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Thanks to their diminutive size, these beef-filled manti (medium, $8) — Near Eastern dumplings that are quick-boiled and as quickly dressed with thin yogurt, sumac, and mint — are easy to divvy up with a friend, or several friends.
Bahar
Saturdays at Hester Street Fair, Hester St. at Essex St., Manhattan
The Oaxacan vendor who sold this fruit — as well as compact black avocados, dried fish that could be ground into flavoring for moles, and two distinct preparations of chapulines — called it simply granada, Spanish for pomegranate. In Mexico, it's often distinguished from that crimson orb by the names granada China (Chinese pomegranate) and granadilla dulce (sweet little pomegranate).
Passion fruit, however, is a closer relative, and granada China (as I'll call it) can be eaten much the same way. Once the smooth, firm rind has been breached, everything within — seeds, surrounding flesh, and membranous sac, with a prevailing flavor that's sweet rather than tart — can be spooned out. A fellow customer who remembered this fruit from her childhood backyard offered a homier approach: Bite or tear off one end (as shown below), then squeeze the insides past your lips. In other words, treat it like a paper cup of Italian ice, but use a firmer grip.
See more photos from this event on the EIT page on Facebook.
Sobremesa Festival
City College of New York, Shepard Hall, 160 Convent Ave. (at West 138th St.), Manhattan
www.SobremesaFestival.com
(The festival, perhaps a one-time event, was held on May 19, 2016)
(This venue is closed.) Namaste, Manhattan. Dhaulagiri Kitchen — whose original, tiny Jackson Heights location could have accommodated you and, if your timing were good, a handful of your closest friends — now has a dining room in Curry Hill. Shown here is my Sunday afternoon nosh, sandheko Wai Wai, a spicy salad (sandheko) featuring crumbled instant noodles (Wai Wai brand) plus ample onion, garlic, and chile pepper. It's good on cucumber, great on daikon.
Previously, from the original, tiny Jackson Heights kitchen: Samae baji, a Nepali variety plate featuring beaten rice. The baji itself, made by flattening uncooked, soaked rice with a mallet, can be incorporated into cooked dishes or, as at Dhaulagiri, offered as a textural counterpoint to other items. Below, baji is surrounded by spicy chicken, potato curry, crunchy fried soybeans, and pickled daikon. The accompanying sel roti (not shown), a ring-shaped rice flour fritter, has a faint sweetness that plays well against the spicier dishes.
H/T Jeff Orlick
Dhaulagiri Kitchen
124 Lexington Ave. (28th-29th-Sts.), Manhattan
917-675-7679
This vintage 1970s sign had been partially obscured for a quarter-century by a billboard for AST Sound. It recently came to light once again after the electronics retailer closed its doors.
H/T Forgotten NY
Ragu Spaghetti Sauce
Surviving signage, 11 Sixth Ave. (White-Walker Sts.), Manhattan
Pine nut ice cream (small, about $2).
Paleteria El Sabor de Michoacan
215 Union Ave. (1st-2nd Sts.), New Rochelle, New York
914-632-7496
Ancient art: Turn an adversary's weapon to one's own advantage. The business end of a claw was a handy tool for digging meat from chopped crab and scattering it over this eggy Fujianese stir-fry ($6). Patience rewarded.
Changle Cuisine
41-42A Main St. (41st Rd.-Sanford Ave., inside Friendship Shopping Plaza), Flushing, Queens
929-300-8988
Remember those jelly candies shaped like slices of watermelon, but in the colors and flavors of many fruits? With a nibble, the green orbs in this tray of frutas cristalizadas brought lime slices to mind. (If your childhood was filled with Pueblan candied fruit instead of Jersey Shore jellies, that memory might work the other way around.)
The candied lime, however, is all rind. For a jellylike texture, look to other frutas ($1-$2 each), perhaps one with a flavor not yet co-opted by the candy-slice makers. Say, guava.
El Trigal Bakery
216 Union Ave. (1st-2nd Sts.), New Rochelle, New York
914-633-9516
Hunan, in common with Sichuan and the lesser-known Chinese province of Guizhou that borders them both, loves its chile peppers, but Hunan cuisine isn't fixated on heat. Many dishes incorporate the flavors of ingredients that are pickled or otherwise preserved, sometimes in concert with the sour tang of vinegar.
Two terrific cases in point: white jalapeño Chinese preserved meat (first photo) and steamed eggplant with salt egg. See more from this meal on the EIT Facebook page.
H/T Scoop G
Traditional Hunan Style
135-23 40th Rd. (Prince-Main Sts.), Flushing, Queens
718-321-2788
"Swanson's Cafe" and "Drink Coca-Cola" appear on opposite sides of the same building in Mount Vernon, just north of the Wakefield section of the Bronx. The Swanson's sign is visible when you're headed south, toward the city, so it's likely that this long-gone cafe was located in the Bronx, or perhaps in nearby Yonkers. Though this particular Coca-Cola sign is visible only when you're headed north, toward Westchester County, the slogan is at home just about anywhere.
City line signs
Mount Vernon, New York
Establishments that sell frituras and cuchifritos typically showcase their wares in a window facing the street. Incandescent bulbs keep things warm, or at least do their best. To spot the freshest items, however, check the glass — the meeting point between hot air radiating from just-fried food and the cooler air outside — for beads of condensation. (Scott Wiener has made this same observation at by-the-slice pizzerias.)
Shown, in the sweating display window and in biteaway view: a relleno de papa ($1.50), or ground-meat-filled potato fritter, that at first bite threatened to burn my lips. Also shown: a bacalaito ($1.50), or cod fritter, purchased on a previous visit without giving freshness much thought. Sometimes, dumb luck pays off.
El Chevere
2000 Third Ave. (109th-110th Sts.), Manhattan
212-427-3952
Thank you!
