Eating In Translation

Ten favorite food events in New York

Earlier this week an Eating In Translation reader asked me to name my favorite food celebrations in the city. The ten events below, listed in (approximate) order of their schedule each year, represent ten different countries; if I'd been willing to repeat national cuisines, venture outside New York, or spend the time on a much longer list, I might easily have named twenty.

Honduras Patio Restaurant

(This venue is closed.) "Baleadas: as typical of New York as chop suey." That's national pride talking, through an ad printed in the menu; in New York, the baleada is comparatively rare. (Patios, too; here you'll sit indoors.) But Honduras Patio Restaurant has good reason to be proud of its own soft, freshly griddled tortilla, folded over beans and cheese (the basic baleada; $2) and enriched with egg and sour cream (for all of 50 cents more). A bottle of hot sauce and an apothecary jar of pickled vegetables, tinted a startling magenta, also sit ready at every table.

"Pastel" signals a crisp pastry, usually one you can eat on the go, so I was surprised by the presentation of the pastelito ($2), piled with a cabbage slaw and sprinkled with grated cheese. Stick a fork in it, and you'll find potato, carrot, and lots of ground beef.

Honduras Patio Restaurant
194 Bay St. (near Victory Blvd.), Tompkinsville, Staten Island
718-816-4429

Chuck's Pizzeria and Restaurant

(This venue is closed.) This is the burly man's burek. At Chuck's it's served with knife and fork; I changed arm angles several times to saw through its chewy layers. By comparison, its cousin on Arthur Ave., the feathery pumpkin-filled spiral at Tony & Tina's, is light enough to be tugged apart with your fingers. It's also sweet enough for dessert, very nearly, while Chuck's cheese burek ($3.50) is salty and satisfying, more of a meal. Below it's trimmed with whitecaps of plain yogurt, which adds lubrication that would be especially welcome on a burek filled with ground meat.

This Albanian-owned business, accompanied by a meat market and grocery next door, also offers the usual pizzeria standards. On a return visit, though, I'd rather tuck into a Balkan hero featuring pleskavic (burger meat) or qevapa (sausage).

Chuck's Pizzeria and Restaurant
340 Victory Blvd. (at Cebra Ave.), Staten Island
718-720-4500

Catch of the Day

There's no denying the shrimp are fresh and juicy, but despite the name, that's no po' boy.

Zingone Brothers

Hard to believe it's a relative of the ugli fruit.

Peach blossoms

I had no idea they could be found this far north, except on a farm.

Peaches

Blank canvas.

Bread Stuy

(This venue is closed.) A slice of banana bread ($3) was very moist and flavorful; the pumpkin looked good, too.

Bread Stuy
403 Lewis Ave. (Macdonough-Decatur Sts.), Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
718-771-0633

Early Bird Foods

The early bird gets his pick.

L&M European Food Store

(This venue is closed.) "European" food stores often hail from the former Soviet bloc; this one ventures into the Balkans.