Eating In Translation

Havana Heights

Connect the dots: picadillo, white rice, and black beans.

H/T Eater NY

Havana Heights
4083 Broadway (at West 172nd St.), Manhattan
646-590-9734
www.HavanaHeightsNYC.com

Cupid Cheese Fruit Cake

(This venue is closed.) Warm cheese mellows durian, even the double dose offered by the "super" pie shown here. (Joe DiStefano has made a similar observation regarding durian pizza). On a recent food crawl with a dozen friends — none who loves the pungent "king of fruits" as I do, but all of them game to try something new — this ready-sliced pie disappeared as quickly as any other dish.

H/T Rich Sanders, Ethnojunkie

Cupid Cheese Fruit Cake
New York Food Court
133-35 Roosevelt Ave. (Prince St.-College Point Blvd., stall 18), Flushing, Queens
917-908-0383

New York-area food events, January 30-February 6

Unexpected Pairings: Katz's Delicatessen & Teranga
Thursday, January 30, 6:30-8:30
Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave. (at 103rd St.), Manhattan
www.MCNY.org/event/unexpected-pairings-katzs-delicatessen-teranga
Tickets: general admission, $25

Endangered Eating: Coachella Valley Dates
Thursday, January 30, 6:30-8:00
Prospect Heights Brainery, 190 Underhill Ave. (Sterling-St. John Pls.), Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
www.BrooklynBrainery.com/courses/endangered-eating-coachella-valley-dates
Tickets: $12
Part of a lecture series and semi-secret preview of Sarah Lohman's upcoming food history book, Endangered Eating: Exploring America’s Vanishing Food

Vietnamese Lunar New Year Celebration of Mekong NYC
Saturday, February 1, noon-3:00
St. James Recreation Center, 2530 Jerome Ave. (at West 192nd St.), Bronx
www.MekongNYC.org/events/2020/2/1/lunar-new-year-2020
Previously: www.EatingInTranslation.com/2018/02/vietnamese-lunar-new-year-celebration.html
Free admission; donations gratefully accepted

Lunar New Year Celebration of the Vietnam Heritage Center
Sunday, February 2, 1:00-3:30
New York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West (76th-77th Sts., 3rd floor), Manhattan
www.VietnamHeritageCenter.org/lunar-new-year
Tickets: adults, $15; students, $10; children ages 12 and younger, free

Lock Yard Chili Cookoff
Sunday, February 2, noon-4:00
Lock Yard, 9221 Fifth Ave. (92nd-94th Sts.), Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
www.Facebook.com/LockYardBK/photos/a.173251502874284/1214409548758469
Admission: $10

Elyon Restaurant

At a Haitian restaurant, an order of "legim" (in Haitian Creole) or "légumes" (in French), is not simply a request for mixed "vegetables." It's understood that these will have been braised with meat, removed and mashed, then remarried. Elyon's eggplant-heavy medley was well-stocked with chunks of beef.

Alongside: mayi moulen and sòs pwa nwa, thick cornmeal porridge and black bean sauce. The latter, a runny condiment for the corn, hid a chile pepper, perhaps a Scotch bonnet, beneath the surface. It should also be understood that the sauce becomes spicier if the pepper, too, is mashed.

From beneath my tray: a lovely hand-painted placemat. No two the same.

Elyon Restaurant
21221 Jamaica Ave. (212th St.-212th Pl.), Queens Village, Queens
929-206-5060

Mirna's Pupuseria

I confess: I didn't come here for the pupusas, the food most identified with Salvadoran cuisine, and still haven't tried them. Atol de piña was the attraction. Atoles are a class of hot sweetened drinks usually made with a cornmeal base; they're widely available in New York, but only in a few common flavors. I don't know anywhere else in the city that serves the invigorating variety prepared with pineapple (shown above.)

Also shown: a lightly fried tamal de elote con crema; pan relleno con gallina, a two-hander, served only on Sunday, also called "bread filled with hen"; and (in biteaway view) an empanada de leche.

H/T Ellie Plass, Bklyner

Mirna's Pupuseria
1350 Flatbush Ave. (at East 26th St.), Flatbush, Brooklyn
347-730-9001
www.Facebook.com/Mirnas-Pupuseria-1800441120176957
Closed Monday

Dominican sweets vendor

Note to self, some years back: "flan, with figs, also v[ery] tempting." The addition of pineapple chunks and maraschino cherries tipped the balance. From that previous encounter (and shown below): tres leches.

Dominican sweets vendor
East side of St. Nicholas Ave. between 183rd and 184th Sts., Manhattan
Generally on temperate Sundays

Asian Foods

The label called it suman malagkit; the receipt, biko bibingka. The gist: Filipino sticky rice cake topped with caramelized coconut cream, from a turo-turo and grocery. My takeout plastic fork was overmatched.

Asian Foods
8335 Parsons Blvd. (84th Rd-Grand Central Pkwy.), Jamaica Hills, Queens
718-658-3841
www.Facebook.com/pages/Asian-Foods/205179066192198

Philippine Famous

(This venue is closed.) Tuna in coconut milk, part of a Filipino combo that also included rice, a side of bitter melon, and a can of soda that I plucked from the fridge.

Philippine Famous
8330 Parsons Blvd. (Hoover-Coolidge Aves.), Briarwood, Queens
718-526-3760
www.Facebook.com/Philippine-Famous-257574738183791

New York-area food events, January 23-30

Empty Waters: The Future of Seafood in America
Thursday, January 23, 7:00-9:00
Museum of Food and Drink, 62 Bayard St. (Lorimer-Leonard Sts.), Williamsburg, Brooklyn
www.MOFAD.org/events/20200123/emptywaters
Tickets: $30
One in a series presented by MOFAD

Burns Night with the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society
Thursday, January 23, 7:30-???
St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, 109 East 50th St. (Park-Lexington Aves.), Manhattan
www.RSCDSNewYork.org/images/RSCDSNY_Burns_Night_Flyer_2020.pdf
A friend of EIT, who attended a previous year's event, reported that dancing is highly encouraged of all attendees
General admission: $20

Taste of the World at the New York Times Travel Show
Saturday, January 25, 10:00-6:00; Sunday, 11:00-5:00
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, 655 West 34th St. (at Eleventh Ave.), Manhattan
http://NYTTravelShow.com/general-information/taste-of-the-world
Tickets: adults, $20 per day, or $25 for a two-day pass (receive $5 off with the code 5offTRAVEL); children ages 18 and under, free

Bolivian alasitas festival, Elizabeth, New Jersey
Saturday, January 25, 12:30-???
Salón de la Iglesia Episcopal San Jose, 38 West End St. (at Jersey Ave.), Elizabeth, New Jersey
www.Facebook.com/100015388922528/videos/759387814584176
"What Is Alasitas And Why Do Bolivians Celebrate It?"
Free admission

Cassoulet Cookoff
Saturday, January 25, 1:00-4:00
Biba of Williamsburg, 110 Kent Ave. (at North 8th St.), Williamsburg, Brooklyn
www.TicketTailor.com/events/foodkarmanyc/319396
Tickets: $55; ages 21 and over only

Jimbo's Hamburger Place

Bacon swiss burger deluxe (some assembly required). You'll find a fistful of other joints called Jimbo's in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, but each of those seems to be a "Palace," at least in name; this is just the "Place."

Jimbo's Hamburger Place
991 First Ave. (54th-55th Sts.), Manhattan
212-355-6120
www.JimbosHamburgerPlaceNewYork.com