Eating In Translation

ObaaPa African Restaurant

(This venue is closed.) This serving of jollof rice, fleshed out with croaker and chicken, is also accompanied by gari and shito. The first are lightly fried grains of fermented cassava that add textural interest to many Ghanaian meals; the second is a pasty hot sauce. Shito is often not all that spicy, and its effects rarely linger except to paint the plate, but it's wise to be cautious just in case.

ObaaPa African Restaurant
3128 Villa Ave. (204th-205th Sts.), Jerome Park, Bronx
347-270-4606
www.ObaaPaAfricanRestaurant.com

Snoasis

The measure of a sno-ball isn't the syrup, it's the ice; the best are finely shaved, tightly packed, and not easily toppled by spoon or straw. (Snoasis relies on a SnoWizard machine, which hails from the spiritual home of these confections, New Orleans.) "Egg custard" is a traditional Maryland name for a vanilla-flavored sno-ball; my "classic" version was cratered by a vanilla-cream pour-over.

Snoasis
6 East Padonia Rd., Timonium, Maryland
410-666-4203
www.Facebook.com/Snoasis-113576938664466
Seasonal; in 2018, open mid-April through mid-October
(From a July 2018 visit)

Royal Grill Halal Food

From the winner of the 2018 Vendy Cup: chicken tikka masala over rice, invigorated by a blend of seasonings hand-carried from the proprietor's previous home country, Bangladesh. Even before the addition of that bonus samosa, this would have been a bellyful, particularly for six bucks.

Royal Grill Halal Food
Street cart on West 44th St. near the southwest corner with Sixth Ave., Manhattan
347-724-0504
www.RoyalGrillHalalFood.com

GIPSVG Annual Culture Pot

The Garifuna Indigenous People of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (GIPSVG) parted ways, more than two centuries ago, with the Garifuna of coastal Central America; that their festival foods are so different is little surprise. No judutu here. My smoke herring platter was filled out by madungo bakes, made from arrowroot starch, and what might look like a typical humdrum potato salad — except those are chunks of breadfruit. Usually my dining buddies and I take pains to avoid duplicating dishes, but for breadfruit salad we made an exception.

Also shown: tri-tri, well-seasoned fish fritters; a thin, granular, griddled flatbread called cassava bam bam; ducuna, a sweet potato dumpling; and a peanut sugar cookie, no explanation needed.

GIPSVG Annual Culture Pot
Friends-Crown Heights Education Center, 1435 Prospect Pl. (Utica-Rochester Aves.), Crown Heights, Brooklyn
www.Facebook.com/events/591037551267801
(The 2018 festival was held on August 11)

Tandir Dushanbe

(This venue is closed.) Tajik tea-shop pastries: savory (at the fore) with potato or meat and sweet (at the back) with apple or, my choice, cheese.

Tandir Dushanbe
1807 Kings Hwy. (East 18th-East 19th Sts.), Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
718-759-6522

Q Town Asian Cuisine

U peel 'em, U lose lots of wok-kissed flavor: crispy fried shrimp. For more photos from a Taiwanese lunchtime gathering that spanned two tables, each with a lazy susan, see the EIT page on Facebook.

Q Town Asian Cuisine
82-87 Broadway (at Whitney Ave.), Elmhurst, Queens
718-898-8281
www.QTownAsianCuisine.com

Jalloh (aka Diallo) Family Restaurant

Suddenly it's porridge weather: West African kabba, prepared from corn, smothered in gravy. Beside it (but not shown here) was a bottle of sorrel as purple as the porridge was gold.

Regarding "West African": On my visit, the young gal who was managing the steam table told me that the owners were Guinean. Earlier this year, however, a friend of mine had understood that the owners were Sierra Leonean. Indeed, the two names of the restaurant, Jalloh (which appears on the awning) and Diallo (which was printed on the label of my drink), are closely associated with, respectively, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Given the neighborhood I'd say the odds are in my favor, but, on my next visit, I'll see if I can't inquire again without overly pressing the point.

Jalloh (aka Diallo) Family Restaurant
3396 Third Ave. (opposite East 166th St.), Morrisania, Bronx
718-292-5015

Eating Tree

Jerk chicken pregame, with cabbage, rice and peas, and a plantain lagniappe, up the hill from Yankee Stadium. Also shown: the other result, returned by my photo archives, during a search for "eating tree".

Eating Tree (formerly known as Feeding Tree)
892 Gerard Ave. (opposite East 162nd St.), Concourse, Bronx
718-293-5025

Nano's Creamery

Puerto Rican-style pineapple cream ice (atop equally summery coconut).

Nano's Creamery
610 Main Ave., Passaic, New Jersey
973-767-2296
www.NanosCreamery.com

St. Nikola Macedonian Orthodox Church Food Festival

You want kebapi with that? What I'd intended as a stuffed-pepper dinner was soon enlarged (but happily so, and at no extra cost) by a quartet of Balkan minced-meat sausages, goulash-draped mashed potatoes, cabbage, bread and (for something green) scallions. Also shown: two of the many homemade desserts.

St. Nikola Macedonian Orthodox Church Food Festival
55 Wentick St., Totowa, New Jersey
www.Facebook.com/events/207607133420853
(The 2018 festival was held on September 14-16)