Eating In Translation

Burchak Pide

Old news: Sausage and melted cheese make for good eating. In what this Turkish restaurant calls soudjouk and cheese toast, the sliced sausage is dried, spicy beef, and the cheese is (I believe) kashkaval; in the final photo, they're anointed with hot sauce. The faux-newspaper wrapper did, as I discovered, include a new-to-me crossword puzzle; hot sauce stains made it more puzzling still.

Burchak Pide
1614 Sheepshead Bay Rd. (at Jerome Ave.), Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
315-207-7080
www.Facebook.com/BurchakPide

Tarim Gourmet Food Market

Savory breakfast pastry: This "pumpkin" samsa, probably filled with butternut squash or the like and tempered with onion, was one of four hand pies heralding a Central Asian steam table (which I could not stay to see). In the second photo, which shows pastries filled with pumpkin, potato, and lamb, note the different shapes that help the kitchen to distinguish one batch from another.

H/T agog.wanderer, who reported (in a post I can no longer find) that this is the "very first #Uyghur run gourmet store in the US." The market shares its name with the Tarim Basin, which occupies the southern half of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Tarim Gourmet Food Market
1610 Kings Hwy. (East 16th-East 17th Sts.), Homecrest, Brooklyn
347-462-1270
www.Instagram.com/Tarim_Gourmet_Food_Market_

Oasis Mega Market

In the Caucasus, the griddled crepes called kutaby, or qutaby, often are folded over an assortment of wild greens. In Sheepshead Bay, spinach (with onion, scallion, and what might have been feta) served very nicely instead. Oasis Mega Market seems to be under Uzbek ownership, with a greater focus on foods from Central Asia; the expansive and well-labeled hot and colds displays are an excellent primer to this family of cuisines.

Oasis Mega Market
2828 Coney Island Ave. (Kathleen Pl.-Ave. Z), Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
347-509-0000
www.Instagram.com/Oasis_Mega_Market

Z Fancy Foodz

(This venue is closed.) Smetannik is a Russian cake with sour cream frosting; many thin layers can raise the ratio of frosting to cake considerably. (This is good.) Some of the larger markets in South Brooklyn feature a half-dozen flavors; this smaller shop offered less variety, but I was more than happy to find hazelnut.

Z Fancy Foodz
1212 Ave. Z (East 12th St.-Homecrest Ave.), Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
347-492-3315

Nefista

(This post is based on a visit to the now-closed branch in Sheepshead Bay.) Distinctively yet unselfconsciously fashioned by hand, çiğ köfte (Cheeg Kuf-teh) are Turkish "raw meatballs" that traditionally are made from lamb or beef. This vegan version features bulgur, red pepper, and walnut, which partner in your own hands with lettuce, lemon, leafy herbs, various crisp palate-fresheners, and perhaps a dab of pomegranate sauce, too. Also shown: a two-bite baklava, on the house.

Nefista
105 MacDougal St. (Bleecker-West 3rd Sts.), Manhattan
646-952-0176
656 Anderson Ave. (Columbia-Nelson Aves.), Cliffside Park, New Jersey
201-774-4080
www.Nefista.com

Changing of the seasons

"Try our new frozen cocktails" and "We have blankets to keep you warm"
Signs beside an outdoor dining area, Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn

Jay & Lloyd's Kosher Deli

(This venue is closed as of late May 2020, reports Brooklyn Paper). Stuffed derma, a.k.a. kishka, suggests Thanksgiving stuffing in sausage form. But it's softer, richer, and — in this instance, perhaps owing to the use of rendered chicken fat, or schmaltz — stickier, too. Thick brown gravy came with, for spooning on top. Suggested pairing: Cel-Ray.

Jay & Lloyd's Kosher Deli (shown below in 2008, and in 2018)
2718 Ave. U (East 27th-East 28th Sts.), Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
718-891-5302
www.JayAndLloydsKosherDeli.com

Rayhon

(This venue is closed.) Named for a salty yogurt sauce, kurutob — the national dish of Tajikistan — also features shreds of the flaky flatbread called fatir. Many versions include lamb; this vegetarian version was topped with a fresh salad instead. Also shown: crispy chuchvara, close kin to pelmeni. Ours were dressed with scallion and cooked-to-sweetness onion.

Rayhon
1915 Ave. U (East 19th St.-Ocean Ave.), Homecrest, Brooklyn
347-673-5288
www.RayhonRestaurant.com

Tandir Dushanbe

(This venue is closed.) Tajik tea-shop pastries: savory (at the fore) with potato or meat and sweet (at the back) with apple or, my choice, cheese.

Tandir Dushanbe
1807 Kings Hwy. (East 18th-East 19th Sts.), Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
718-759-6522

Lagman House

(This venue is closed.) It's OK to use your utensils. In Kazakhstan — whose national colors of sky blue and sun gold are displayed at this restaurant's front counter — "beshbarmak" means "five fingers." In Central Asia, it also denotes a communal dish, traditionally eaten by hand, of broad noodles cooked in broth and topped with boiled meat (in South Brooklyn, beef by default, lamb with a day's notice).

Also shown: sour, carrot-riddled salad and a plate of lamian (best eaten together); a heaping helping of dapan ji ("big tray chicken"); condiments (pepper is welcome, garlic is essential); and the restaurant's facade. "Dungan" is a name for Muslims of Chinese heritage who also call themselves "Hui"; the Chinese characters can be translated as "Hui people's noodles," "pilaf," and "king of big tray chicken." Inside the restaurant, however, the languages of choice are Russian and English.

H/T Jared Cohee, Eat The World NYC

Lagman House
2612 East 14th St. (at Sheepshead Bay Rd.), Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
718-648-2345
www.LagmanHouse.com
Closed Monday