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Politely known by the name, visible as you pull into the shopping-plaza parking lot, of
China Dragon
1944 37th St., Steinway, Queens
718-278-0799
Eating In Translation is heading off for the holidays but expects to encounter no food from farther east than Eastern Europe.
Back soon.
Close, closer, closer, just right: Italian combo ($9.50).
Sal, Kris & Charlie's Deli
33-12 23rd Ave. (33rd-35th Sts.), Astoria, Queens
718-278-9240
(As of autumn 2017, this location is closed while the restaurant makes over a new location nearby.) No stiff plastic pennants were strung from the narrow green awning; no "grand opening" banner blanketed the window below. From outside, there was no obvious sign that this Himalayan storefront had served its first customers only a day earlier.
Inside, however, was a sign of a different sort: a tray of khapsey (shown, in the second photo, as I found it, partially depleted by previous patrons). These celebratory cookies take many forms. The dough might be fashioned into elaborate symbolic configurations or humbler twists; they might be fried in mustard oil, another cooking oil, or in butter; the resulting khapsey might be a little salty or, like these, sugar-dusted and more sweet. H/T Joe DiStefano, of Chopsticks and Marrow, for the observation.
Also shown: this tiny's restaurants raison d'être, laphing. (In the names of the restaurant and of one menu item, they're called liang fen, the Chinese equivalent, but elsewhere on the menu they're called laphing. Why the different names, I haven't figured out.) The most common variety in New York, made from mung beans, is pale, often to the point of transluscence, and very slippery. Prepared from the starch of yellow split peas, this laphing serpo ($4.95), or yellow laphing, is less of a challenge to chopstick skills, but the blend of chile and sesame oils will numb your lips just as readily.
Lhasa Liang Fen
81-15 Broadway (Pettit-Britton Aves.), Elmhurst, Queens
646-684-7208
Despite the misleading pronunciation, the rice noodles in Cambodian kuy teav (kuh Tee-oh, $15) are cousins to the kway teow of the Southeast Asian Chinese diaspora. I prefer the latter noodles stir-fried, with ample wok hei, but rice noodles in a broth that's brimming with beefy fragrance have my newfound appreciation.
Also shown, at another appearance by this pop-up kitchen: ngiom, or cabbage salad (on this evening, with chicken, $10); yucca with coconut milk ($6). Kreung itself is named for a family of seasoning blends that are essential to Khmer cookery, including at least one particularly fiery dip for fresh vegetables. With good fortune, I'll revisit that dish at a pop-up someday soon.
Kreung
Various locations
718-930-7277
www.Facebook.com/KreungCambodia
Töltöttkáposzta (above), cabbage stuffed with rice and pork, and mákos guba (below), meringue-topped poppy-seed bread pudding. The latter, served warm, was a challenge to portion out; blame the poppy seeds, or credit the server's desire to give me full measure. I undertook several minutes of photo styling (read: eating stray bits) before taking the final photo and polishing off my pudding.
Hungarian House Christmas Fair
Hungarian House of New York (a.k.a. Magyar Ház), 213 East 82nd St. (Second-Third Aves.), Manhattan
www.Facebook.com/hungarianhouse/posts/1462106823819139
(The 2016 fair was held on December 11)
When I heed the bagel call, my gut response is cream cheese. Frankel's combo no. 3 ($15) dispenses with the dairy: Irish salmon is tarted up with tomato, red onion, capers, and whitefish salad, which contributes a silken smoky oiliness. Though much simpler in conception, your friend's pastrami on rye (shown below, not to scale, $15) makes a fair trade with your bagel combo, half-sandwich for half-sandwich.
Frankel's Delicatessen & Appetizing
631 Manhattan Ave. (at Bedford Ave.), Greenpoint, Brooklyn
718-389-2302
www.FrankelsDelicatessen.com
Breakfast till early dinnertime
Dessert, 25 cents, vocabulary lesson, free — but scattershot, since many of these names are employed in multiple communities. For example, the romanized lettering at upper right probably speaks for several Indian languages, while the Turkish "muz" could be Kurdish, too.
Clarification awaits another day. Although I made my selection, handed over a quarter, gestured for permission to take a photo — granted, with a smile — the vendor remained immersed in a mobile-phone conversation, even while meticulously wiping down the sign with a tissue in his free hand. I'm confident, however, that the "Russian bananas" at lower right are merely a figure of speech; it will be a hot time in Sochi when Dole sets up operations so far north.
Produce vendor
York Ave. near the northwest corner with 86th St., Manhattan
(This venue is closed.) Without code-switching, the menu board might instead have proposed "pad pakbung" or, simply, "stir-fried morning glory." Water spinach, kangkung, ong choy, and rau muong are a few of this vegetable's many other names. My lunchtime greens ($10.95, with rice) included whole soy beans for extra umami and sliced fresh chiles, at my request, for a little spicy kick.
Also shown is a mural, at storefront-spanning expanse and in detail, whose imagery code-switches the grain-farming heritage of North America and Southeast Asia. (According to my server, the chef comes from a family tradition of farming.) The stalks are more convincing as wheat than rice, and the scarecrow fits that scenario — except for the decoration dangling from one wrist.
Pam Real Thai Food
404 West 49th St. (Ninth-Tenth Aves.), Manhattan
212-315-4441
Tori paitan ramen ($17) before I stirred in the egg yolk, which emulsified throughout and further enriched the chicken broth. Also shown: my kaedama ($3), a replenishment of Ivan Ramen's distinctive rye noodles, to accompany the short-lived liquid leftovers.
H/T Chris Crowley, particularly for his description of "an opaque, collagen-heavy chicken broth that's a bit like drinking schmaltz thinned out with chicken soup."
Ivan Ramen
25 Clinton St. (Houston-Stanton Sts.), Manhattan
646-678-3859
www.IvanRamen.com
From the successor to the superb Bangladeshi restaurant Neerob, now closed, here's a once-over of the "Indian & Bengali cuisine" at Al-Aqsa: vegetables, fish, and a typically palate-cleansing salad. Although the dining room remains busy, some of the mustard-oil shine seems to have come off; follow-up visit indicated.
Al-Aqsa Restaurant
2109 Starling Ave. (Olmstead Ave.-Odell St.), Parkchester, Bronx
718-904-7061
Thank you!
