An after-lunch, after-nosh perro caliente Venezolano — a loaded Venezuelan hot dog — compliments of Jesús. Other menu items are so massive I'd need to make TastYork my first stop.
TastYork ("Tasty York")
8516 Roosevelt Ave. (Forley-Elbertson Sts.), Jackson Heights, Queens
929-312-7107
www.Instagram.com/TastYork
(This venue is closed.) At our sheltered table outside this Bangladeshi-Chinese restaurant, bitter melon was the most glamorous dish; a lamb shank, the most uncompromising; goat biryani and spinach, the most indifferently plated. The potatoes were very good; indeed, they were my favorite.
Prince Kabab & Chinese Restaurant
3756 74th St. (37th Rd.-37th Ave.), Jackson Heights, Queens
718-406-9206
www.Facebook.com/pages/Prince%20Kabab%20&%20Chinese%20Restaurant/795409224161599
In Mexico, "atole" is a more common spelling for a hot sweetened drink with a cornmeal base, such as atole de chocolate, better known as champurrado. This restaurant pays homage to Mesoamerican roots with the Nahuatl spelling "atolli" — and to its home away from home with "I [heart] the Big Apple" to-go cups.
Puebla Sea Food
9527 Roosevelt Ave. (95th-Warren Sts.), Jackson Heights, Queens
718-672-3556
www.Facebook.com /Puebla-Sea-Food-134379806632340
A Venezuelan hot dog — with onion, cabbage, carrot, corn, potato, pecorino, pink sauce, ketchup, and mayo — at a sidewalk table. Actual hot dog not shown.
Empanadas Mix
8103 Northern Blvd. (81st-82nd Sts.), Jackson Heights, Queens
347-935-3777
www.Instagram.com/EmpanadasMixNY
Angel has expanded its all-vegetarian menu to include meat — but at our outdoor table, we never gave a thought to passing up the kale pakoda (shown above and in the first photo that follows).
Spanish-to-Spanish translation notwithstanding, the salteñas of Bolivia are not the empanadas of Argentina, or Colombia, or Ecuador, or anywhere else. Almost always the filling takes longer to prepare, and invariably it requires some caution to consume. In my salteña de carne, this jigote (he-Go-tay), as it's called, resembled a wet beef stew. The consistency was typical, and, for me, so was the spill; I hope my aim is always this good.
Kabu Lounge
8509 Northern Blvd. (85th-86th Sts.), Jackson Heights, Queens
718-429-0321
www.Facebook.com/Kabu.BarLounge
It doesn't look like much, but surely this is the city's best strip-mall French bakery.
Earlier the same day in Jackson Heights, Queens, this delivery cart had flitted past me twice, like a butterfly, before settling down briefly, long enough for a photo.
La Tamaleria Colombiana
929-293-4652
www.LaTamaleriaColombianausa.com
(This venue is closed.) The proprietors of this recently opened tamales kiosk — "Jarocho" means "from Veracruz," a large port city in the Mexican state of that name — fashion a half-dozen or so varieties overall. Rarest, in New York, are the two tamales Veracruzanos, with chicken (shown) or with pork, wrapped in and scented by banana leaf, and more substantial than their corn-husk-wrapped cousins. Also shown: atol de nuez, sporting bits of crunchy walnut.
Tamales Jarochos
8814 Roosevelt Ave. (Britton-Elmhurst Aves.), Jackson Heights, Queens
Daily, 8am-2pm
I can't pin down the seasoning for the namesake Bangladeshi burger, but both "spicy" and "fatty" were fair enough. And I don't have so much as a worthy photo of the fries, only of their lingering masala.
Spicy Fatty Burger
Truck on 37th Ave. near the northeast corner with 74th St., Jackson Heights, Queens
646-420-2237
www.SpicyFattyBurger.com
Thank you!
