Eating In Translation

Bronx Baking Co.

Why is it that now is always the right time for a bacon-wrapped pretzel ($3.25)? Yesterday seemed ideal — I savaged a fresh one in the late morning chill of the New Amsterdam Market, then licked the bacon grease from my fingers — but that was yesterday. The bakers and I have long since parted company, and what I have left are a couple of photos and a taste for something salty. What do I do for a bacon pretzel now?

Bronx Baking Co.
See website for market locations
914-584-2233
www.Facebook.com/pages/Bronx-Baking-Co/460174534010832

Placita Ecuatoriana

Unlike Mexican alfeñiques, brittle sculpted confections that typically show their faces for the Day of the Dead, Ecuadorian alfeñiques resemble sticks of soft turrón or stiff taffy, made with sugarcane. They're anything but brittle: To separate my purchase into portions for sharing with a friend, he and I needed to grab on from opposite ends, with both hands, before we could pull it in two. Biting off a piece might have been easier (if messier); buying two alfeñiques, easier still.

The market's proprietor also withdrew several other enticing items from beneath the front counter: bars of white chocolate Nestle Galak; concha negra (not shown), his home country's famous black cockles, waiting to be shucked and served on the half-shell with a few drops of lemon juice; and (looming beside a quarter) an ostrich egg. He had only a few in stock — but who could possibly eat more than one?

Placita Ecuatoriana
205 Wyckoff Ave. (Harman St.-Greene Ave.), Bushwick, Brooklyn
718-381-3680

Lai cheong fun cart

Don't lay blame on the chicken or the egg. Owing to a thicker-than-usual rice-flour mixture, ladled from an industrial-sized plastic bucket at the vendor's feet, steamed rice noodles with ground chicken ($1.50) and an optional egg (50 cents extra) were gummier than the lissome lai cheong fun at Happy Star. They did, however, stick to my ribs.

Lai cheong fun cart
61st St. near the southwest corner with Eighth Ave., Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Daily, 7:00-4:00ish

Recycle NYC

Three of five ads supporting the city's continuing campaign to "recycle everything." Empty food containers are prime candidates.

NYC Recycles
Various public locations in New York City
www.NYC.gov/nycrecycles

La Newyorkina

Few foods have a profile as distinctive as a paleta. In fact, the silhouette is even more recognizable and enticing minus a bite. On this afternoon the girl's ice pop was done up as cucumber-lime, though I could easily imagine my creamy favorite, avocado ($4).

La Newyorkina
Morningside Heights Farmers Market, West 110th St. at Manhattan Ave., Morningside Heights, Manhattan
Saturdays, late May through early December
(One of multiple locations)
917-669-4591
www.LaNewyorkina.com

Broccoli in a cone

Love child of a green cart and an ice-cream truck?

Broccoli in a cone
Poster at Family Grocery, 2620 Frederick Douglass Blvd. (at West 140th St.), Manhattan
See also www.EatWiseTeens.org

Rocco's Calamari

(This venue is closed.) This old-school cafeteria-style restaurant has Calabrian roots, according to Robert Sietsema, which makes it "practically paisan" to Sicilian, according to the younger Vito Corleone. Do me this favor: When you request the lightly battered, tender, fried-just-right calamari (small, $8.50) — the default order, with all respect to the eggplant parm — ask for the spicier dipping sauce. Sietsema and young Vito would both approve.

Rocco's Calamari
6408 Fort Hamilton Pkwy. (64th-65th Sts.), Borough Park, Brooklyn
718-833-2109
www.Facebook.com/pages/Roccos-Calamari-of-Ft-Hamilton-Parkway/120171464661115
Closed Sunday and Monday

Lucky Zhang's Family II

While passing the time with EthnoJunkie before joining some friends at a Sunset Park restaurant, I pointed out several stands selling moon cakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival. These Fujianese moon cakes were flatter and broader than their Cantonese counterparts; some approached the size of a personal pizza. For $10, my friend took the plunge and added one to his ever-present goodies bag. After dinner, in lieu of dessert, five of us took turns tearing away chunks of the heavy pastry as we walked back to the subway; four of us went in for seconds.

Several days later, a one-man moon cake purchased in Manhattan proved to be much less satisfying; a return trip to Brooklyn was in order. At Lucky Zhang's, the stoopline stand was still piled high. I plucked a moon cake off the top shelf, as my dining buddy had done, but the proprietress bade me put it down. (With gestures, mainly. Fujianese speakers like this lady can, in theory, understand Mandarin, just not my Mandarin.) She took my hand and placed it on a plastic-wrapped moon cake sitting with its fellows in a box on the sidewalk — still warm. I happily paid $12, including, apparently, a $2 surcharge for bakery freshness.

Like a Cantonese moon cake, perhaps a Fujianese moon cake is meant to be eaten decorously, in thin slices, but flipping it sesame-seed-side-up and tearing it open gave a good look at the abundant fillings. These included roasted peanuts, jujubes, a few golden raisins, and pale green items that might have been candied winter melon, all held in place with the help of an inordinately large ration of lard. Imagine a Snickers bar made with Chinese ingredients, then fattened up further, and you'll have some idea of the density; factor in the weight, about four pounds, and suddenly snack time approaches critical mass. Fortunately another friend was on the scene to help me defuse the moon cake situation.

Lucky Zhang's Family II
5622 Eighth Ave. (56th-57th Sts.), Sunset Park, Brooklyn
718-439-3366
(One of several Lucky Zhang's storefronts in a two-block stretch)

LithNYC

From the name you'd probably imagine that a Lithuanian kugelis resembles kugel, at least when that puddinglike Jewish casserole is based on potatoes. The two are similar, albeit with one critical, crunchy difference: Kugelis contains bacon. This combo plate ($8) included a side of crumbled bacon with onions, too, as well as the dumplings called koldunai.

New York offers few public occasions to enjoy Lithuanian food. Apart from one-day events such as LithNYC, your best bet is The Avenue; koldunai are included on the bar-restaurant's daily menu, and a Lithuanian brunch is offered on the final Sunday of the month. Not every month, however; call ahead to be sure.

LithNYC
Outside the Church of the Annunciation, 70 Havemeyer St. (courtyard entrance on North 5th St.), Williamsburg, Brooklyn
www.Facebook.com/events/482139705198959
(This festival and fundraiser was held on September 21, 2013)

Mughlai

(This venue is closed.) The coconut's not for eating, no more than the slices of potato here serving as incense-stick holders. In Hindu practice the shape of the coconut is thought to suggest that of the human head; it's considered symbolic of selflessness, devotion, and, when opened, of the breaking of the ego. Employed in this manner it's called a pooja coconut.

This one had been flung violently down on the blacktop outside the restaurant, where Mughlai had filled several long tables with food for a weekend street festival. Afterward the broken coconut pieces were simply scooted under the grill. A ceremonial delay of several minutes meant that my chicken ($6, with fixings) was blacker on the bottom than it might have been — in fact it was charred — but the meat was still juicy, and those crunchy bits mixed well with basmati rice.

Also shown: dhokla ($2 each), steamed savory cakes native to the Indian state of Gujarat. These, dressed with sliced chili peppers and mustard seeds, were made with "lentils," said the server, though in South Asia that term applies to a wide variety of leguminous crops. In this case, I'm thinking chick peas.

Mughlai
320 Columbus Ave. (at 75th St.), Manhattan
212-724-6363