Eating In Translation

Mamika's Homemade Cuisine

I first encountered Mamika's in Elmhurst, Queens, at one of the monthly bazaars organized by the Indonesian Gastronomy Association. Even if those indoor events weren't on hiatus, grilled short ribs would be better suited to a wide-open outdoor space, with a river view.

Mamika's Homemade Cuisine
www.Instagram.com/Mamika.NYC
This afternoon, at the outdoor Greenpoint Terminal Market, 2 Noble St. (at the East River), Greenpoint, Brooklyn
www.GreenpointTerminalMarket.com
The market returns every Saturday and Sunday, at least while it's warm

Buckley's Self-Service Market

Until the early 20th century, grocery stores weren't self-service. Customers would submit shopping lists to a clerk, who would gather the goods. When Buckley's first opened its doors — the typefaces suggest the 1920s, or perhaps the early 1930s — "self service" must still have been novel enough to be called out by name.

What might a "hands free" market look like today?

Buckley's Self-Service Market
251 Nassau Ave. (Monitor St.-Kingsland Ave.), Greenpoint, Brooklyn
718-383-0838

Đi Ăn Đi

At brunch, this Vietnamese restaurant serves two variations on bánh căn, grilled rice muffins with quail egg. The first is accompanied by pork meatballs swamped in nước mắm, a fish sauce that's also splendid for dunking the muffins; the second (shown, and comped) exchanges pork for a mix of mushroom and taro. They're not "meatballs," but they're meaty in spirit.

Star Deli & Bakery

Mąka żytnia do wypieku domowego chleba, rye flour for baking homemade bread, a sign fittingly hand-drawn not on white paper but on brown cardboard. Also for sale at this Polish shop: frozen (and presumably imported) mushrooms; smoked fish that appear to sing (though it's hard to make out the scribbled tune).

Previously, from the other side of the window: an extra-plump makowiec (mah-Koh-vee-ets), or poppy-seed cake, earned bonus points for a ridgeline of crushed walnut held fast by a sugary glaze.

Star Deli & Bakery
176 Nassau Ave. (Diamond-Humboldt Sts.), Greenpoint, Brooklyn
718-383-6948

Ashbox

Leftovers by design: Beef curry is prepared each Friday at this Japanese cafe, and served from midday till evening. It returns in this more concentrated form at brunch on Saturday, but — as I'd discovered previously, to my regret — never for long.

Ashbox
1154 Manhattan Ave. (Ash-Box Sts.), Greenpoint, Brooklyn
718-389-3222
www.Facebook.com/pages/Ashbox/237985242980231
Closed Sunday

Pierozek

On the third, dessert, stop of a Saturday stroll, I passed up a pierogi combo of strawberry-and-cheese in favor of blueberry-and-cheese. On my next visit, my choice might well be cheese-and-cheese.

Pierozek
592 Manhattan Ave. (Nassau-Driggs Aves.), Greenpoint, Brooklyn
718-576-3866
www.Facebook.com/Pierozek-112378223526473

Hungry?

A hand-drawn sign customized for local Polish speakers, illustrating what looks to be a particularly hot and gooey grilled cheese sandwich.

Starbucks
910 Manhattan Ave. (Greenpoint Ave.-Kent St.), Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Park Deli

Cool salads on a summer afternoon: carrot and horseradish, sauerkraut with carrot, and beet. Unadvertised, the beet was dosed with horseradish, too. The salads are prepared from German recipes, according to the Polish-born owner; they provide a link, at least in spirit, to the original owner of the German-style townhouse that Park Deli occupies today. "Delicatessen," above the awning, dates from the construction of the building, in 1931.

Park Deli was to close on July 31, 2017, but won a series of reprieves; it is still in business as of early 2019.

Park Deli
209 Nassau Ave. (Russell-North Henry Sts.), Greenpoint, Brooklyn
718-383-2080
www.ParkDeliGreenpoint.com
Closed Sunday

Bakeri

Contrarian choice among the curvy confections: a squared-off slice of gingerbread loaf, for its glaze, all the deeper and darker.

Bakeri
105 Freeman St. (Franklin St.-Manhattan Ave.), Greenpoint, Brooklyn
718-349-1542
(one of several locations)
www.BakeriBrooklyn.com

Tamales cart

"Save time & money," reads the yellow sign high up on the outside wall: "self/dropoff service; pay utility bills; fax & copy service; money orders." A further convenience, more at odds with M&W's core mission, is provided by this independent operator who sets up on the sidewalk. Though hours for food service are surely more limited than hours for laundry service, at noontime things were steamy on both sides of the door. Mine was filled with pork.

Tamales cart
Outside M&W Laundromat, 995 Manhattan Ave. (at Huron St.), Greenpoint, Brooklyn