Winner by a nose.
This event was held primarily in the church basement, where room to maneuver and breadth of menu were limited compared with the periodic bazaars at Masjid Al-Hikmah. Even so, I found two dishes that offered me a little something new.
My slight favorite — credit an affection for Asian fruit salad — was rujak cingur (shown above and below, $7). Like the same vendor's version of rujak manis buah, it was a toss-in of cucumber, mango, pineapple, and tempeh, with a thick, sweet dressing, tweaked with hot sauce, on the side. This variation, a favorite in the Javanese city of Surabaya, featured one distinguishing ingredient, described by the vendor as beef tendon. I'm not sure whether she was being cautious with my sensibilities or had to substitute for rujak cingur's standard cartilaginous component, cow's nose.
Also shown: nasi kuning ($6) "yellow rice" accompanied by jackfruit, egg, beef, and a veggie combo laced with spicy coconut. For crunch, one could add shrimp crackers or, as I did, kremesan, curious "crumbs" prepared from rice flour and chicken stock. Back on street level, the beverage table offered es blewah (not shown, $2.50), a ringer for the cantaloupe drink served at the Santacruzan Festival in Jersey City.
Bethel Church of Indonesia bazaar
87-07 Justice Ave. (52nd-53rd Aves.), Elmhurst, Queens
