough and the parsley, too stinting, but it left me with a glow nonetheless. Grilled truite au Riesling ($19.50), with buttered spinach, was light and flaky, well-paired with a sauce flavored by the namesake grape.

A gateau au fromage blanc (Alsatian-style cheesecake; $8) was topped by a lemon zest confit and surrounded by a generous moat of tart raspberry coulis.

On a return visit a year later, the trout was still very good, as were the choucroute with fish and the cassoulet, but the presentation was artless — verging on clunky, in the case of the trout.

Café d'Alsace
1695 Second Ave. (at 88th St.)
212-722-5133

Filipino Stand

Though a rent hike squeezed their out restaurant formerly tucked behind the Port Authority building, these folks still run a catering operation; they'll also be serving up the goods at the Philippine Independence Day festival, the first Sunday in June on lower Madison Ave. Halo-halo ($4) is shown here before I mix-mixed the usual assortment of goodies with the shaved ice and condensed milk.

Filipino Stand
at the Ninth Ave. Food Festival

Central Fish Market

 

One more softshell crab ($4), freehanded, confirmed my impression: better to go bunless.

Central Fish Market
at the Ninth Ave. Food Festival
527 Ninth Ave. (39th-40th Sts.)
212-279-2317

Sea Breeze

The claw that sticks out will be bitten off! To cradle a softshell crab ($4), crusty bread would have been better than a bun; I forced it down nonetheless.

Sea Breeze
at the Ninth Ave. Food Festival
541 Ninth Ave. (at 40th St.)
212-563-7537

Kai Feng Fu Dumplings

The beef pancake isn't a patch on the version at Dumpling House on Eldridge St.; all it offers is beef and a little hot sauce.

Kai Feng Fu Dumplings
4801 Eighth Ave., Sunset Park, Brooklyn
718-437-3542

Lopez Grocery

Castipan fruit-flavored bocadillos (12 pieces; 400 g.; $1.99) came across like the tough city cousins of Chuckles: thicker, rougher cut, less yielding. The chunks of "lime" insinuate spearmint.

Lopez Grocery
4330 New Utrecht Ave., Borough Park, Brooklyn
718-435-2299