Eating In Translation

Bridge Coffee Shop

The United States Postal Service doesn't move at bullet speed, and in this instance it was just as well.

Little Nica'

(This venue is closed.) In many countries where Spanish is widely spoken, the meaning of "quesillo" (keh-See-yo), or "little cheese," is fairly straightforward; often it refers to a fresh cheese. In Nicaragua, or Nica' for short, the word has taken on the extended meaning of a particular street food with cheese at its core. (Likewise, in Venezuela, "patacón" can refer literally to twice-fried plantain or figuratively to a sandwich in which slices of plantain are employed like slices of bread.)

Pickled onions and crema, a runny sour cream, accompany soft cheese atop the quesillo's thick, stiff corn tortilla. In their native land, where the crema might be poured on with abandon, quesillos are reportedly sold in individual plastic bags to help contain drips. At this summertime popup — to my knowledge, the only spot selling prepared Nicaraguan chow in the New York area — the crema spigot is turned way down, but heftier, on-demand add-ins are added generously. Shown: a quesillo de lengua ($7), featuring beef tongue.

Little Nica'
145 Front St. (Jay-Pearl Sts.), Dumbo, Brooklyn
646-499-4331
Open for lunch, weekdays only, through the end of September 2014
www.LittleMuenster.com/little-nica

Itinerant herb vendor's pushcart

On offer: yerba buena, also spelled hierba buena (in the little bucket), a name that denotes various species of mint, and pápalo, a peppery herb that insistently makes its presence known in cemitas. At this moment the vendor and her cart were paused outside a self-service laundromat crowded with prospective customers; a nearby nail salon was the likely next stop.

Itinerant herb vendor's pushcart
Elmhurst, Queens

"Cold TX water melon"

With a color-coded translation from English into Korean.
Murray Hill, Queens

Kimchi refrigerator

First in a series, perhaps a very short one, depicting lesser-known major appliances of the outer boroughs.

Kimchi refrigerator
Murray Hill, Queens

Asian pears

Ripening inside the Dorje Ling Buddhist Center
98 Gold St. (at Front St.), Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn
718-522-6523
www.Jonang.org/about-2/brooklyn-ny

Halsey Street Grill

(This venue is closed.) Nowadays, New York's playground tables don't see the sort of action they used to.

Earl's Beer & Cheese

Gorgonzola cheese and ginger fig preserves are wonderfully gooey partners in this blue cheese grilled cheese ($8). The very sticky preserves take on a structural function, too: Compare the spillage from a typical frita Cubana, whose traditional topping is very similar. It takes a "magically" moist patty to hold these potato crisps in place; ginger fig preserves do likewise, and taste great.

Earl's Beer & Cheese
1259 Park Ave. (97th-98th Sts.), Manhattan
212-289-1581
www.EarlsNY.com

Sky Cafe

(This venue is closed.) Asked for a dish distinctive to Medan, capital of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra and first home to the chef, my waitress pointed to emie (Ay-mee, $7.50). Unlike most of Sky Cafe's noodles, which are served in chicken broth, these "gravy egg noodles" are swamped in a sauce prepared from long-simmered shrimp. The bowl is filled out with potato, firm tofu, a few small shrimp, and a hardboiled egg, topped with seafood-flavored crackers that snap and pop in the gravy, and freshened with a last-second squeeze of lime. Chopsticks are the traditional utensils, but for finishing off the gravy, using a spoon is more decorous than tipping the bowl to your lips.

Emie is sometimes also known as mee rebus (reh-Boos), meaning "boiled noodles." The now-closed Malaysian restaurant Mamak House served one of many variations.

Sky Cafe opened in mid-July in the space that previously was home to Mie Jakarta and Pondok Jakarta. The menu, still under development, is very similar to that at the original, Philadelphia location; prices currently top out at $9.

Sky Cafe
86-20 Whitney Ave. (Broadway-43rd Ave.), Elmhurst, Queens
718-651-9759
Closed Wednesday

Zocalo de Atlixco Deli Grocery

(This venue is closed.) On a postprandial hunt for sweets, my dining buddies bought an assortment of cocadas at this Mexican shop. The best of the batch had a caramelized appeal, much like the ones sold by a pushcart vendor at an Ecuadorian festival last summer. This evening's sweet wasn't as gooey, however; most if not all of Zocalo de Atlixco's cocadas were commercially wrapped, and imported from Puebla.

I also bought this jamoncillo (74 g., $2), likewise from Puebla, and wearing the La Esmeralda brand. The name refers to at least two distinct confections. One, generally spelled out as jamoncillo de leche, is often translated as Mexican fudge; the other, shown here, was identified on its label as a dulce de semilla de calabaza — a pumpkin-seed sweet. (To be sure, calabaza frequently serves as a catch-all for pumpkins and squashes in many shapes and sizes.) Though sugar leads the short list of ingredients, this jamoncillo wasn't overly sweet — a nice change of pace from the cocadas.

Zocalo de Atlixco Deli Grocery
5623 Fifth Ave. (at 57th St.), Sunset Park, Brooklyn
718-439-0575