Eating In Translation

Buenos Dias

(This venue is closed.) Fat with dulce de leche, the mini-alfajores (not shown; 75 cents) were almost round enough to guest-star in a round of mini-golf, but I determined to hold myself to a single midafternoon sweet. The yellow crown on this half-dome ($1) proved to be baked-on custard cream; with a shy smile, the Argentine-born owner added that back home, the pastry is commonly called a tetilla. I'll leave you to work out the translation for yourself.

Buenos Dias
1468 Saint Nicholas Ave. (183rd-184th Sts.), Manhattan
212-923-0202

Obama Country Deli

(This venue is closed.) Based on the briefest of walk-arounds, I'm guessing "Obama Country" and not "Country Deli."

Obama Country Deli
2868 Frederick Douglass Blvd. (at West 153rd St.), Manhattan
347-688-1910

Food-and-Drink Trivia Contest at Haakon's Hall

The New York restaurant Haakon's Hall hosts a trivia contest every Sunday evening, continuing a tradition that began more than ten years ago at the nearby Night Café (now closed). It's more for the fun of competition and camaraderie than for the occasional bottle of wine that's passed out as a prize.

The Vendy Awards

A mosaic by Robert Indiana, at the Willets-ramp entrance to Flushing Meadows Corona Park, will have to stand in for all the photos I didn't take at the 2009 Vendy Awards. I'd been eating all day — some lesser-known street fare included — and stopped in at the park only to say hello to a few food-loving friends. An hour-and-a-half (and a nosh-and-a-half) later, I'd also witnessed the presentation of this year's awards.

If you follow me on Twitter, you may also followed the announcements in real time. If not, the recap:

Rookie of the year: Schnitzel and Things

Dessert: Wafels and Dinges

People's choice: the Biryani Cart

Judges' choice: the Martinez "Country Boys" truck

Museum of Chinese in America

Presented here without comment, a mid-'70s curiosity, better seen in context of the marvelous exhibits at this newly relocated and expanded museum.

Museum of Chinese in America
211 Centre St. (Grand-Hester Sts.)
www.mocanyc.org
212-334-1057

Gizmodo Gallery

No Coke for you.

Some Nibbles, Nuggets, and Noshes That Will Not Appear at the Next Vendys

No knock on the Vendy Awards — New York's annual street-food competition conducted by, and for the benefit of, the Street Vendor Project — but this one-afternoon event can cover only so much ground. My slideshow may take in a little more (including, to be sure, a competitor or two from Vendys past), yet it's merely one man's compilation, by no means systematic or comprehensive. I haven't attempted to include vendors who appear only on special occasions (for more on these, see my coverage of fairs and festivals). Of the vendors I have included, many close up shop for the winter; some may already have vanished, never to return.

Autumn is a terrific season to experience New York's street-food scene; if you can still buy a ticket to Saturday's Vendy Awards, that would be a great start. As for all the other fascinating food you learn about on Eating In Translation, and elsewhere, don't put off your explorations for long; what's here one day may be gone the next. In a word, hurry.

See the slideshow

St. Stephen of Hungary Street Fair and Block Party

Nice spread.

Wood Homestead Maple Syrup

Maple syrup's Southern cousin gets featured billing.

Ginkgo nuts

They look a little like candy corn.