Eating In Translation

Charles Pan Fried Chicken Restaurant

(This venue is closed.) Charles Gabriel's chicken has been a New York legend for more than two decades. Several years ago he moved his restaurant — which boasts the same great menu, though only via counter service and not a buffet — to its current sunny location. The old storefront, now closed, was more convenient to Yankee Stadium (also currently closed) — but if you overindulge, a little longer walk to the ballpark will do you good.

Shown: smothered chicken, mac 'n' cheese, collard greens, and cornbread, shown on one of the many benches inside nearby St. Nicholas Park.

Charles Pan Fried Chicken Restaurant
2461 Frederick Douglass Blvd. (at West 132nd St.), Manhattan
212-281-1800
www.Facebook.com/CharlesPanFried

Mount Olivet Baptist Church

"No community meals on Mondays until further notice" — a sign, nowadays by no means unique, outside this West Harlem house of worship.

Mount Olivet Baptist Church
201 Lenox Ave. (120th-121st Sts.), Manhattan
212-864-1155
www.MountOlivetBaptistChurch.org

Santa Fe

"For service: Please ring door bell with your knee. Thanks!" A recent hands-free protocol at one of many Upper West Side venues "now delivering food & booze," albeit during limited hours.

Santa Fe
73 West 71st St. (Columbus Ave.-Central Park West), Manhattan
212-724-0822
www.SantaFe71.com

Sweet Mama's Soul Food Restaurant and Salad Bar

(This venue is closed.) Candied yams, cabbage, and string beans, enjoyed on a recent sunny day at one of the (many unoccupied) chess tables in Col. Charles Young Playground, across the avenue.

Sweet Mama's Soul Food Restaurant and Salad Bar
689 Lenox Ave. (144th-145th Sts.), Manhattan
212-939-9383
www.Facebook.com/SweetMamaSoulFood

The Hungarian Pastry Shop

An apricot hamentash from the Hungarian, longtime oasis of bottomless coffee just south of Columbia and Barnard. Since mid-March the cafe has operated only for takeout, with limited hours (and limited pastries); it goes on hiatus sometime this weekend.

The Hungarian Pastry Shop
1030 Amsterdam Ave. (110th-111th Sts.), Manhattan
212-866-4230
www.Facebook.com/HungarianPastryShopNYC

Lee Lee's Baked Goods

One is a rugele, two or more are rugelach, and a half-dozen might only leave you hungrier for more. A recent walk to Lee Lee's turned up three varieties (on the bottom shelf, left to right): raspberry, chocolate, and — my choice, also shown in biteaway view — apricot.

Lee Lee's Baked Goods
283 West 118th St. (near Frederick Douglass Blvd.), Manhattan
917-493-6633
www.LeeLeesRugelach.com

There is always more space for coffee ...

... our coffee is out of this world
Hand-drawn signboard (Athena Michaelides, 2020)
Double Dutch Espresso
2194 Frederick Douglass Blvd. (West 118th-West 119th Sts.), Manhattan
646-429-8834
www.DoubleDutch Espresso.com

Dorsch's White Cross Bakery

The terra cotta decoration in the pediment, which dates from 1915, is the most visible sign of this building's original tenant. Dorsch's White Cross Bakery, originally a small neighborhood business whose name and logo were a response to turn-of-the-century concerns about food sanitation, had become one of the city's largest bakeries when Peter M. Dorsch sold it, in 1936, to the Continental Baking Co.

Continental, maker of Wonder Bread and Hostess Cakes, operated here until sometime in the 1980s, when the building fell into disuse. The first photo below shows it in 2012, while still vacant; the second photo shows it in 2020, after renovation for office and retail use.

Dorsch's White Cross Bakery
Surviving signage, 641 S St. NW (6th-Wiltberger Sts.), Washington D.C.

Grotesques at The Britannia

These coarse-featured fellows are hunkered down outside The Britannia, an apartment building on a stretch of West 110th St. also known as Cathedral Parkway. Each appears twice, in fact, once on either side of a broad court open to the street. Christopher Gray's brief history calls them gargoyles, which traditionally indicates the presence of a spout to convey water away from building walls. But because these figures are unspouted — little surprise, since they're sited just above the first floor and not at the roofline — I've held to the term grotesque.

In contrast to the exaggerated facial features, the bill of fare seems plain. One fellow takes a taste from the pot; a second spoons into his soup; a third huddles over a plate of chicken. A fourth, we might fantasize, depicts the keeper of the eating-house, pleased by his profit from serving a prix fixe without dessert.

Update: I took these photos in 2011. As of 2020, the figures to the east of the courtyard are partially concealed by scaffolding, and the lot of them could stand a good cleaning with a coarse brush.

Grotesques at The Britannia
527 West 110th St. (also known as Cathedral Pkwy.; Amsterdam Ave.-Broadway), Manhattan

Watermelon House

Or, how to make do when the house paint doesn't turn out quite the color you expected. Also shown: kiwi and pineapple mini-murals, added later along the alley.

Watermelon House (Wade Wilson and Robert Banaszak, 2007)
1112 Q St. NW (11th-12th Sts.), Washington, D.C.
www.Facebook.com/WatermelonHouseDC