(This venue is closed.) Made from a loose-knit house blend of pork and lamb, "Draculas" are "named after my country," said the Romanian counterman. (Note the Greek and Romanian national colors at the top of the hand-drawn sign). Contrary to what I imagined, Draculas are not blood sausages, just very juicy sausages.
House of Gyro & Shawarma
6901 Fresh Pond Rd. (at Cypress Hills St.), Ridgewood, Queens
347-844-9183
www.Facebook.com /House-of-GyroShawarma -1613143872333512
(This venue is closed.) Om Ali (in Arabic, literally "Ali's mother") often is described as a bread pudding. This version, freshly cut from the tray and still warm, was more of a thick milk pudding framed by phyllo. Sour cream and chopped nuts were brought to the table, moments later, to paint the lily.
Previously: Throughout the Middle East, croquettes with a crisp bulgur shell and a filling that includes minced meat and onion are called kibbeh. That name is known in Egypt, too, but my appetizer quartet went by another moniker: kobeba. Perhaps the names are interchangeable, but I've bitten into enough leaden specimens to know that the croquettes themselves are not. These were exceptionally good.
Natives of Alexandria, the owners emigrated long ago, and over the years a number of non-traditional offerings have joined their repertoire. Perhaps some EIT reader will try the Egyptian cheesesteak; for my return visit, I've set my sights on grilled branzino. (Mission accomplished.)
Little Egypt
66-28 Fresh Pond Rd. (Palmetto-Woodbine Sts.), Ridgewood, Queens
347-987-3860
www.Facebook.com/LittleEgypt6228
(This venue is closed.) "The family chemistry is strong at Little Egypt in Ridgewood, Queens. Nashaat Youssef ('Nash' to friends and customers, who often are one and the same) owns the four-year-old business with his sister, Nagwa Hanna ('Hanna'). Nash's wife, Yvette, and their teenaged sons, Wadie and Mark, also help out around the restaurant — Wadie a little less these days, now that he's attending a local college. Hanna, who has a day job, wins praise for her pastries. But the lion’s share of the menu falls to Nash.
" 'The day I don't cook, I feel something,' he tells us. Ever since his childhood in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria, he adds, cooking has been 'in my blood.' When Nash was his sons' age, he began working at a seafood restaurant, close by the water, called Samakmak. There, and at a fish wholesaler all of five minutes away, Nash learned to appreciate, and prepare, the Mediterranean’s bounty of seafood." Read more on Culinary Backstreets.
"If we could wind the clock back to 1934, to listen in as Rudy's Bakery rolled its first strudel, German is the language we would have heard at the baker's bench, and beside the glass-fronted display cases, and, more likely than not, on the sidewalk outside, along Seneca Ave."
The bakers from the old country have long since retired, but in Ridgewood, Queens, Rudy's still follows the traditional recipes for its German confections. Everything is prepared from scratch — we can attest to the supple crust of the apple crumb cake. Read more on Culinary Backstreets.
"We know we shouldn't marvel over something as simple as mashed potatoes, but against the sea of indifferent diner spuds that we've encountered over the years, Shelly's reminds us that these are incomparably better when made from scratch. ...The texture is terrific. We could make a meal of them."
"Of course, we do no such thing. [Lately] we've enjoyed those mashed potatoes ... with chicken curry, invigorated by one of several imported spice blends that decorate the grocery shelves" at one end of the dining room. Read more about Michelle Boyce, and her continuing "passion to recreate my mom’s home cooking," on Culinary Backstreets.
A bulky letterpress machine, which rattled away on these premises for more than a half-century, still squats beside the window and lends weight to this French bakery's name, "Print Shop." Except for rare demonstration runs, the old press has been powered down in favor of free Wi-Fi, but by many accounts the Gallic owner is no less devoted to his own craft. This slice of lemon poppy-seed cake was procured after sunset, not long before the shop closed for the night; a morning visit would show the baker's wares to best advantage.
L'impremerie
1524 Myrtle Ave. (Gates Ave.-Linden St.), Bushwick, Brooklyn
929-295-6464
www.Limprimerie.nyc
Longtime favorite for lunch, dinner, or late night: boneless chicken.
Milk & Pull
778 Seneca Ave. (at Madison St.), Ridgewood, Queens
718-821-1155
(one of several locations)
www.MilkAndPull.com
Nepal's capital and largest city, Kathmandu, sits 4,593 feet (1,400 meters) above sea level, in a valley framed by four mountain ranges. Ridgewood, Queens — named for the once thickly forested land atop a terminal moraine, the heaped leavings of a glacier that retreated some 18,000 years ago — claims an elevation of just 95 feet (29 meters). From the restaurant's backyard, your view will take in a slatted wooden fence and, beyond it, tenacious city trees and low-rise apartments. Not majestic, but charming, and worth a trek in picnic-table weather.
Shown below: a bowl of jhol momo, one of several with various fillings; jerky-like chicken choila accompanied by pickles and beaten rice; and chilled chiya, or spiced iced tea.
While In Kathmandu
758 Seneca Ave. (Woodbine-Madison Sts.), Ridgewood, Queens
718-386-3416
www.Facebook.com/WhileInKathmandu
Sometimes, I find, a small purchase — on this occasion, a commercially packaged sandwich cookie filled with vanilla "creme" that itself bears little further discussion — can be an enabler of small talk.
A century ago this wood-framed residence sat on one corner of a farm, the woman behind the counter told me. The deli, although it's been here as long as she can remember, was probably a much later addition. The Coca-Cola privilege sign, and the lettering of the business name itself, suggest the 1950s. So does the thermometer tucked inside a refrigerator case: It's branded with the Elmhurst 73 postal zone and the HIckory 6 telephone exchange.
The Corner Deli
Laurel Hill Blvd. at 65th Pl., Maspeth, Queens
To accompany the ethereal fish cake, chips just wouldn't do.
Thank you!
