Eating In Translation

Wat Buddha Thai Royal Kathin Celebration

At the end of Thailand's rainy season — in not-so tropical New York, this falls sometime in mid-autumn — lay Buddhists present the monks at their local temple with the saffron robes called kathin (sometimes, katin). The offering of respects to the monks, and to the temple, is accompanied by food prepared by congregants and by Thai restaurants. All are welcome to partake, bearing in mind the spirit of the occasion — not so much food frenzy as good fellowship. A donation to the temple is welcome, too.

At the most recent celebration, I arrived as the food stations were still setting up and was treated to a golden sticky rice cake, impregnated with sweet beans, while it was still warm from the grill. Perhaps next year I'll have a chance to try one of its purple cousins. For more photos from multiple years of this celebration, see my album.

Wat Buddha Thai Royal Kathin Celebration
Wat Buddha Thai Thavorn Vanaram, 76-16 46th Ave. (76th-78th Sts.), Elmhurst, Queens
www.WatThaiNYC.com
(The 2018 celebration was held on November 11)

Bravo African Restaurant

Ceebu yapp (Cheh-boo Yap), literally "rice with lamb" in the Wolof language of Senegal, is served with brown rice, the menu declares. Not the brown, however, of hulled whole-grain rice — this is the brown of broken rice that has patiently soaked up lamb flavor from the cooking liquid.

LW African Market

A hot tray of unfilled crescents had just emerged from the oven at the back of this Guinean grocery; I succumbed to the charms of a still-warm chocolate croissant instead.

LW African Market
3394 Third Ave. (opposite East 166th St.), Morrisania, Bronx
347-425-8324

Asmau Restaurant

Fish Friday, Ghana style: fried whiting swamped by okra sauce, paired with banku. This fermented blend of corn and cassava doughs, one of five starches prepared by the namesake owner (her given name is pronounced Ahs-mah-Oo), seems to be the traditional partner for okra. Pinched-off wads of banku help scoop up sauce and, if you're diligent, to wipe up lingering traces, too.

Asmau Restaurant
1460A Boston Rd. (Bristow St.-Stebbins Ave.), Foxhurst, Bronx
347-590-7132

Crosby Pizza Stop

For working-class Italian-Americans who keep meat-free on Fridays, potato-and-egg is a tried-and-true alternative, on sandwiches particularly. Here the combo plumps a pleasingly blistered calzone, sold by the slice. Unless you have a longshoreman's appetite, one should be plenty.

Crosby Pizza Stop
1731 Crosby Ave. (Westchester-Roberts Aves.), Pelham Bay, Bronx
718-823-8980
www.CrosbyPizzaBronx.com

New York-area food events, November 8-15

Polish Table: Mine, Yours, Ours
Thursday, November 8, 5:00-7:00
Brooklyn Public Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza (at Eastern Pkwy., 2nd fl. computer lab), Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
www.BklynLibrary.org/calendar/polish-table-mine-yours-central-library-second-20181108
Free admission

The Nordic Baking Book
Thursday, November 8, 7:00-???
Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave. (37th-38th Sts.), Manhattan
www.Facebook.com/events/2037683899585851
Tickets: $50, admits up to four people and includes one signed copy of the book

Solo: Anita Lo in conversation with Matt Rodbard
Thursday, November 8, 7:30-8:30
Books Are Magic, 225 Smith St. (at Butler St.), Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
www.Facebook.com/events/735362930147833
Free admission

Smorgasburg at World Trade Center Food Festival
Thursday through Saturday, November 8-10, noon-7:00
The Oculus Plaza, Manhattan
www.Facebook.com/smorgasburg/photos/gm.2395863487096747/1995815760487795
Free admission

St. Spyridon Greek Food Festival and Bazaar
Friday and Saturday, November 9-10, noon-5:00; Sunday (including dancing and live music), noon-4:00
St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church, 124 Wadsworth Ave. (179th-180th Sts.), Manhattan
www.SaintSpyridon.net/assets/images/PhiloptochosFestival2018.jpg
Previously: www.EatingInTranslation.com/2013/11/st-spyridon-greek-food-festival-and-bazaar.html
Free admission

Szechuan House

Lessons from a Sichuan lunch: Cumin, beguiling as a complement to lamb with chile pepper, was even more enticing when liberally applied to crisp-skinned, tender cubes of fried tofu. We scarfed up the leavings with torn shreds of lettuce.

Szechuan House
133-47 Roosevelt Ave. (College Point Blvd.-Prince St.), Flushing, Queens
718-762-2664

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.

Kahtein celebration

Although I couldn't read the Burmese script above the entryway, a glance inside revealed the trappings of a familiar observance. Like the Kathina celebration of Thailand, the Kahtein celebration of Myanmar is an occasion for lay Buddhists to offer robes, food, and other items to the monks of their local temple, and to share food and fellowship themselves. This particular gathering was a joint celebration of congregations from New York and from the Tidewater region.

Kindly offered to a passing stranger: mohinga, the beloved rice-noodle fish soup that's often considered the national dish of Myanmar, soon followed by milk tea and a quivering plateful of sweets.

Kahtein celebration
Unexpectedly encountered while walking by in Elmhurst, Queens

New Bronx Halal Meat Market

Fresh from the kitchen, dakwa (also adaakwa) are the size and shape of ping-pong balls. In and around New York, however, you're more likely to find these Ghanaian snacks in a capacious jar — the sort that in another context might hold pink pickled pig parts — set on a countertop, close by the cash register. Since their principal ingredients are peanuts and toasted corn flour, which are finely blended with chile powder, sugar, and often ginger or clove, dakwa are very malleable, and when wrapped in plastic and crowded with their fellows into an export-ready container, they squeeze themselves into whatever form allows them to fit. Sliced open, mine was still moist; I can't believe that even an ocean voyage greatly affects the flavor.

The owners of this grocery and butcher shop are themselves probably not from Ghana, where English is the national language, considering the parting words of the young cashier: "Bonne journée." Of the several Francophone countries that have fostered communities in the Bronx, my guess would be Guinea.

New Bronx Halal Meat Market
3387 Third Ave. (at East 166th St.), Morrisania, Bronx
718-993-2549