Eating In Translation

La Costeñita Grocery

You shake it, it shakes you.

A Little Taste of Somewhere Else

Read my article on five summertime food fairs and festivals with an international flavor, published in the May 27, 2009 edition of The New York Times. (And if you've ever gotten a chuckle from Eating In Translation photos starring my left hand, you'll get a kick out of my photos in the Times, too — enlarge that image!)

The accompanying blog post, for the newspaper's Diner's Journal, names a few of my other favorite celebrations of food and invites you to nominate your own. If you have some inside intelligence on "food-friendly events," as I call them on my little blog, here's your opportunity to share them with a much bigger audience.

Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal Emmanuel snack stand

(This venue — the snack stand, not the iglesia — seems to be closed.) Bacalaitos are on hand twice a week.

"U" Like Garden

Yat gaw mein: I've heard that name before.

Sweet Melissa

(This post is based on a visit to the now-closed Cobble Hill location.) The sign was staring me in the face.

"Cane of soda"

$4.50 would be a great deal if the soda with that deli sandwich really were sweetened with cane sugar, but I imagine we'll be making do with high fructose corn syrup.

"Cane of soda"
Outside a Nostrand Ave. supermarket, Flatbush, Brooklyn

Joe's Superette

(This venue is closed.) With deep-fried golden shells intact, they briefly put up a firm defense.

Shore Catch

Not all of these scallops were in the pink.

Name This Restaurant

Fancy footwork by this leaping stag keeps venison off the menu, but have your fill of housemade blood sausage and bratwurst, or perhaps a plate of kaese spaetzle. Can you name this restaurant? (Please post your answer in the comments.)

Cuisine of Queens and Beyond, and Twitter

How you doin'. I've just returned from a meatball-heavy event in Astoria. Two non-meatball items that left a lasting impression were gnocchi from L'incontro (apparently a special, like much of this nearby trattoria's ever-changing menu) and the ruby port flavor (new this year) from Wine Cellar Sorbets.

As for reports on tonight's "best meatball of the boroughs" contest (not judged by me), I'll point you to my Twitter feed, www.Twitter.com/EIT, lately the repository of many brief items of passing interest. (As a handle, EatingInTranslation was too long; my compromise, EIT, you can spell out, pronounce as "eat," or stretch into two syllables, as in Eid ul-Fitr, the festival of the fast-breaking that marks the end of Ramadan. I haven't decided which pronunciation I prefer.) You can always catch up with my tweets from the links in the sidebar of my website, but for up-to-the-minute reports (when I have them, which won't be always) on the weekend food festivals that are worth a visit, as well as the ones that aren't, you'll want to follow me on Twitter, too.