Eating In Translation

La Frontera

Despite all efforts, the house cemita wouldn't pose for a typical portrait. The second photo shows half of this overstuffed sandwich as well as bits and pieces that tumbled from the other half. All it lacked was a firmer roll — or a fork. (Or maybe I should have eaten it sooner, at one of the restaurant's many outdoor tables, rather than carrying it off to a park.) Also shown, in the third photo, an amuse-bouche while I waited for my takeout order: a birria taco and consomé.

La Frontera
497 East 138th St. (Brook-Willis Aves.), Mott Haven, Bronx
718-684-1418
www.Facebook.com/FronteraTheBest

Yogures Lupita

The young street vendor pointed out homestyle Mexican yogurts flavored with apple, peach, mango, and what he called papaya, presumably so he wouldn't need to explain mamey. It's a creamy fruit, and so the chunky texture of the yogurt puzzled me until I looked again at the lid and decoded "NT" — nuez and trigo, or walnut and wheat.

Yogures Lupita
East 138th St. near the northeast corner with Brook Ave., Mott Haven, Bronx
(one of multiple locations)
347-636-7607
www.Facebook.com/Rico-Yogures-Lupita-941249449323475

Sushi math

Formulae for salmon yaki tomato and maguro tofu rayu
Seen this summer at Sushi of Gari
370 Columbus Ave. (West 77th-West 78th Sts.), Manhattan
(one of several locations)
212-362-4816
www.SushiOfGari.com

Ix Restaurant

Guatemalan hilachas (ee-Lah-chahs), "loose threads" or "rags" of beef in a tomato-and-tomatillo sauce, resemble ropa vieja. Hilachas are more piquant than those Cuban "old clothes," however, and in my slender experience usually soupier, too. Also shown: the dish as presented, with lemon and chopped onion; contents of the beaded tortilla bag.

H/T Jared Cohee, Eat the World NYC

Ix (Eesh) Restaurant
43 Lincoln Rd. (Flatbush-Ocean Aves.), Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
347-533-6920
www.IxRestaurantNY.com

Little Armenia

A handwritten sign led me to this sidewalk stand where Ararat, the chef, is still waiting to return to waiting tables at a Manhattan seafood restaurant. Also shown: tabbouleh.

Little Armenia
250 Hancock St. (Marcy-Tompkins Aves.), Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
Saturday and Sunday while the weather holds up; 11:00-5:00 or till the food runs out

Hi Food Cafe

Freshly chopped greens fill this zhingyalov hats, a griddled Armenian flatbread. It's only the takeout box that's not custom made.

H/T Lisa Braun

Hi Food Cafe
3078 Coney Island Ave. (Ocean View-Neptune Aves.), Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
347-713-4747
www.Instagram.com/FoodHiCafe

Changing of the seasons

"Try our new frozen cocktails" and "We have blankets to keep you warm"
Signs beside an outdoor dining area, Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn

Raspado and nieve vendor

Perhaps this vendor's sideline — he had a cartful of raspado syrups and the requisite block of ice but just one tub of nieve — was prompted by a figurative windfall of fruit. Although mamey (mah-May) isn't hard to find just now in New York neighborhoods with large Latin American populations, nieve de mamey is rare. If mine looks a little slushy, it might be because the vendor had done very good business and was nearing the bottom of the tub.

Also shown, from a visit to Mexico City's Mercado de la Merced some years ago: a revealing photo of the fruit.

Raspado and nieve vendor
On this afternoon, near the northeast corner of Roosevelt Ave. with 94th St., Jackson Heights, Queens

Curry Leaves

(This venue is closed.) The namesake ingredients in my prawn mee, shrimp and noodles, were accompanied by sliced fish cake, pork, and hardboiled egg; water spinach; and bean sprouts. (Although it's common to combine thick egg noodles and thin rice noodles, I chose just the first.) The foundation of this Malaysian soup is a stock prepared from shrimp heads and shells; these are strained out, and so no visible evidence remains. From the leavings at the bottom of the bowl, however, you do get a sense of the spiciness.

Curry Leaves
13531 40th Rd. (Main St.-Prince St.), Flushing, Queens
718-762-9313

FAL African Market

The refrigerator at the back of this snug Senegalese grocery was filled with sodas, maltas, and plastic bottles like the one shown here. The bottles were unlabeled, and except for the purple of the sorrel, I couldn't quickly identify their contents. Some were pale, others were just a shade darker. To tell these two apart, I brought one of each to the lady of the shop, who was nestled beside the aisle, about halfway in. (There was no counter, and, as I recall, no cash register.)

Both bottles contained ginger juice, she told me. While I returned the paler one to the fridge and the lady gently inverted the other one several times, to mix in the sediment, she added that the only difference was in the color.

Most likely, I imagine, the two bottles were prepared at different sessions. You could call the variation in color a lack of quality control, but when I think of the small-batch, perhaps home-based production process, I find it endearing.

FAL African Market (shown beside a deli that serves "todo tipo de frituras")
1466 Inwood Ave. (Macombs Rd.-West 172nd St.), Mount Eden, Bronx
929-453-9042