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(This venue is closed.) Rose's "Finger Lickin" shitor (3.7 oz.; $3) is a Brooklyn-made, African-style hot-pepper sauce that's flavored by shrimp and herring as well as onions, vinegar, red pepper, ginger, and garlic. Under other brand names, shitor is also available in at least one ruder spelling.
New African Terminal Market
110 East 149th St. (River-Gerard Aves.), Bronx
The chicken in my arroz con pollo classico ($14) was a little dry, the rice, very moist; a side of maduros ($4) was fine; guayabitas de Maria ($8.50), warm guava cobbler with vanilla ice cream, was nothing special.
Victor's Café
236 West 52nd St. (Broadway-Eighth Ave.)
212-586-7714
Rabo guisado (stewed oxtail; $8.20), though paired with exceedingly moist rice, should also have been accompanied by a pile of plantains that didn't find their way into this takeout order. No Margon, but lots of Latin lunchtime deals to be found here.
Utopia Café
46 West 56th St. (Fifth-Sixth Aves.)
212-974-3800
This tiny Japanese "beach house," which prepares the cuisine of likewise tiny Goto Island, might pass for a hipster lounge if it weren't more sincere and capable with the cuisine than concerned with the attitude.
Following dinner at Casa Mono, Robert and I stopped in to see his friend at the unofficial "waiting room" a few steps away. That's less than fair; all ham aside, at Bar Jamón one could eat well and go home very happy without setting foot next door. Tonight we had the capacity only for sherry, though we managed to squeeze down a pair of buñuelos lubricated with dipping chocolate.
Bar Jamón
125 East 17th St.
212-253-2773
Tonight my friend Robert and I were fortunate enough to score the two seats closest to the serving station, where we had an eye on the open kitchen and the ear of the well-informed waitstaff. Our tapas selection led off with pumpkin croquettes ($9), fried spheroids the size of a pingpong ball and not much heavier, even though filled with goat cheese, and an excellent if not exceptional duck with olives and salsify ($16). Other winners off the grill: dorada with garlic potatoes ($15), octopus ($13), and asparagus ($8). Desserts — a manchego tasting ($7) with not quite enough quince, and a crema catalana (a.k.a. brulee; $7) with a oh-so-precious accompaniment of bay leaf buñuelos — prompted us to repair next door to Bar Jamón for a more satisfying finale to an otherwise fine meal.
Casa Mono
52 Irving Place (at 17th St.)
212-253-2773
Ethiopian would be more enjoyable if I mastered tearing just small swatches of injera, the spongy bread lining the platter, to scoop up much larger mouthfuls of sauce. Shown here, part of a sampler for the table: misir wot (split lentils; orange), tibs wot (peppery lean beef; red), ater kik alecha (split peas; yellow), yebeg wot (lamb stew; brown), and atakilt wot (string beans and carrots; you spotted 'em).
Queen of Sheba
650 Tenth Ave. (45th-46th Sts.)
212-397-0610
(This venue is closed.) Slotted myself at the bar for a lamb shank ($22) with a wild mushroom risotto that tasted more of cheese and a (largely decorative) roast tomato, supplemented by a decent bowlful of creamed spinach ($7) and a cone of OK twice-fried fries ($2). The lamb itself was workmanlike; very tender but lacking depth or complexity of flavor.
Henry's
2745 Broadway (at 105th St.)
212-866-0600
I had low expectations for a restaurant that offers "sushi bar, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Chinese," but the description of the Malaysian curry chicken broth noodle ($7.50) — "spicy curry, creamy coconut milk" — gave me hope of a laksa lemak. No such luck: My noodle soup wasn't very spicy or coconutty; the white-meat chicken might have come straight from the salad bar.
Fusia Asian Cuisine
677 Lexington Ave. (at 56th St.)
212-308-2111
(This venue is closed.) Cow shredded meat hemp sauce flour ($3) owes its name to a Google translation, the owner told me, and in truth the peanutty soy sauce lacks any but appetite-dampening effects. Eat 'em if you got 'em.
Another Taiwanese specialty, five-for-a-dollar corn and pork dumplings, await a return nosh.
Taipei Noodle Restaurant
7 Allen St.
212-226-2328
Thank you!
