Eating In Translation

Burmese Food Takes the Stage in Bay Ridge

What might be Brooklyn’s sole source of mohinga, Myanmar’s beloved fish noodle soup, and laphet thoke, the country’s enticing fermented tea leaf salad (shown), recently opened steps away from 86th Street — not on the southern edge of Bensonhurst’s Chinatown, but in Bay Ridge. Read more about this new restaurant, Burmese Harp, on Eater NY.

Shibam Yemen Café

(This venue is closed.) A few scattered rice grains fringed my kabsah, an enchantingly spiced dish served in innumerable variations throughout the Arabian Peninsula. What seemed like carelessness turned out to be tokens of generosity, as I uncovered chunk after substantial chunk of lamb. Ideally (and prudently) a kabsah of such heft would be the centerpiece of a lunch for two, but this afternoon I was out on my own.

Shibam Yemen Café
6801 Fifth Ave. (at 68th St.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
347-662-6554

Ayat NYC

A bread maker was busy at the window of this newly opened Palestinian restaurant; her sumac-topped taboon bread caught my eye. Was it so wrong to hide it under sautéed onions, and add a roasted chicken leg, for msakhan? Sweet onions were a fit match for tart sumac, but utensils — let alone plastic utensils — fared poorly against the firmness of the bread. It was easier to use my fingers and tear right in.

Ayat NYC
8504 3rd Ave. (85th-86th Sts.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
www.Instagram.com/Ayat.NYC

Leske's Bakery

(This venue is closed.) At a glance, you might almost mistake it for a flat cupcake. Leske's celebrated black-and-white cookie (also shown below, moments earlier) was an unexpectedly gooey pleasure on a fat, spongy base. More recently: a peach danish.

Leske's Bakery (shown in 2008)
7612 Fifth Ave. (76th-77th Sts.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
718-680-2323
www.Facebook.com/LeskesBakery

Annual iftar feast outside Balady Foods

(Many of the fairs, festivals, and other wonderful food events that usually fill my calendar each spring have been postponed or cancelled. This post is based on the celebration in a previous year.)

Dates, which often break the Ramadan fast, crowded onto a plate at a past year's event alongside roast lamb, roast chicken, kufta (beef kufta, I believe), rice, salad, and olives. Also shown from this annual event, first held in 2006: a cheese-filled pastry, paired with potent Arabic coffee; last call at the serving line.

Annual iftar feast outside Balady Foods
7128 Fifth Ave. (71st-72nd Sts.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
718-567-2252
www.BaladyMarket.com
(The 2020 celebration, as best as I can determine, has been cancelled)

Iraqi House Restaurant

(This venue is closed.) Makhlama — seasoned ground lamb, scrambled egg, and sautéed onion — what passes for the "all-day breakfast" at what seems to be the only Iraqi restaurant in town. Also shown: the slow-cooked rice dish called qoozi, with more lamb.

Iraqi House Restaurant
7215 Third Ave. (72nd-73rd Sts.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
718-833-3338
www.Facebook.com/IraqiHouseRestaurant
Closed Monday

Karam Restaurant

Shaping up nicely: Our zaatar-tomato-onion pie was out of round, but, as a bread-savvy member of our dining party observed, for that it was the more beautiful. Also shown: spinach pastries, toasted pita chips, a chicken shawarma sandwich, and falafel, all courtesy of the owner of this small Lebanese storefront.

Karam Restaurant
8519 Fourth Ave. (85th-86th Sts.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
718-745-5227
www.Facebook.com/KaramBrooklyn-311685632235241

Philadelphia Grille

Lean in, literally: Some folks don't like the bitterness of the broccoli rabe, the counterman observed, or the slight saltiness of the pork. But these, and provolone, are as vital to a roast pork Italian sandwich as the Philly lean. To assume this dining posture, also widely employed by cheesesteak aficionados, bend forward and bring your mouth toward the sandwich rather than the sandwich toward your mouth, so drippings are less likely to end up on your clothes and more likely to pool in the wrapper. For the first photo below, I'd already swabbed generously with the ends of the roll.

Also shown, vodka pizza squares — the counterman, with an eye toward a snack, sliced one on the diagonal and offered half as a lagniappe — bruschetta, and marinara pizza squares.

Philadelphia Grille
10004 Fourth Ave. (100th-101st Sts.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
718-238-0747
www.Facebook.com/Philadelphia-Grille-216926498320034

Pizza Wagon

Vegetarian intermezzo between two meaty lunchtime sandwiches: a spinach roll. The pepperoni would make a nice appetizer, another day.

Pizza Wagon
8610 Fifth Ave. (86th-87th Sts.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
718-836-5725

Charlie's Sandwich Shop

Beautiful on the inside: As served, this Wednesday-only sausage-and-peppers sandwich revealed little, except at the cut ends. But minutes earlier — before the fresh mozzarella had melted, rendering an open-top view impracticably messy — a timely photo captured the sandwich's true colors. Black T-shirt backdrop courtesy of Charlie himself.

Charlie's Sandwich Shop
9216 Third Ave. (92nd-93rd Sts.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
718-833-3099
www.Facebook.com/Charlies-Sandwich-Shop-576464902556230