Eating In Translation

Lundy Brothers Restaurant

Stuccoed walls and red tile roofs don't tell the whole story.

Delight Wong

Double good fortune.

Momo Crawl

Visions of the momo-scape.

Carolina Country Store

You'll also find red franks, black walnuts, and three brands of snuff.

Edna's Soul Food

If Edna's had seats, people might park themselves here all afternoon. But there's just one windowside ledge, standing room only, looking out on the passing traffic along the border of Bed-Stuy and Brownsville. A more enticing view, with all its attendant aromas, was right up close: rosemary chicken with cabbage and collard greens (small, $5). The cabbage, interspersed with slivers of carrot, was well-dosed with black pepper; the greens, flavored with bits of turkey wing, were not bitter in the least. Nice chicken skin; too bad you can't order extra skin on the side.

Edna's Soul Food
2258 Atlantic Ave. (at Rockaway Ave.), Brownsville, Brooklyn
347-425-9010
Also at 361 Sutter Ave. (at Mother Gaston Blvd.)
347-492-1808

Food-Friendly Events, November 20-27

Inuman at Pulutan
Thursday, November 20, 7:00-9:00
The Altman Building, 135 W. 18th St. (Fifth-Sixth Aves.), Manhattan
www.Eventbrite.com/e/inuman-at-pulutan-tickets-13658409671
Tickets: $65, or $75 for hour-earlier VIP entry

Taste of Woodside
Thursday, November 20, 6:00-9:00
St. Sebastian School Auditorium, 39-76 58th St. (at Woodside Ave.), Woodside, Queens
http://Queens.Brownstoner.com/2014/11/closing-bell-this-week-get-a-taste-of-woodside
Tickets: $25

Holiday Spirits
Thursday, November 20, 6:00-9:00
Hornblower Infinity Cruise Ship, Pier 40 (at West Houston St.), Manhattan
www.Ticketfly.com/purchase/event/691399
Tickets: $50 and up; save 50 percent with promo code THANKS; ages 21 and over only

Queen Sheeba Restaurant

(This venue is closed.) "Shorba," one transliteration of many from Arabic, simply means "soup." It shares a section of the menu with split lentil soup and several meat broths, each of which, back home, might also be called a shorba of one sort or another. A parenthetical "Yemeni style" adds no clarity for newcomers like me — the restaurant itself is Yemeni style.

It's made with barley, the menu does note, and so perhaps is a year-round variation on shorba qamah, a wheat soup typically served during Ramadan. Winning factors in its favor: low price ($2), lots of barley well-dosed with chopped onion, and enticing aromas that rose with the steam when my shorba arrived at the table.

Note, by the way, the incongruous pattern on the plate. In light of the television programming this afternoon, the wall hangings, and the framed photographs, all of them in accord with the handwritten Arabic signage at the counter, these markings can be taken simply as a sign of frugality. For all I know, the Yemeni equivalent of Fish's Eddy might carry Chinese-themed overstock, too.

Also shown below: mushakal bilforn ($8), baked vegetables with rice (or, if you prefer, bread). Like the soup, this was steaming when it arrived.

Queen Sheeba Restaurant
317 West 141st St. (Edgecombe Ave.-Frederick Douglass Blvd.), Manhattan
212-862-6149

Caridad Restaurant

My early investigations into yaroa, three years ago, revealed very little. Empanadas Monumental, which by all accounts brought this heavily layered Dominican dish to Upper Manhattan, has roots in the provincial capital of Santiago de los Caballeros — Santiago, in common speech. There, I've since discovered, yaroa became a beloved nighttime street food at the turn of the last century.

Caridad offers a domesticated rendition, a casserole, albeit one topped with mayoketchup. (I haven't partaken.) Though "Santiaguera" identifies it with the D.R.'s second city, the original dish may be named for an outlying town where a home cook first prepared it for family and friends: Gurabito de Yaroa. The word "yaroa" itself is in Taíno, a language spoken by some of the indigenous inhabitants of the region; its meaning is a mystery, to me.

Caridad Restaurant
3533 Broadway (144th-145th St.), Manhattan
212-862-4053
www.Caridad145.com

Life Savers Building

Factory and company headquarters, 1920-1984; now condomiums. Imagine your favorite flavor in the recurring motif, more easily seen in the closeup photos on the Eating In Translation page on Facebook.

Life Savers Building
1 Landmark Sq., Port Chester, New York

Hard Times Sundaes

Like most of the best street food, each burger is literally the handiwork of the chef-proprietor.