Eating In Translation

Herbig's Market

The German surname "Herbig's" is a tentative reading of this well-weathered painted sign. Beginning in the mid-1800s many German immigrants began making their new homes in Hudson County, New Jersey. Indeed, in Union Hill, a town later absorbed into Union City, German became the language for keeping the minutes of town meetings.

The market's former stock in trade is a little easier to make out (especially once you click on the photo for a closer look). Framing the shop's name are the words "meat," "fish," "vegetables," and "groceries." The word in the center is illegible to me, however, as is most of the last line. All that I can make out is the first word, "oyster."

Herbig's Market
Surviving signage, 1812 New York Ave. (18th-19th Sts.), Union City, New Jersey

Pasteles vendor

My pastel de carne ($3), a boiled bundle of ground-beef-stuffed plantain, was unwrapped, sliced, and then dressed in typical New York fashion. The vendor, who set up near a unisex salon, also sold pork and chicken pasteles as well as a robust sancocho. The latter was ladled from the usual oversized orange thermal container; judging by the high-tide mark inside, prime time for the best choice of pasteles is early afternoon.

Pasteles vendor
Near Broadway and Naples Terrace, Kingsbridge, Bronx
Saturday only

Auntie Guan's Kitchen

Liaoning, said the waitress who speaks English best, translating for the owner. That Chinese province — you'd pass through it on the halting daylong train ride from Beijing to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea — was the first home of this restaurant's chef. In emphasis, the owner brought a magazine clipping to my table about her original restaurant, in Flushing: Golden Palace.

New Hope Community Kitchen

My fish and chicken leg combo ($15) sported two whiting filets; two pieces of chicken; cornbread; two sides, cabbage and mac 'n' cheese; and a fiendish choice of hot sauce for a church-basement kitchen. Chocolate cake, too. If your appetite is less ambitious, go with the fish, which on a given day might instead be porgy, tilapia, or croaker. The reverend — he'll be the fellow holding the frypan — can give you the good word.

New Hope Community Kitchen
63 West 126th St. (Fifth Ave.-Malcolm X Blvd.), Manhattan
212-996-0976
Friday only, noon till ???

Shelly's Cafe

To accompany the ethereal fish cake, chips just wouldn't do.

Naira Bread

If there's another Nigerian bakery somewhere in the five boroughs, I haven't heard of it. Following the launch of its wholesale business and an appearance at October's independence day festival, Naira opened to the public on the former site of a Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, coffee shop.

The baker prepares several variations on agege (ah-Gay-gay) bread, named for a densely populated neighborhood in her first home, Lagos. The bread is very soft, with a lot of "draw," and, especially in the case of this onibeji or "twin" loaf, can readily be pulled apart for sharing. Agege bread is very sweet, too. It's a worthy foil to dense and often spicy West African stews and pottages, such as ewa agoyin. Naira serves that thick bean stew (shown at bottom), as well as meat pies and fish rolls, at its retail counter.

Naira Bread
2565 Atlantic Ave. (at Alabama Ave.), Cypress Hills, Brooklyn,
646-493-4065
www.NairaBread.com

Sidewalk smoker

Deep-fried turkey also available, by special order. More to follow, as discretion permits, on this Saturday-only enterprise.

Sidewalk smoker
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn

Sidewalk table at the Timbuktu Islamic Center

From the vendor's place of business, I imagined that she's from Mali but didn't press; my focus was on identifying the porridges within several pint-sized tubs. A fellow customer, fluent in English and less shy, confirmed that this one was millet, its closest companion, corn, and both, sweet. Millet-and-yogurt thiakry was available, too. That customer also offered the name "moni" (spelling mine) before rejoining an impromptu klatch of open-air fashion consultants.

Unlidded, the porridge revealed itself as a millet couscous with dark flecks that presaged a gingery kick. Good, but probably better rewarmed, if I could have waited. Later I realized that the variety featuring corn, which I've tried in a similar setting, was likewise called moni. It might be that "moni" simply means "porridge" in Bambara, Mali's most widely spoken vernacular language (and the nation's lingua franca, if you set aside French). More investigation to follow.

Sidewalk table at the Timbuktu Islamic Center
103 West 144th St. (Lenox Ave.-Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.), Manhattan
Friday only, roughly midday till midafternoon

Gray's Papaya

Two with onions and relish, part of a "recession special" (now inflated to $5.95) that included a medium-sized, convincingly papaya-colored drink. Ketchup and mustard are self-service, sauerkraut and onions are on the house, but chili or cheese incur a surcharge. So did relish; I managed to dig up another 10 cents per dog.

Gray's Papaya
2090 Broadway (at 72nd St.), Manhattan
212-260-3532

Taxi-driver pit stops

Disregard, for the time being, the name "deli," which nowadays has been adopted by proprietors of many persuasions. These two South Asian storefronts are unusual because of awnings that illustrate, if indirectly, a category of desired customers.

Doaba Deli and Little Gujrat Deli face each other across one of the northernmost blocks of southward-bound Columbus Ave., not far from a West Harlem commercial garage. Many taxis pass this way. The images of yellow cabs are implicit assurances of fast and familiar food; so is Doaba Deli's checkered trim, though that detail may lost on current cabbies. It's more likely that they'd take note of the business name, which employs a less common spelling of "dhaba."

Of course, to attract taxi drivers, the most convincing yellow cabs are actual cabs — here reflected in the window of Doaba Deli and stationed in front of Little Gujrat. Parked (and double-parked) taxis attract a certain class of pedestrian customers, too.

Taxi-driver pit stops
Doaba Deli
945 Columbus Ave. (106th-107th Sts.), Manhattan
212-222-2636
Little Gujrat Deli
946 Columbus Ave. (106th-107th Sts.), Manhattan
212-866-2937