Eating In Translation

David Blustein & Bro.

"Raw furs" and "ginseng" aren't such an odd couple. A century or so ago, when this stack of signs was freshly painted, both were still commonly sourced from U.S. woodlands. The ginseng and other botanicals were destined for export, typically to China, along trade lines that had been established in the late 1700s.

Today most ginseng is cultivated, and a dwindling demand for furs is largely satisfied by farmed animals. However, a few U.S. companies, most in the Midwest, continue to broker raw furs and ginseng sourced in the wild.

David Blustein & Bro.
Surviving signage at 158 West 27th St. (seen from Seventh Ave.), Manhattan

Broadway Restaurant

(This venue is closed.) My day is more in focus after I've had my morning coffee and juice. Breakfast, certainly, looks better. Pastrami and eggs ($7.50), rye toast.

Broadway Restaurant
2664 Broadway (101st-102nd Sts.), Manhattan
212-865-7074

Mi Pequeño Terruño

Cuy alley: On weekends in temperate weather, spit-roasted Ecuadorian guinea pig can be found in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Typically four carts do business along one short stretch in the eastern reaches of the park, just as they have for some number of years. No advance notice is required to procure cuy (Coo-ee), and, at Mi Pequeño Terruño, no Spanish; English will serve you just fine.

You will, however, do well to call on your negotiating skills, and to weigh fatness of cuy against fatness of wallet: This platter cost $50 (courtesy of EthnoJunkie). For that price the proprietor included several sugar-sprinkled fritters (not shown) as an appetizer while the cuy was rewarmed on the grill (standard practice at all of these carts), and she frieghted the tray with hefty golden potato cakes and an underlayer of those outsize kernels of Andean corn. Accompaniments included, this was more than enough for two (fortunately, EthnoJunkie is always prepared to pack out leftovers).

The cuy itself was far superior to the guinea pig I tried several years ago; "tastes like turkey" had been my earlier capsule review. This more recent specimen was particularly large, and the meat from different parts of the animal had distinctly different characters — more garlicky closer to the skin, especially the fattier bits, richer in the hindquarters, gamier closer to the spine. Two kidneys were thumbnail-size treats; crisp skin paired well with everything.

Mi Pequeño Terruño
Cart near the intersection of Progress and Discovery Aves., inside Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens
Open daily in temperate weather, but serving cuy only on Saturday and Sunday

Saka Dawa Festival

The commemoration of the birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana (death of the mortal body) of Siddhartha Gautama is named for the the fourth month of the Tibetan Buddhist calendar. This particular event, on the premises of a Nepali social group, came to light only because I took a wrong turn; when I found myself on the Elmhurst corner that is home to the United Sherpa Association, one of the gentlemen standing by the courtyard, or perhaps it was a driveway, asked if I'd like to have lunch.

In New York, many small festivals such as this are not promulgated outside the immediate community but do welcome passersby. True, most of the chow this day had no allegiance to either Tibet or Nepal: an apple, a cup of yogurt, a sushi roll, a brand-name veggie sandwich. The sole distinctive dish was dresi, a sweetened preparation of rice cooked with butter — a great deal of butter — and featuring golden raisins, cashews, and tiny tubers called droma. These, like most of the congregation, had made the trek all the way from the Himalayas; in the scope of things, my one wrong turn was a very small matter.

Saka Dawa Festival
United Sherpa Association (aka Sherpa Kyidug)
41-01 75th St. (at 41st Ave.), Elmhurst, Queens
718-779-7300
www.SherpaKyidug.org
(The 2014 festival was held on June 14)

World Cup viewing tent and snack bar

Despite the blue-and-white banner the featured team was Ecuador, not Honduras (Los Catrachos would play later), and the featured eats were tacos, not baleadas. On this weekend afternoon, many similar small gatherings were scattered here and there in the eastern reaches of the park.

World Cup viewing tent and snack bar
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens
(The 2014 World Cup concludes in four weekends, on July 13)

Bangladeshi block party

While looking for a different event featuring food from another continent, I happened on a street festival sponsored by a Bangladeshi communications company. During the warmer months, similar single-block events pop up all over the city. Even when word is published in advance, often it's difficult to find out about the organizer, the entertainment, the vendors, or anything more than the time and place.

At midday a stage was being set up at one end of the block for musical performances; tented stalls lined both sides of the street, almost all of them draped with South Asian apparel and fabrics. Just one stall sold food, and though primed for bulky but mild European fare, I bought a serving of black chick peas ($3) to tide me over. Mustard oil, evidenced by the thin stripe at the edge of the bowl, pointed my palate in a different direction.

Bangladeshi block party
Elmhurst, Queens

"Lead Safe House"

Or, in Spanish "Casa a Salvo de Plomo," the motto on the cap of the worker in the foreground. His hands shield the human figures, and their food, from the threat of lead poisoning, symbolized by the chipping paint that frames the bottom of the mural.

"Lead Safe House"
Christopher Cardinale and Youme Landowne, 2004
2183 Amsterdam Ave. (168th-169th Sts.), Manhattan

Berkshire Berries

Though berry-free, Berry Hot Garlic jelly (7.5 oz., lately $9) does carry a potent hot pepper load. Jalapeños, reportedly. It's zippy and then some; when mamba peanut butter eludes my grasp, this jelly provides the bite for spicy PB&Js.

Berkshire Berries
U.S. Rte. 20, Becket, Massachusetts
800-523-7797
www.BerkshireBerries.com
At the Union Square Greenmarket

Kosher PizzaMania

(This venue is closed.) Tactic for securing fresh garlic knots: Observe crowded baseball fields of neighborhood youth league, calculate time until "good game, good game" handslaps, subtract a half-hour or so. These (four for $1) were still glistening from the oven.

Kosher PizzaMania
7749 Vleigh Pl. (77th Rd.-78th Ave.), Kew Gardens Hills, Queens
718-487-3202

Picnic Churrasqueira

Though cooked in an oven, chanfana is generally thought of as a stew, owing to the generous amount of cooking liquid required. Its origins are murky. When the French invaded Portugal in 1810, some say that local populations poisoned the water to deprive the French troops — or perhaps it was the troops who poisoned the water to punish the locals. Either way, little water was available for cooking, so for chanfana, chunks of meat were submerged in red wine instead.

Many newer recipes call for lamb. This more-traditional chanfana de cabrito (special, half-portion, $12) featured fork-tender goat, garlic-laced greens, and a Maginot line of boiled potatoes.

Picnic Churrasqueira
233 Ferry St. (at Alyea St.), Newark, New Jersey
973-589-4630
www.PicnicNewark.com