Eating In Translation

Banggane: In Goat They Trust

Named for the color of its hair, not its meat, Korean black goat "is both refreshing and restorative, or so the traditional thinking goes. In Seoul, where [Banggane owner Chris Kwak] was born in the mid-1950s — not long after the armistice that brought a cessation of hostilities to the Korean Peninsula — dishes that feature the native goat have long been consumed as much for medicinal value as for culinary pleasure. Expectant women eat black goat because it's 'good for the baby, good for the mom,' says Chris. Older people rely on it to regain their strength after surgery; men of a certain age seek to improve their vigor. For these purposes, Chris tells us, 'we eat black goat only.' No other goat will do." Read more on Culinary Backstreets.

Little Egypt: All Hands on Deck

"The family chemistry is strong at Little Egypt in Ridgewood, Queens. Nashaat Youssef ('Nash' to friends and customers, who often are one and the same) owns the four-year-old business with his sister, Nagwa Hanna ('Hanna'). Nash's wife, Yvette, and their teenaged sons, Wadie and Mark, also help out around the restaurant — Wadie a little less these days, now that he's attending a local college. Hanna, who has a day job, wins praise for her pastries. But the lion’s share of the menu falls to Nash.

" 'The day I don't cook, I feel something,' he tells us. Ever since his childhood in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria, he adds, cooking has been 'in my blood.' When Nash was his sons' age, he began working at a seafood restaurant, close by the water, called Samakmak. There, and at a fish wholesaler all of five minutes away, Nash learned to appreciate, and prepare, the Mediterranean’s bounty of seafood." Read more on Culinary Backstreets.

Lamoon: Family Inheritance

The food of Northern Thailand — the first home of Arada Moonroj, chef and co-owner of Lamoon, in Elmhurst, Queens — "tends to be spicy and salty rather than sweet. It's also herbal, Arada emphasizes. Consider larb, a family of salads whose principle ingredient is often some sort of finely minced meat. Larb is a common dish in the Isan region of northeastern Thailand; in the last decade this style of larb has become a familiar sight on many New York restaurant menus. Isan larb, however, generally incorporates only a few seasonings; Arada relies on her mom's recipe, which uses 11. 'In every bite you can feel lots of herbs,' she tells us." Read more on Culinary Backstreets.

(Some of the) Best Bites 2018: Queens

For Culinary Backstreets, here are a few of my favorites of 2018, in the company of a few more from Esneider Arevalo, CB's walk leader in Queens. See also my Best Bites of 2017.

Eating In Translation is taking the rest of the year off; back in 2019.

Rudy's Bakery and Café: Baked-In German

"If we could wind the clock back to 1934, to listen in as Rudy's Bakery rolled its first strudel, German is the language we would have heard at the baker's bench, and beside the glass-fronted display cases, and, more likely than not, on the sidewalk outside, along Seneca Ave."

The bakers from the old country have long since retired, but in Ridgewood, Queens, Rudy's still follows the traditional recipes for its German confections. Everything is prepared from scratch — we can attest to the supple crust of the apple crumb cake. Read more on Culinary Backstreets.

Nepali Bhanchha Ghar: Momo Champ

True, this autumn Nepali Bhanchha Ghar (Bahn-sah Gar) celebrated another victory in New York City's annual Momo Crawl. Without fanfare, however, on a typical morning you're more likely to find owner Yamuna Shrestha preparing sukhi roti, a flatbread that she herself rolls out, griddles, and then briefly touches, top and bottom, to an open flame. Read more about this "home kitchen" for the food of Nepal on Culinary Backstreets.

Mangal Kebab: Turkish Delight

"Mangal Kebab is a come-as-you-are neighborhood restaurant that seems easy to get to know, even though we don't know the language." Many patrons come for the specials prepared by Ankara-born Nazli Yilmaz, "including one homey dish that the chef prepared during our visit (and to which Engin treated us): ground lamb, seasoned with tomato, black pepper, garlic, parsley and onion, overloading what is described, all too humbly, as 'stuffed eggplant.' " Read more on Culinary Backstreets.

Beyond the Courts: CB's U.S. Open Eating Guide

"Each year in late summer, some of the best athletes on the planet converge on Flushing Meadows Corona Park to compete in the United States Open Tennis Championships. ... The tournament site does provide hungry fans with several cafés and casual bar-restaurants as well as a pair of 'food villages.' But when in Queens — where some of the best food in the city is so close at hand — why would we confine ourselves to the boundaries of the tennis center?" Read more on Culinary Backstreets.

D'Angelos: Drive-In Sausage

"New York's street food vendors usually ply their trade where potential customers congregate. On side streets in midtown Manhattan, they set up four and five abreast for the weekday lunch rush. During warm-weather weekends, they feed footballers and their fans outside ball fields in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Red Hook and East New York. In Queens, they do business beside a miles-long stretch of Roosevelt Avenue where it passes through Woodside, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, and Corona; they cluster thickly near station stops of the elevated 7 train."

"The setting of the D'Angelos Italian Sausage truck presents a dramatic contrast." Read more on Culinary Backstreets.

Noisette: An Iftar Grows in Astoria

"We'd passed Noisette many times in the (not quite) year that it had been open. But whenever we'd walked down those sometimes clamorous blocks of 30th Avenue in Astoria, Queens — not far from a bagel shop, a pizzeria, a comfort-food hotspot and a New Orleans-themed bar-restaurant, whose windows open wide toward the street during happy hour — we'd given little notice to the quiet bakery-café with the French name."

"That changed during one recent stroll, not long before dark, when a hand-drawn signboard beside the door wished us 'Ramadan Kareem' and beckoned us to come inside." Read more on Culinary Backstreets.