Eating In Translation

Bella Roza

(This venue is closed.) This bichak samsa was one of three varieties on offer. The other samsy, filled with lamb and beef, each had been given a different shape, a common practice to help staff keep track of what's what.

In response to my question "What is bichak?", the counterman did not explain that the word denotes a baked tricorner, known from the cuisines of North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia and here prepared by a Bukharian Jewish baker of Uzbek descent, with various fillings. Instead — apparently addressing what he perceived was my immediate question, and not incidentally saving himself the time and trouble of a comprehensive culinary overview — he identified the filling, "butternut squash." Come to think of it, at the moment, that's just what I wanted to know.

Bella Roza
63-52 Booth St. (63rd Dr.-63rd Ave.), Rego Park, Queens
718-275-0777
http://Bella-Roza-restaurant.business.site
Weekend hours unclear; best to call in advance

Ben's Best: Keeping the Faith

(This venue is closed.) "Jay Parker, the owner of Ben's Best in Rego Park, is a third-generation deli man. Born in 1951 and raised in the nearby Queens neighborhood of Fresh Meadows, he first worked at the family business in the early 1960s. Since 1984, when he took the reins, he's clocked 60 to 70 hours a week. Yet 'this is my dad's store,' Jay tells us. 'His name is still on it.' Not far from where we sit in the dining room, a portrait of Ben Parker looks on, as if in agreement." Have yourself a sandwich — pastrami, anyone? — and read more on Culinary Backstreets.

Parceros Bakery

Mimicry takes many forms. Mexican chicharrones de harina, for example, conjure the crunch and, when processed with lard, the taste of fried pork skin. But no one will mistake those wheat-flour products for the real thing, especially when the chicharrones have been molded into winsome forms.

These Colombian chicharrones guayabas gesture instead with their looks. According to an owner (who offered my pastry on the house), the notches on one long edge evoke the appearance of many an actual chicharrón. The taste is sweet, however, and, owing to a core of guava paste, a little tart.

Parceros Bakery
63-54 Woodhaven Blvd. (Penelope Ave.-Dana Ct.), Rego Park, Queens
718-424-8444
www.Facebook.com/Parceros-Bakery-588234561188333

Rummage-sale snack bar

Upstairs in the parish hall, in a roomful of white elephants, I resisted the temptation of the used-book tables. (My shelves at home are double-banked, and this year I'm hoping to be a net donor of books; I'm very nearly at break-even.) Downstairs at the baked-goods table, I carried off a black currant tart ($1) — but I regret passing up a jar of homemade beach-plum jam.

Rummage-sale snack bar
St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 85 Greenway South (Ascan Ave.-72nd Rd.), Forest Hills, Queens
718-268-6021
www.StLukesForestHills.org
(The 2017 rummage sale was held on October 7-8)

R&M Glatt Supermarket

Apricots ($3.99 per pound).

R&M Glatt Supermarket
63-64 108th St. (63rd Dr.-64th Ave.), Forest Hills, Queens
718-897-3600
Closed from midafternoon Friday through Sunday morning

Marani: Upstairs, Downstairs

Georgians — that is, Georgians who hail from the former Soviet republic and not the deep South — love their cheesy khachapuri and their beef-and-lamb-filled khinkali. (Pairing suggestion, in striking green: tarragon soda.) At a glatt kosher restaurant, however, dairy items and meat items can't mingle, either in the kitchen or in the dining room, and many such establishments serve only one or the other.

Marani takes a second approach: two kitchens, two dining rooms, two sets of dishes. There is another kosher Georgian restaurant that goes to similar lengths, but dining there requires a flight to Tel Aviv. Why not ride instead to Rego Park? For further enticement, see my story on Culinary Backstreets.

Carmel Grocery

Bourekas are Middle Eastern cousins of savory pies that are known throughout the Balkans and the Levant. Under various names, some of these related pastries are baked as large pies and sliced into wedges; others are wound into flat coils, then torn apart at the table. Carmel's bourekas are fashioned as hand pies; the flaky triangles are filled with the likes of cheese, spinach, mushroom (first photo) and potato (second photo). Torn? Try two — they're just 75 cents each.

Carmel Grocery
64-27 108th St. (at 64th Rd.), Forest Hills, Queens
718-897-9296
www.Facebook.com/Carmel-Grocery-140233969347398

Around the Clock Locksmith

From many moons ago, this two-bit dessert came to mind after a gumball-machine sighting in, of all places, a West African restaurant. (On the more recent occasion, the meal concluded instead with corn porridge and sour cream.) I think it was meant to be banana — but an actual banana changes color and texture to signal its transition from ripe to overripe to decidedly past its prime. Hardware-store gumballs, by contrast, can be made of sturdy stuff.

That said, I spotted the gumball machine inside, toward the back, only because I walked in, and I walked in because this is a nice little shop of the sort that's being squeezed out of too many New York neighborhoods. (Visit them while you can, and support them as you're able.) I manage my hardware needs closer to home, but I bought a gumball once, and I'd buy one again.

Around the Clock Locksmith
62-45 Woodhaven Blvd. (62nd Rd.-62nd Dr.), Rego Park, Queens
718-651-5400

Taste of Samarkand

Cow feet are common to many cuisines. In New York, they can be found in Jamaican soups, Nigerian stews, and the occasional West Indian souse. Often you must contend with bones and unyielding connective tissue; the edible portions can be rubbery.

Veal feet are rarer. The glistening oblong inside this Uzbek osh-potche ($17.95) was tender and rich, end to end, almost beyond belief. Though the price may seem dear for the portion, know that a small gobbet goes a long way, especially when your fellow diners have fattened themselves on many earlier courses. See more from this Sunday lunch on the EIT Facebook page.

Taste of Samarkand
62-16 Woodhaven Blvd. (Dry Harbor Rd.-62nd Dr.), Rego Park, Queens
718-672-2121
www.TasteOfSamarkand.com
Closed from Friday afternoon through Saturday dinner

Maca Peruvian Restaurant

Some say "cerdo," some say "puerco." Of all the Spanish words for pork, "chancho" seems to be particular to South America; I've never heard it at a Mexican or Central American restaurant. By any name, Maca's tamal de chancho set ($12) starts the day off right. Also included: well-camouflaged slices of sweet potato, salsa criolla, aji verde, and (not shown) a French loaf, the toasted corn called cancha, and that essential component of many breakfasts around the world, a bottomless cup of coffee.

Maca Peruvian Restaurant
62-12 Woodhaven Blvd. (Dry Harbor Rd.-62nd Dr.), Rego Park, Queens
718-651-2441
www.Facebook.com/MacaFood