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An Albanian grocery, to tell by the two-headed eagle on the business card. (Also, the counterman came right out and said as much.) Vava brand grape-pumpkin-eggplant preserves (440 g.; $3.99), from Macedonia, consist of chunks of the latter two in a jam of the first. Curious, even entertaining, if you don't overdo it.
Mërgimtari Meat and Grocery
565 East 187th St. (near Arthur Ave.), Bronx
718-562-4234
Named for a cheese common throughout the Balkans, Kashkaval sports an enticing deli counter and a rustic back room that's quiet by day but often hopping at night. Sadly, the few items I've sampled for takeout were unexciting: ajvar ($6.99 per pound), a spread of roasted red pepper, olive oil, and garlic that was not only mild, but tame; a spicy walnut pepper spread with oil, garlic, and parsley ($6.99 per pound) that, believe it or not, had too much walnutty crunch; and a beef borek ($3.95) surrounded by gummy phyllo.
Kashkaval
856 Ninth Ave. (55th-56th Sts.)
212-581-8282
Not for dessert only, though the sweets (and even the sakes) far outnumber the savories. "Original sweet tofu" ($7), with black sugar sauce and dried apricot, was creamy but too dense for my taste; I prefer the looser formation of tofu-fa.
Kyotofu
705 Ninth Ave. (48th-49th Sts.)
212-974-6012
Enjoy cheese, cured meat, or tapas with your tipple in the small seating area, or take your tidbits to go. Here: hot, sweet, or in my case black-pepper-rolled salami ($12.80 per pound). Very, very peppery.
Vintner Wine Market
671 Ninth Ave. (46th-47th Sts.)
212-957-7500
You like-a the juice, ah? Juice is good, ah?
My cheesesteak ($6.50), with optional onions, was lightly lined with melted provolone rather than slathered in goo. The roll was fresh, but though it comfortably absorbed the run-off from the meat, crustier would have been better.
Philly Slim's
789 Ninth Ave. (52nd-53rd Sts.)
(one of two locations)
212-333-3042
Zabb City is an Isaan restaurant (or Isan, or Esan), rooted near Thailand's northeast border with Laos. Here, as back home, most dishes display a straightforward preparation and presentation, but the spice level in New York is considerably muted. From the former Woodside location (now an independent Zabb), the green papaya salad called som tum ($7.50) was flavored with salted crab, plus chili and a satisfying sourness of lime. By contrast, a som tum I ordered in Vientiane, Laos, gave me the hiccups after one mouthful; it was so hot that not only did I leave half of it behind, but it woke me urgently at 4:00 a.m.
Zabb City
244 East 13th St. (Second-Third Aves.)
212-529-8770
This corner slab of apple-blackberry crumb cake ($3) was not as crumb-y as I like, but the richness of the surrounding layers easily tempered the tartness of the berries. A compact apricot scone ($1) had a very pointed flavor; its cranberry sibling, less so.
Creekside Barn
Warwick, New York
(at the Lincoln Square Greenmarket)
"Restaurant" is a stretch, but their especially crisp-coated falafel stood up admirably in a sea of babaganouj (on pita; $2.50); as "meaty" as a vegetarian sandwich can be.
Mamoun's Falafel Restaurant
119 MacDougal St. (Bleecker-West 3rd Sts.)
(One of two locations)
212-674-8685
(This venue is closed.) Bierkraft carries cheese and charcuterie, dozens of preserves, jams, marinades, and spreads — even New Orleans' favorite brand of potato chips, Zapp's (Spicy Cajun Crawtators; 5.5 oz.; $2.50) — but the namesake attraction is a painstakingly stocked wall-length refrigerator case boasting 900 brews.
Victory Harvest Ale (64 oz. draft growler; $10.95), Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Ruddy amber with a tall, longstanding, parchment-colored head, perhaps enhanced by a long jouncing walk to my poker game. Aroma and flavor lean toward malty and rounded rather than hoppy, compared with many others in the fine Victory line.
On previous visits:
Ithaca Apricot Wheat (12 oz.; $2), Ithaca, New York. The apricot aroma almost seems not to belong to the beer itself, and in fact there's little apricot taste, and no tartness, bite, or finish, in this murky golden beer.
Lion Lager (333 ml.; $2), Biyagama, Sri Lanka. If this were the only beer on the island after a hard day in the sun, perhaps I'd feel different, but this medium gold lager is otherwise scarcely discernible from water. Time for a Tiger.
Coal Porter (12 oz.; $1.75), Bar Harbor and Portland, Maine. Very dark brown, with a lingering, almost smoky taste. As half of a "black and blue," a little too strong for the brewery's Blueberry Ale; cute name, though.
Hitachino Nest Lacto Sweet Stout (11.2 fl. oz.; $5), Naka-gun, Ibaraki, Japan. Dark brown, with a caramel flavor and a tall, thick head that I could almost scoop out with my fingers. Reminiscent of a root beer float after you add the vanilla ice cream. Indeed, the label states that it's "brewed with pale, crystal-caramel malt and authentic lactose."
Bierkraft
191 Fifth Ave. (Union St.-Berkeley Place), Brooklyn
718-230-7600
(This venue is closed.) As straightforward a bar burger as you could want (about $8 — draft lager blurred both my notes and my memory), with the critical addition of sliced pickles, hidden here beneath the bun. The Abbey's bartenders are always personable, though the fries seem to have missed out on the TLC.
Abbey Pub
237 West 105th St. (Broadway-Amsterdam Ave.)
212-222-8713
Thank you!
