Eating In Translation

Carmel Grocery

Bourekas are Middle Eastern cousins of savory pies that are known throughout the Balkans and the Levant. Under various names, some of these related pastries are baked as large pies and sliced into wedges; others are wound into flat coils, then torn apart at the table. Carmel's bourekas are fashioned as hand pies; the flaky triangles are filled with the likes of cheese, spinach, mushroom (first photo) and potato (second photo). Torn? Try two — they're just 75 cents each.

Carmel Grocery
64-27 108th St. (at 64th Rd.), Forest Hills, Queens
718-897-9296
www.Facebook.com/Carmel-Grocery-140233969347398

Schmidt's Candy

Artwork is for illustration only: Many candies at Schmidt's are not nearly so regular in appearance. A peppermint pattie, to take just one example, will inevitably be lumpy and out of round, a far cry from machine-made, foil-wrapped, pucklike symmetry. But its mint flavor will be pure, free of the metallic notes that taint some brand-name patties, and well-balanced by a thick robe of dark chocolate. Hands on!

Schmidt's Candy
94-15 Jamaica Ave. (94th-95th Sts.), Woodhaven, Queens
718-846-9326
www.SchmidtsCandy.com
Closed Sunday, Monday, and during most of the summer; at other times, call ahead

Triangle Hofbrau Restaurant

Surviving gnomelike door-minder, looking downward at the entryway of 117-19 Jamaica Ave. (on the acute triangle formed with Myrtle Ave. and 117th St.), Richmond Hill, Queens

See also this menu from 1947, which includes turtle soup, broiled shad roe, calf's head a la vinaigrette, and hasenpfeffer.

King Tut Pie

(This venue is closed.) The provenance of a restaurant named "King Tut" is obvious enough, and "pie," of course, means pizza. But here it also means feteer, a platter-sized Egyptian flatbread whose flaky layers can embrace fillings either savory or sweet. This custard-filled feteer ($8) is one of the simplest and most approachable until — Poof! — in a cloud of sugar, it is gone.

King Tut Pie
478 72nd St. (Fourth-Fifth Aves.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
347-662-6597

Minas Grill

(This venue is closed.) Dishes emblematic of the Brazilian state Minas Gerais highlight this restaurant's ample self-serve buffet. The most unusual — and perhaps unique in Queens — are golden curls of pequi (peh-Key). Though a fruit, pequi is eaten out of hand only by the uninitiated, since the nut is protected by sharp spines; more typically, the flesh is shaved free and used in savory dishes.

My plate (buffet and BBQ combo, $7.49 per pound) included arroz com pequi, which suffused rice with the rich, somewhat sour, citrus-cheese flavor of the namesake fruit; tutu à Mineira, essentially baked beans with pork and, in this case, a runny poached egg; feijão tropeiro, "cowboy beans" dressed with collard greens, toasted manioc flour, bits of fried egg, and possibly nubbins of bacon or sausage; and garlic-enhanced slices of picanha, a sirloin-like rump cut, from the rotisserie station.

Our timing was good: As we left, a half-dozen firefighters marched in to assess the lunchtime situation. Whether they had eyes for the rotisseries and hot buffet, or for the salad bar, we couldn't say.

H/T Astoria Post

Minas Grill
29-03 Broadway (29th-30th Sts.), Astoria, Queens
718-606-2411

Hazar Turkish Kebab

Underappreciated on pizza, lamb is very much at home on pide, even when the elongated Turkish flatbread must be cut down to size to fit the plate. This chunky-style kusbasili pide (Koosh-bah-Shay-luh Pea-day, $10.95) weds cubed lamb to tomatoes, onions, peppers, and cheese. Compare the casually plated kiymali pide at Mangal Kebab, which employs ground lamb to equally delicious effect.

Also shown: sauteed eggplant ($5.50), falafel ($6), kazandibi (regularly $4.50; comped).

Hazar Turkish Kebab
7224 Fifth Ave. (at 73rd St.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
718-238-4040

Erqal

(This venue is closed.) A sand castle abandoned to the rising tide? No: Uyghur ice cream (regular, $2) in the traditional Kashgar presentation, and as adapted to a familiar New York serving style. The pleasure is ours.

Erqal
New World Mall food court, stall 5
136-20 Roosevelt Ave. (Main-Union Sts.), Flushing, Queens

Los Cocuyos

Unlike the various muscle meats and organs held at low heat, on full display, my chosen off-cuts were secreted under a damp towel. When they appeared, thoroughly chopped, I didn't recognize them by their looks, only by their gelatinous texture. Tacos de ojo (eye; 16 pesos each, about 80 cents at the time).

Los Cocuyos
Calle de Bolívar 56, Centro, Mexico City
+52 55 5518 4231
(From a March 2017 visit)

Taco and tlacoyo stall

At first "relleno" was the only I.D. that the brusque vendor at this market stall would provide. Perhaps only to move me along, she grudgingly added that the sausage slices were "filled" with pork. Later I learned that these were blood sausages of a particularly smooth-textured, unctuous sort, good for griddling with onions and chiles and spattering across a tlacoyo or taco (14 pesos, about 70 cents at the time). Which salsa? B-movie blood red, of course.

Taco and tlacoyo stall
Mercado de la Merced, Mexico City
(From a March 2017 visit)

Tacos de Cecina Vero

"Dos campechanos," confirmed the taquero, acting as his own expeditor and omitting the superfluous part of my request. At first I'd been dithering between cecina and longaniza, or perhaps one taco of each, but the sight of another customer's plate inspired me to order likewise: I'd get the combo of the two meats, twice over (18 pesos each, about 90 cents at the time).

Asking aloud for "dos tacos campechanos," however, was the mark of a rube. Of course, "tacos": Apart from bottled soda, this market stall served nothing else. The taquero's spare phrasing was the way to go — unless you're the type who walks into a deli and orders a "pastrami sandwich on rye bread."

Also shown: a rare uncluttered vista within this mammoth, labyrinthine market.

Tacos de Cecina Vero
Mercado de la Merced, Mexico City
(From a March 2017 visit)