Eating In Translation

Legacy Africana Market

Many immigrants to New York support friends and family back home through money transfers known as remittances. Outside this market you can see the draped banners of two electronic providers, Transfast and MoneyGram, as well as an alternative, in the round, just outside the front door. Barrel shipping replaces fungible currency with tangible goods; though barrels travel more slowly and under less regulation than electronic transfers, these "remittances" give greater assurance that the money has been well-spent.

At markets such as this, a vigorous flow of outgoing remittances, in whatever form, often signals a deep and varied supply of incoming goods. On this afternoon a traveling companion secured several harder-to-find West African ingredients; most had apparently been imported in bulk, then portioned into plastic tubs and branded with the Legacy name. I also noted a large open bin of dried kangbe, further labeled as flying fish — though given their dessicated and gaping-mouthed condition, it's hard to be sure of that I.D.

Legacy Africana Market
671 Bay St. (opposite Broad St.), Stapleton, Staten Island
718-876-6695
Closed Sunday

Pinto Bakery

(This venue is closed.) Oversized Dominican coconut macaroon: a coquito ($1).

Pinto Bakery
1638 St. Nicholas Ave. (at 192nd St.), Manhattan

Persimmons

On a small tree planted in a front yard, East Rutherford, New Jersey

DF Nigerian Gourmet Food Truck

One of the most enticing snacks on the menu of this Midtown truck, gizdodo is a peppery combo of chewy gizzard and soft, sweet dodo, or ripe plantain. It's easy to divvy up, our merry band discovered, even in the absence of convenient seating. (Many regular customers probably return to their offices at the Nigerian consulate; the truck's regular parking place is just outside.) The back-and-forth of textures and flavors is a big part of the appeal, so share with care — don't get stuck holding a container that's all giz and no dodo.

For more photos, see the Eating In Translation page on Facebook.

DF Nigerian Gourmet Food Truck
Vicinity of the Consulate General of Nigeria, 828 Second Ave. (at 44th St.), Manhattan
www.DivineFlavoredCatering.com
Monday through Friday, breakfast and lunch only

Erie Coffeeshop & Bakery

From a lesser bakery, this would be a case of bait-and-switch. Lured off the avenue by the promise of pie (artists, sign your work, or remain inglorious!), I left shortly after with a slice of cake. Afternoon indulgence: roasted banana cake with cream cheese ($3.75).

Erie Coffeeshop & Bakery
10 Franklin Pl. (Park-Kip Aves.), Rutherford, New Jersey
201-460-0073
www.EatDrinkErie.com

Roman Inn

Cheeseburger pizza (slice, $4).

Roman Inn
19 West Hudson Ave. (Orchard St.-Curly Ave.), Englewood, New Jersey
201-567-2654

St. Anthony's Orthodox Church International Festival

Peloponnesian-Slavic mashup: braised lamb shank with a side order of cabbage and noodles.

St. Anthony's Orthodox Church International Festival
St. Anthony's Orthodox Church, 385 Ivy Lane, Bergenfield, New Jersey
www.Facebook.com/StAnthonyFestival
(The 2015 festival takes place on November 5-7)

Martinson's Coffee

Martinson's Coffee
Surviving signage, West 205th St. (seen from Tenth Ave., looking northwest), Manhattan
Now partially painted over

Hot Kitchen Sichuan Style

No clunkers, no leftovers. True, the five of us quibbled among ourselves — fish in bean curd sauce ought to have sported more fish, "ants climbing on trees" might have been a tad less wet, Chong Qing spicy chicken could have been less littered with largely decorative chiles — but for $21 a head, all in, we packed away loads of food, and happily so. The one revelation from our meal was fried corn, which can serve as appetizer, as midcourse palate freshener, or, given its sweetness, as dessert. For more photos, see the EIT page on Facebook.

H/T Phil Feil (via private communication)

Hot Kitchen Sichuan Style
133-43 Roosevelt Ave. (Prince St.-College Point Blvd.), Flushing, Queens
718-460-4100

Azerbaijan House

(This venue is closed.) What does whimsical decor tell us about a restaurant? In decades past, at American Chinese restaurants that called themselves "Polynesian," dragon-inlay woodwork and paper-placemat cocktail menus helped to frame an exotic dining experience for customers who (in my memory) seldom shared the heritage of management and staff. The decor was part of a marketing pitch from one demographic to others, openly offered and accepted. Today, few Polynesian restaurants survive in their original form; one made-over tiki pole now bears the countenance of a contented New England fisherman.

This matter came to mind again on a visit to the small, excellent Vietnamese restaurant Thanh Da, in Sunset Park. My only published photo of the decor depicts a flag, one that's no longer publicly displayed in its home country, but I also noted laquered-wood artwork, mounted crockery, a painted bamboo scroll, and at least one nón lá, the iconic conical hat. These items would be kitschy if they were intended to appeal to eyes like mine, but in a full house, I was the only customer clearly not of Asian descent. True, several young parents addressed their very young, finicky children in English, but on a weekend afternoon, as on my previous visits, almost all the chatter was in Vietnamese. In such context, the nón lá, the scroll, the crockery, and the other artwork seemed to distill into Thanh Da a feeling of "home."

Azerbaijan House, though it entertained fewer customers during a recent weekday lunch, gave off a similar vibe. Though the decor will never resonate for me as for the owners and their regular customers, it does signal that the menu deserves a further look. Shown: kükü ($5.95), a hash of egg, potato, and onion that's seared top and bottom before being portioned into wedges; ciz-biz ($16.95), a juicy fry-up of sheep liver, kidney, and heart. (Kükü, it turns out, takes very well to spoonfuls of liquefied sheep fat.) The final photo, of the glistening ciz-biz leavings, reflects a pair of vibrant lighting strips but not the gently arched ceiling. It's painted in azure and fluffy white, as if the dining room were open to the sky — the sky over Baku, you'd imagine.

Azerbaijan House
2612 East 14th St. (at Sheepshead Bay Rd.), Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
718-648-2345