Eating In Translation

Aigner Chocolates

As you'd imagine, chocolate figures heavily in a candy lineup that covers the usual territory. An unexpected pleasure is a nicer-than-average selection of inexpensive games, puzzles, and diversions, like the basketful of small spinning toys decked out with the red, white, and blue and the words "America Is Tops." The jelly slice candies are even more colorful, with flavors to match. My sampler box included lemon, lime, blueberry, grape, apple, cherry, peach, pomegranate, grapefruit, and watermelon.

Also: peanut butter cups in dark, milk, and (not shown) white chocolate.

Aigner Chocolates (previously also known as Krause's Candy Kitchen)
103-02 Metropolitan Ave. (at 71st Rd.), Forest Hills, Queens
718-544-1850
www.AignerChocolates.com

"Children cry for Fletcher's Castoria"

You bet, especially when their white-and-yellow laxative ad (with "Fletcher's" in script") is partially painted over by another ad promoting Turkish cigarettes.

La Superior

My previous encounter with a torta ahogada, a sandwich whose surname literally means "drowned," was on a Sunday morning, just as church was letting out.

GT Rice Bowl

"GT," as I discovered on another excursion, signals "Georgetown," the capital of Guyana. Like many restaurants serving food from that South American country, the chow is split between Chinese and Caribbean; anything with cassareep (Cazh-uh-rip) belongs to the latter.

In what can be a painstaking process, cassareep is prepared from the juice of the cassava root. Boiled until thick and brownish-black, and seasoned with spices, hot pepper, and brown sugar, the ultimate molasses-like product has a bittersweet flavor.

This day, cassareep pork was sold out; most likely, the midafternoon cricket-match crowd had seen to that. A worthy fallback: cassareep chicken ($9.75), accompanied by jeera daal for my rice.

GT Rice Bowl
114-09 Liberty Ave. (114th-115th Sts.), Richmond Hill, Queens
718-323-4000

Elsie's

Though it occupies a narrow frontage on the avenue, Elsie's has as many seats as its sister restaurant, Freda's, in a nicely appointed dining room with a stone floor, exposed brick walls, and large unframed oil paintings of tropical foliage. Shown: curry goat ($11) with calalloo, curried potato and chickpeas, and coconut-seasoned rice.

Elsie's
2291 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. (134th-135th Sts.), Manhattan
646-476-5514

Good Brothers Steak and Take

Griddled-meat sandwiches, few seats. You can find a "steak and take" joint here and there in the five boroughs, but it's easier closer to Philadelphia, where the term probably first took hold (Philly cheesesteaks are always on the menu). At Good Brothers, the namesake sandwich includes chopped onions and bell peppers and a special sauce or two. As a lunch special ($5), the steak and take also comes with great fat fries and a drink.

Side note: I've read more than one unconvincing origin story about Pittsburgh sandwiches with fries between the bread. Could the inspiration be as simple as a tight-packed takeout container?

Good Brothers Steak and Take
110 Osborn St. (Pitkin-Belmont Aves.), Brownsville, Brooklyn
718-342-5289

Wu Han Tea Garden

This long-gone restaurant is not to be confused with the nearby, celebrated Little Oriental — which, to be sure, was a Romanian steakhouse. Also: signs for current hardware and furniture stores, and for a vanished haberdasher.

Wu Han Tea Garden
1533 Pitkin Ave. (Strauss St.-Saratoga Ave.), Brownsville, Brooklyn

P&M Bakayoyo Foods

(This venue is closed.) The orange, white, and green of the awning are the colors of the Ivorian flag. Like many West African food markets, Bakayoyo's stock in trade isn't wholly in comestibles; from this vantage you might be able to make out bolts of cloth in the left-hand window. Inside, past the stockfish and turban bananas, an open bin on the side counter holds tigernuts, which are great for nibbling but more palatable when rinsed first. Calabash-sized scoop ($1).

P&M Bakayoyo Foods
208 St. Nicholas Ave. (120th-121st Sts.), Manhattan
212-749-6875

Royal Pizzeria

Seen in passing: Two-slices-and-a-soda signage in Russian as well as English. The window has since been closed in; the menu and prominent dining-room signage are now in English only.

Royal Pizzeria
705 Brighton Beach Ave. (Brighton 7th St.-Coney Island Ave.), Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
718-332-8569

Jin Ramen

Tonkatsu ramen, traditionally associated with the Hakata district of the southern Japanese city of Fukuoka, takes its rich flavor from long-cooked pork bones. This spicy tonkotsu ramen ($12) gets a kick from mayu, or garlic paste. Note especially the very tender slices of pork, at left.

See also this tribute, by Rameniac, to the yatai food carts of Fukuoka city.

Jin Ramen
3183 Broadway (Tiemann Pl.-West 125th St.), Manhattan
646-559-2862
www.JinRamen.com