Eating In Translation

Rosamunde Sausage Grill

(The Brooklyn location of this venue is closed.) On a boisterous stretch of the Lower Haight, the subtlety of my first Rosamunde sausage was lost on me.

Legend Upper West to replace the former Rack & Soul

The BBQ restaurant that served up Barack & Soul '08 T-shirts didn't survive to see the President's second inauguration. In its place will be a new administration — a Chinese import, it so happens, though from no farther away than Chelsea — who were installing new signs this afternoon. In the photo below, I believe the workers had just come to the realization that this particular legend — in particular, the words "Upper West" — would be easier to read on the other side of the sign.

Legend Upper West
Scheduled to open December 1 on the site of the former Rack & Soul
258 West 109th St. (Broadway-Amsterdam Ave.), Manhattan
www.LegendRestaurant88.com

The Avenue

Some versions of Lithuanian koldunai ($6.95) look more like Polish pierogi. These snugly wrapped meat dumplings resemble tortellini, but the accompanying bacon and sour cream transported them north from Italy into brisker, Baltic territory.

Koldunai are a fixture on this bar-restaurant's regular menu. Several additional Lithuanian items — kugelis, cepelinai, desreles — are offered at brunch on the final Sunday of the month. Not every month, however; call ahead to be sure.

The Avenue
71-22 Myrtle Ave. (at 71st Pl.), Glendale, Queens
347-725-3853
www.TheAvenueBarAndGrill.com

Happy Star Bakery

Lai cheong fun, sliced and heaped.

Pok Pok Phat Thai

(This venue is closed.) This noodle shop retains the record-sleeve decor of its immediate predecessor, Pok Pok Wing, and swaps in an even more focused menu. Most items are variations on the namesake dish, which departs from its Americanized counterparts by stir-frying the rice noodles in rendered pork fat and by adding not only bean sprouts and crushed peanuts but also the likes of tamarind, dried shrimp, preserved radish, and palm sugar. This phat Thai ruam ($12) is further plumped with shrimp and pork. None of these ingredients overpowers the others; though one, then another, may rise to the fore, given its complexity the dish as a whole is exceptionally well-balanced.

Each pad Thai is prepared to order, within eyeshot, and (unless you're mad) consumed immediately thereafter, as it would be on a Bangkok side street. Theoretically, the baseline ingredients could be customized just like the add-ins — say, a tad less palm sugar, a little more tamarind — though perhaps only during less busy hours. If you attempt this experiment, tip accordingly, and report back.

Pok Pok Phat Thai
137 Rivington St. (Norfolk-Suffolk Sts.), Manhattan
212-477-1299
www.PokPokPhatThai.com

Massawa

The painted sign at the restaurant's far left and the neon in the window are both in Columbia blue, befitting a business that's served the university neighborhood for a quarter-century. Massawa's weekend brunch menu includes lesser-seen East African dishes such as kinche ($8), steamed cracked wheat cooked here with tomatoes, rosemary, and a considerable amount of clarified butter. A second brunch-only item, kitchan — "spicy homemade unleavened bread," akin to chechebsa — has been on my radar but off the menu on multiple recent visits.

Massawa
1239 Amsterdam Ave. (at 121st St.), Manhattan
212-863-0505
www.MassawaNYC.com

Gill Fox

The advertising illustration of Gill Fox (1915-2004) was "nearly ubiquitous on pizza boxes in the 1980's" and, to my delight, still makes the occasional appearance today. This may not have been Fox's first pizzaiolo; his obituary describes a winking chef making an A-OK, a gesture to which some cultures have assigned vulgar meanings. It's possible that the artwork shown here was redrawn to be more universally palatable.

Of all his work, Fox was reportedly proudest of his political cartoons, which won him two Pulitzer nominations. Early in his career, however, he garnered early fame during the Golden Age of Comics. Compared with his two-tone pizza artwork, Fox's covers during this period were laboriously colored.

Nano Billiard Cafe

Table time is extra.

Rudy's Bakery & Cafe

Though pfeffernüsse (Feh-fer-noose, $15.99 per pound) translates as "pepper nuts," in Germany and in neighboring Denmark and the Netherlands, these small, firm cookies often contain neither pepper nor nuts. (That's the case here, too.) Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and anise are common ingredients that contribute to the zingy flavor.

Pfeffernüsse are associated with the winter holidays. At this long-lived German-American bakery, you'll find them from Thanksgiving week through the beginning of the New Year.

Rudy's Bakery & Cafe
905 Seneca Ave. (Catalpa-Myrtle Aves.), Ridgewood, Queens
718-821-5890
www.RudysBakeryAndCafe.com

Cafe Lore

A flower shop occupied this corner for most of the past four or five decades, but in recent years it wasn't uncommon for a member of the family that owned the shop (and the building) to cook up a little something in the back for visiting friends. By 2011, Italian-American food, and not flowers, had become the business's reason for being; eclectic furnishings continue to give Cafe Lore ("Lore-ree") a casual feel.

Many items are made in-house, including fresh linguine, lightly charred meatballs, and the Bolognese sauce they were tossed with ($13); the seasoning might have been more assertive. Not shown, from my first visit: a housemade pastry of some sort, dolloped with just-whipped cream.

Cafe Lore
4601 Fourth Ave. (at 46th St.), Sunset Park, Brooklyn
718-492-7100
www.Facebook.com/pages/Cafe-Lore/124751357631720
Closed Sunday