Eating In Translation

Tulip Bake Shop

A "New Year's cookie" with caraway seeds ($1.20) might have Dutch roots, I'd have wagered, but even the folks behind the counter weren't sure.

Usha Foods and Usha Sweets

The decorative silver foil is edible, too.

Wall Street Bath & Spa 88

I missed my pickled watermelon.

Bull Run Restaurant

Great name for a Financial District destination in the late '90s; in the last year or so, not so great. New owners are "refurbishing" the restaurant, according to a notice on the door; it will reopen under the more modest moniker of William's Restaurant & Bar.

(Temporarily) surviving signage at the former Bull Run Restaurant
Adjacent to Club Quarters
52 William St. (at Pine St.)
www.BullRunWallSt.com

Grand Central Oyster Bar and Restaurant

Big Easy sandwich, Big Apple ambiance.

Panino Sportivo

(This venue is closed.) Care for a little soccer with your sandwich?

Go! Go! Curry!

Even the "single" sized serving of this Japanese joint's katsu curry ($7.50) provided a sliced-up slab of panko-crusted pork cutlet atop a nearly equal expanse of white rice. Both found comfort in a pool of heavy, black-peppery sauce that made the merest nod toward sweetness. White shreds of cabbage offered crunchy contrast; so did a bright red heap of fukujinzuke ($1), a traditional accompaniment of soy-sauce-pickled radish.

Go! Go! Curry!
273 West 38th Street (near Eighth Ave.)
212-730-5555
www.GoGoCurryUSA.com

Katagiri & Co.

Why Vermont?

Abraço

Cured olive oil may not be a traditional Christmas flavor in this country — certainly not in a cookie — but make yourself a present of this tiny shop's housemade shortbread ($2), and you won't give a care about the utilitarian "giftwrap." The coffee and espresso drinks are also highly regarded.

Note: Abraço is closed Christmas Day, and every Monday.

Abraço
86 E. 7th St. (First-Second Aves.)
212-388-9731
Closed Monday
www.AbracoNYC.com

Kalustyan's

The mountain won't come to you.