(This venue is closed.) The name is the proprietor's nod to a "beautiful" vacation spot in upstate New York; the map hung near the door portrays his first home, Sri Lanka.
Shown below: portions of stewed "pumpkin" (more like acorn squash) and a coconutty beef curry, atop noodles that I've tentatively ID'd as sevai ($6 total). I withdrew two whole curry leaves and an unidentifiable segment of stalk from the noodles, which were well-seasoned, bordering on spicy.
From my seat — Cafe Niagara provides a dozen, though they're huddled around a mere quartet of two-tops — I observed refrigerator cases that offer both Red Bull and Boylan's, plus several beverages usually seen only in the Sri Lankan groceries on Staten Island. (One particular barley drink, I've found, is street legal but doesn't look it.) Ultimately I fixed on a chilled dessert, vata appam (the proprietor's spelling, one of many; $2.50), caramelized brown sugar custard.
Also shown: a closeup of the window menu. At dinnertime, Cafe Niagara promises hoppers (the basketlike items), rice-noodle string hoppers, and the chopped roti dish called kottu, from 5:30 on. I'm on it.
Cafe Niagara
305 West 38th Street (Eighth-Ninth Aves.)
212-967-1314
