Eating In Translation

Red White & Que Smokehouse

"Barbecue," in this neck of New Jersey, often summons the image of a Portuguese- or Brazilian-style churrasqueira, where meats are sizzled over a grill or on a rotisserie. At Red White & Que, which I first visited several years ago, not long after it opened on a tree-lined, otherwise residential block behind a high school, the bill of fare focuses on "American Southern barbecue" — a phrase I heard repeated to numerous first-time visitors, less for clarification than as a rallying cry.

In such company, pastrami is a relatively recent addition to the menu. My fat sandwich was very good with the addition of spicy and mustard sauces — but, for first-timers, it would be very hard to pass up Texas brisket with a fresh-cracked black pepper rub (below). Also shown, from a road-show appearance at the annual Hamilton Park BBQ Festival in Jersey City: a whole hog sandwich dressed with sweet and vinegar sauces.

Red White & Que Smokehouse
266 Davis Ave. (King St.-Quincy Ave.), Kearny, New Jersey
201-998-2271
www.RedWhiteAndQueSmokehouse.com

Mamika's Homemade Cuisine

I first encountered Mamika's in Elmhurst, Queens, at one of the monthly bazaars organized by the Indonesian Gastronomy Association. Even if those indoor events weren't on hiatus, grilled short ribs would be better suited to a wide-open outdoor space, with a river view.

Mamika's Homemade Cuisine
www.Instagram.com/Mamika.NYC
This afternoon, at the outdoor Greenpoint Terminal Market, 2 Noble St. (at the East River), Greenpoint, Brooklyn
www.GreenpointTerminalMarket.com
The market returns every Saturday and Sunday, at least while it's warm

TCCNJ Spring Festival

(Many of the fairs, festivals, and other wonderful food events that usually fill my calendar each spring have been postponed or cancelled. This post is based on a past year's celebration.)

Each of these "raw meatballs" bears its maker's mark. In contemporary Turkish and Armenian homes, some versions still incorporate the traditional raw lamb or beef, but in public settings cig kofte (Cheeg Kuf-teh) are almost always vegetarian. Typically they're made with a blend of bulgur, onion, tomato, and red pepper paste, then partnered with lettuce-leaf cradles and fresh lemon. As for "meatballs," this English-language term of convenience doesn't convey the primal beauty of the dish: Cig kofte are distinctively yet unselfconsciously shaped by hand.

At this event organized by the Turkish Cultural Center of New Jersey, the manti (Mahn-tee) were also made by hand, I was told, though evidently ahead of time and offsite. Unlike many larger namesakes, the Turkish version of manti are about the size of a thumbnail and take considerable time to make in large numbers. These, filled with ground lamb, were ultimately deposited in red pepper oil, then dressed with garlic yogurt, red pepper flakes, mint, and sumac.

Also shown: two of Grandma's homemade jams, strawberry and orange; "Grandma."

TCCNJ Spring Festival
Overpeck County Park, Leonia, New Jersey
www.Facebook.com/TCCNJ/photos/gm.823141934387615/670020183110120
(This edition of the festival was held on May 16, 2015)

Fairs, festivals, and food bazaars, past and future

Many fairs, festivals, and food bazaars, rooted in culinary traditions from all over the world, have been postponed or cancelled this spring. On Sunday, May 24, I'll lead a virtual tour to look at the past, and the future, of these beloved events: https://turnstiletours.com/eating-in-translation-with-dave-cook/

Trenton Pork Roll Festivals

(Many of the fairs, festivals, and other wonderful food events that usually fill my calendar each spring have been postponed or cancelled. This post is based on a past year's festivals.)

To hold diced pork roll in place, what's better than maple icing?

Citizen of Burma Award food fair

(Many of the fairs, festivals, and other wonderful food events that usually fill my calendar each spring have been postponed or cancelled. This post is based on a past year's event.)

There are still times when someone cuts up my food for me.

Samosas often take the form of stuffed, deep-fried pastry pyramids, and at most Westernized restaurants they're presented intact. But for this samosa salad they were snipped in pieces, adding a crunchier layer to a base of chunked potatoes and shredded lettuce. An excellent dressing — made with tamarind paste, ginger, garlic, parsley, cumin, and sugar cane — was spooned on, then washed though the salad with a ladle of soup. Fish sauce and lime, I added myself. (See also the samosa chat at the former Spicy Mina, in which the pastries were swamped in yogurt, and likewise delicious.)

Those orange-handled scissors appeared at numerous tables, often to cut glutinous desserts down to size. My Flickr album captures those, as well as a small fraction of the other food on offer.

Citizen of Burma Award food fair
P.S. 12 (The James B. Colgate School), 42-00 72nd St., Woodside, Queens
(Although the organization behind the Citizen of Burma Award is still active online, it hasn't hosted a similar food fair in recent years)

Little Pie Co.

By-the-slice food-for-all: Little Pie's table at a bygone Ninth Avenue International Food Festival (normally scheduled for May, but cancelled in 2020). Also shown, from a recent visit to the shop: sour cream apple coffee cake; the window display.

Little Pie Co.
424 West 43rd St. (Ninth-Tenth Aves.), Manhattan
212-736-4780
www.LittlePieCompany.com

DanceAfrica Bazaar

(Many of the fairs, festivals, and other wonderful food events that usually fill my calendar each spring have been postponed or cancelled. This post is based on previous celebrations.)

In another year it would be high time for the three-day DanceAfrica Bazaar, held in concert with a decades-old annual festival of African dance and music. Much as I love Southern-style samplers and jerk chicken (both shown below), these days I wouldn't mind a little funnel-cake action, too.

Also: A young green coconut, opened on the spot with a machete, might hold a lot of liquid. If you're really thirsty, a skinny plastic drinking straw just won't do; tip your head back and chug. At this stall, the proprietor would then hack into the husk, not quite splitting it into thirds. He'd also fashion a utensil by slicing off a thin-edged piece that could scrape the flesh from the inside of the coconut; no other utensil is required.

DanceAfrica Bazaar
Vicinity of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), 30 Lafayette Ave., Fort Greene, Brooklyn
www.BAM.org/DanceAfrica

Food Festival at Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral

(Many of the fairs, festivals, and other wonderful food events that usually fill my calendar each spring have been postponed or cancelled. This post is based on a past year's festival.)

One of the best things since before sliced bread.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church Festival

(Many of the fairs, festivals, and other wonderful food events that usually fill my calendar each spring have been postponed or cancelled. This post is based on a past year's festival.)

Though he's usually not a fan of rice pudding, the fellow next to me confessed, he'd bought three cups to take home.

At many festivals organized by churches, mosques, temples, and the like, the grill and rotisserie are the province of the men, but it's the women of the congregation who prepare the most enticing items. Consider, for example, the array of sweets at the annual St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church food festival and bazaar, held each autumn in Washington Heights. On this springtime afternoon, however, after roping me in with a sample of the halva (shown below), the bake-table ladies confided that the pudding was not their doing — today's superlative batch was prepared by the chef for the archdiocese. Evidently, he believes that every grain of rice deserves its due.

Also shown: the house band.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church Festival
On the street outside Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 302 West 91st St. (at West End Ave.), Manhattan
www.Facebook.com/AnnunciationNYC
(A date for a 2020 festival has not been publicly announced)