Duck, duck, duck — "swimming," crispy, in salad — at this tiny Thai restaurant. Not shown: still more duck, and several menu items entirely duck-free.
Raan Kway Teow
7814 Roosevelt Ave. (entrance on 78th St.), Elmhurst, Queens
929-424-3315
www.Facebook.com/Raan-Kway-Teow-294648997878943
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Meat-free, gleefully: lasuni gobi ("garlic cauliflower"), uttapham, matar paneer, and dum biryani, from a chef formerly of Adda. Also shown: dahi batata puri, pakoda kale, bhindi masala, and the often-underappreciated dal makhni.
Angel Indian Restaurant
7414 37th Rd. (74th-75th Sts.), Jackson Heights, Queens
347-848-0097
www.Facebook.com/AngelIndianNewYork
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In biteaway view this bhapa pitha, a steamed rice cake, showed off its jaggery core. Pitha, which are native to eastern and northeastern India as well as Bangladesh, generally are prepared from rice flour or wheat flour. They can be fashioned in many shapes and sizes, filled or unfilled, savory or sweet. The variety at this event was head-spinning, though the jaggery — an unrefined sugar — might have had something to do with that, too.
Bangladeshi pitha-making contest
Public School 69, 7702 37th Ave. (77th-78th Sts.), Jackson Heights, Queens
www.Facebook.com/291526101637259/photos/a.291543408302195/554711491985384
(The 2019 event was held on December 21)
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With all respect to poethek, the pop-top communal Tibetan beef pie, give a thought to shak trak. But don't think long — at our table, the juicy, stir-fried beef was quick to take its leave. For more photos from Khampa Kitchen, see my collection on Flickr.
Khampa Kitchen
7515 Roosevelt Ave. (75th-76th Sts.), Jackson Heights, Queens
347-507-0216
www.Facebook.com/pages/Khampa-Kitchen-Inn/561280200944057
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Snake gourd with egg, and hilsa in mustard sauce, from a 24-hour Bangladeshi steam table. It's provisioned by an adjoining market, whose delivery trucks are some of the most colorful in the city.
Ittadi Garden and Grill
7307 37th Rd. (73rd-74th Sts.), Jackson Heights, Queens
718-429-5555
www.Facebook.com/Ittadi-Garden-And-Grill-2091931027705954
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Many things aren't easily transplanted from tropical eastern Peru — first home of Jimmy Lozano, owner of Warique — to temperate New York. But his grandmother's spice blend for pollo a la brasa thrives in Jackson Heights. Read more on Culinary Backstreets.
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Piled atop two-dollar tacos, this food truck's birria de res, a spicy beef stew, is very moist all on its own. Enjoy the beefy consomé for its own sake — there's no need to dunk.
Birria-Landia NYC
Truck on Roosevelt Ave. near the northwest corner with 78th St., Jackson Heights, Queens
347-283-2162
www.Facebook.com/BirriaLandiaNYC
Dusk till late night
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At La Gran Via Bakery, in Jackson Heights, only the smile of co-owner Betsy Leites outshines the show-stopping display. When it's time for coffee, Betsy pulls a potent cortadito, too. Read more on Culinary Backstreets.
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From daytime through dinnertime, more than a dozen Ecuadorian carts and trucks do business at the eastern edge of Jackson Heights, near the Junction Blvd. station of the 7 train. By night, many have yielded their places to Mexican street-food vendors (I've never witnessed the shift change). During one recent excursion, at least three Mexican vendors featured tacos al pastor; the pork for these was sliced from the busiest trompo.
Unlabeled tacos al pastor stand
Roosevelt Ave. near the northwest corner with Junction Blvd. (outside the window of the check-cashing business), Jackson Heights, Queens
Night, certainly no earlier than 9:00
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The comically fat wad of napkins that accompanied my perro con huevos de codorníz, a quail-egg-topped Colombian hot dog with bacon, pineapple, and crushed potato chips, seemed very prudent very quickly. Thanks to a quartet of sauces — ketchup, pink sauce, mayo, and mustard — the eggs slid this way and that, even as the chips affixed themselves to my fingers. The "super hamburguesa" at this tiny, family-run business, I also noted, sports not two eggs, but three.
El Perro
8026 Northern Blvd. (80th-81st Sts.), Jackson Heights, Queens
718-424-0763
www.Facebook.com/YeisyRoberts
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Thank you!
