Eating In Translation

Dominican ice cart

In the Dominican heart of Upper Manhattan, I've never heard one of these ordered by name.

S. Oppenheimer & Co.

Before the introduction of artificial casings, sausage manufacturers relied on animal intestines to hold things together, and on firms like S. Oppenheimer to supply them.

Il Cantuccio

(This venue is closed; the owners have since set up shop in Paramus, New Jersey.) Carb on carb.

Red Hook Ball Fields

The sprawling tented stalls were banished several years ago, replaced by far less charming carts and trucks stationed outside the ballfield fences. The chow — prepared by a dozen or so vendors from Central and South America — has held up, by and large. But I miss the communal atmosphere of summers past, hence the handful of older photos in my slideshow.

Red Hook Ball Fields
Near the corner of Columbia and Bay Sts., Red Hook, Brooklyn
www.RedHookFoodVendors.com
Saturday and Sunday, mid-morning till late afternoon
May through October, give or take

Mansoura Pastries

Rib-sticking fare, confectionary department: Mansoura's take on Turkish delight has an unusually high payload of chopped pistachios. The rosewater-scented gel that binds their loukoum, as it's also called, is firmer than most, too. This 200-plus-year-old family business — which quietly marked its 50th anniversary in Brooklyn earlier this year — makes many other specialties from the Middle East and the Mediterranean. How to choose? On this occasion, I had what many other customers were having: My quarter-pound order ($4.80, at $20 per pound) cleaned out the tray.

Mansoura Pastries
515 Kings Highway (East 2nd-East 3rd Sts.), Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn
718-645-7977
www.Mansoura.com
Closed Saturday, and on Sunday in July and August

Cafe Kiev

(This venue is closed.) My review appears in the April 27, 2011 edition of The New York Times. For photos, see my slideshow.

Kings Highway Bakery

I prefer my crumb cake ($1.95) without a thin band of apple; since the counterwoman called my attention to it, I expect other folks feel the same way. When the crumbs are big and buttery enough, however, especially on a corner slice like this, one makes do.

Kings Highway Bakery
292 Kings Highway (West 6th-West 7th Sts.), Gravesend, Brooklyn
718-998-0141

Name This Bakery

The shape of the hull is pretty good, but the sailing vessel for which this bakery is named has two masts, not one, with more-elaborate fore-and-aft rigging.

Of course it's no blueprint; be assured, the pastries in the display case are crafted with precision. Most are Western, with a few influences from the proprietor's first home, in the East. Can you name this bakery? (Please post your answer in the comments.)

Super Nuts

All sorts. Also seeds.

Taste of Georgia

As at many Georgian shops there's a glassed-in display of assorted salads, but the focus is on the bread; the single word in Georgian script, at the center of the awning, means "bakery." And though it employs a traditional stone oven to prepare several varieties of khachapuri, the elongated bread called shoti seems to be the best-seller. A brace of shoti are pictured on the awning, and inside, behind the counter, they were racked like cordwood.

Taste of Georgia
1637 East 18th St. (Kings Highway-Quentin Rd.), Homecrest, Brooklyn
718-336-5556