Eating In Translation

Ruzana Restaurant

Recently unveiled: mansaf, the national dish of Jordan. Presented on a thin flatbread called markook — and covered by a second flatbread, which was lifted free by our server and set to one side, where it stood like a folded banquet-hall napkin — our mansaf also included rice, lamb, a garnish of slivered almonds and chopped parsley, and a jameed-based sauce. Jameed, a dried yogurt made from sheep's or goat's milk, is reconstituted and cooked with the meat; at the table, the resulting sauce is ladled over the mansaf. It's also delicious by the spoonful. The wetted mansaf itself is traditionally eaten with the right hand by forming small balls of rice around tidbits of meat, then — to avoid the Jordanian equivalent of double-dipping — popping them into the mouth without touching rice or mansaf to lips.

Mansaf is available at Ruzana on Fridays and Saturdays, in individual portions or, better still, on a communal platter. Ours, prepared for a table of three ($50), also provided a second, take-home, meal for two.

H/T Eat The World NYC

Ruzana Restaurant
486 85th St. (Fourth-Fifth Aves.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
347-662-6208
www.RuzanaRestaurant.com

King Tut Pie

(This venue is closed.) The provenance of a restaurant named "King Tut" is obvious enough, and "pie," of course, means pizza. But here it also means feteer, a platter-sized Egyptian flatbread whose flaky layers can embrace fillings either savory or sweet. This custard-filled feteer ($8) is one of the simplest and most approachable until — Poof! — in a cloud of sugar, it is gone.

King Tut Pie
478 72nd St. (Fourth-Fifth Aves.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
347-662-6597

Hazar Turkish Kebab

Underappreciated on pizza, lamb is very much at home on pide, even when the elongated Turkish flatbread must be cut down to size to fit the plate. This chunky-style kusbasili pide (Koosh-bah-Shay-luh Pea-day, $10.95) weds cubed lamb to tomatoes, onions, peppers, and cheese. Compare the casually plated kiymali pide at Mangal Kebab, which employs ground lamb to equally delicious effect.

Also shown: sauteed eggplant ($5.50), falafel ($6), kazandibi (regularly $4.50; comped).

Hazar Turkish Kebab
7224 Fifth Ave. (at 73rd St.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
718-238-4040

Leo's Casa Calamari

Fried calamari with shrimp (and salad).

Leo's Casa Calamari
8502 Third Ave. (at 85th St.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
718-921-1900
www.LeosCasaCalamariMenu.com

Dubai Chicken & Grill

(This venue is closed.) It's an eye-catching storefront, even if the menu has no evident culinary connection with the namesake emirate. In particular, a "Dubai burger," though made with halal beef, otherwise seems to be nothing more than your usual well-dressed half-pounder. Perhaps the shop's name is a case of wishful thinking, or perhaps it's an homage to the owner's home country. The counterman this day was simply an employee, from Syria, and I didn't press the inquiry.

Dubai Chicken & Grill
6920 Fifth Ave. (Bay Ridge-Ovington Aves.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
718-238-6040

Yemen Restaurant

(This venue is closed.) Fatah fits right in at iftar.

Bay Root Meats

A Ramadan favorite in the Middle East, katayef are stuffed pancakes whose name you'll see in many spellings (more, to be sure, than for Beirut). Stuffing and cooking katayef is typically done in home kitchens, but during the fasting month pancakes are prepared en masse at local bakeries; the dozen shown here ($3.99) came from a point-of-purchase display at a grocer and butcher. That same shop supplied a basic hand-mixed filling ($7.99 per pound) of walnuts, pecans, coconut, and golden raisins.

The stuffed pancakes are crimped shut, baked or fried, and dressed with syrup and, perhaps, finely ground pistachio. This recipe, for a more elaborate version, depicts the ready-to eat pastries.

Bay Root Meats
7813 Fifth Ave. (78th-79th Sts.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
718-238-7900

Norwegian Christian Home and Health Center Fall Fair

Seamen's stew, however you spell it.

Holy Cross Greek Cultural Festival

Diples (Thee-place) are Peloponnesian pastries made from thin sheets of dough that have been folded — hence their doubled-over name — while being fried. Each dipla ($2) is then dressed with syrup, crushed walnuts, and cinnamon. They're very brittle and light; a few small pieces blew free in the breeze.

Also shown: a crisp-eared spit-roasted pig, lemony fresh from a procedure that propriety prevents my showing.

Holy Cross Greek Cultural Festival
Ridge Blvd. between 84th and 86th Sts., Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
www.HolyCrossBrooklyn.com/holy-cross-happenings
September (the 2012 festival was held September 21-23)

Brooklyn Pretzel Factory

(This venue is closed.) I prefer rounder loops, for no reason I can put my finger on except custom; the narrow shape of this bakery's wares ($1.50) probably helps with the shipment of wholesale orders. Otherwise, that "A" — an accidental squiggle in brown mustard — is on the mark. Egg creams, lime rickeys also available.

Brooklyn Pretzel Factory
7504 Fifth Ave. (75th-76th Sts.), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
718-439-5100
www.BKPretzels.com