Eating In Translation

Unlabeled tacos al pastor stand

From daytime through dinnertime, more than a dozen Ecuadorian carts and trucks do business at the eastern edge of Jackson Heights, near the Junction Blvd. station of the 7 train. By night, many have yielded their places to Mexican street-food vendors (I've never witnessed the shift change). During one recent excursion, at least three Mexican vendors featured tacos al pastor; the pork for these was sliced from the busiest trompo.

H/T Food and Footprints

Unlabeled tacos al pastor stand
Roosevelt Ave. near the northwest corner with Junction Blvd. (outside the window of the check-cashing business), Jackson Heights, Queens
Night, certainly no earlier than 9:00

New York-area food events, May 16-23

From Farm to Tray
Thursday, May 16, 6:30-9:00
Church of the Holy Apostles, 296 Ninth Ave. (at West 28th St.), Manhattan
www.FarmToTray.org
Tickets: $150, or $250 and up for early VIP admission; proceeds benefit the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen

All the Restaurants in New York
Thursday, May 16, 7:00-9:00
PowerHouse Archway, 28 Adams St. (at Water St.), Dumbo, Brooklyn
www.PowerHouseArena.com/events/book-launch-all-the-restaurants-in-new-york-by-john-donohue-in-conversation-with-amanda-kludt
Free admission; online RSVP appreciated

Iftar Dinner at the King's Bay Y
Thursday, May 16, 7:30-9:15
King's Bay Y, 3495 Nostrand Ave. (Aves. U-V), Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
www.Eventbrite.com/e/interfaith-iftar-dinner-tickets-60738392166
"Muslims and Jews unite for peace! Please join us as we break the fast together at an iftar dinner. Both halal and kosher food will be served."
Free admission; online registration required

Bonjuk

Sea of tranquility: beef-and-mushroom porridge, garnished with the traditional crushed sesame and seaweed. Rest assured, during any hectic day, that this Korean porridge specialist admits only modest distractions. The accompaniment to my meal was a recorded cello solo.

Bonjuk
152-26 Northern Blvd. (152-26 Northern Blvd. (Murray-154th Sts.), Murray Hill, Queens
718-939-5868
www.BonjukUS.com

Hills Kitchen

From the Igbo chef of this Nigerian restaurant, which recently settled beside Maria Hernandez Park: banga (palm fruit soup) with croaker, wheat fufu, and nsala with goat. We paired the last — whose full name, ofe nsala (white soup), indicates the absence of tomatoes and palm oil — with a pale fufu of pounded yam (not shown). Two fingers of fufu, wiped through the nsala, brought to mind a good mash and gravy.

H/T Scott Lynch, Gothamist

Hills Kitchen
252 Knickerbocker Ave. (Starr St.-Willoughby Ave.), Bushwick, Brooklyn
929-480-8775
www.HillsKitchenOnline.com

Little Egypt

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

El Perro

The comically fat wad of napkins that accompanied my perro con huevos de codorníz, a quail-egg-topped Colombian hot dog with bacon, pineapple, and crushed potato chips, seemed very prudent very quickly. Thanks to a quartet of sauces — ketchup, pink sauce, mayo, and mustard — the eggs slid this way and that, even as the chips affixed themselves to my fingers. The "super hamburguesa" at this tiny, family-run business, I also noted, sports not two eggs, but three.

El Perro
8026 Northern Blvd. (80th-81st Sts.), Jackson Heights, Queens
718-424-0763
www.Facebook.com/YeisyRoberts

La Pola Restaurant

There's no need to spell out the specialty of the house, even if the illustration does vary from the final presentation. "The king of the [sandwich]," and a pressed, warm Cubano especial.

La Pola Restaurant
5400 Palisade Ave. (at 54th St.), West New York, New Jersey
201-867-6028
www.Facebook.com/LaPolaCubanSandwich
Closed Sunday

XinJiang House

From far northwestern China to Elmhurst's new food court: a light halal meal of cold noodles with beef. Spicy lamb feet, Xinjiang style, await a return visit. Other vendors — about half of 20-some stalls are open — offer food from Fujian, Henan, Lanzhou, Taiwan, and Sichuan as well as Japan, Thailand, Tibet, and Vietnam.

H/T Jeff Orlick, who supplied word of the food court's long-awaited opening

XinJiang House
HK Food Court, stall 17
8202 45th Ave., Elmhurst, Queens

New York-area food events, May 9-16

In Pursuit of Flavor: Celebrating Edna Lewis
Thursday, May 9, 6:30-8:30
Museum of Food and Drink, 62 Bayard St. (Lorimer-Leonard Sts.), Williamsburg, Brooklyn
www.MOFAD.org/events/2019/5/9/in-pursuit-of-flavor-a-celebration-of-edna-lewis
Tickets: $30
One in a series presented by MOFAD

Taste of the Lower East Side
Thursday, May 9, 7:00-10:00
Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 West 18th St. (Sixth-Seventh Aves.), Manhattan
www.TasteofLES.org
Tickets: $195, or $300 for hour-earlier VIP admission; proceeds "support programs and services for more than 10,000 New Yorkers and their communities"

Armenian Wine and Food Tasting
Friday, May 10, 7:00-???
John Pashilian Hall, St. Illuminator's Armenian Apostolic Cathedral, 221 East 27th St. (Second-Third Aves.), Manhattan
www.StIlluminators.org/?p=3053
"We will have 18 varieties of Armenian wines, various types of Armenian cheese, honey, teas, dried fruits, juices, jams, etc."
Admission: $25

Bethel United Methodist Church Spring Festival and Plant Sale
Saturday, May 11, 8:00-4:00
Bethel United Methodist Church, 7033 Amboy Rd., Staten Island
www.BethelUMCSI.com/uploads/3/3/1/0/3310513/flier-1.pdf
Free admission

Dolma House

Azerbaijani kelem dolma, and delicious things that are not dolma: harcho, lobio, and turshi plov decorated with apricot, plum, and candied chestnut. The yellow slick in the final photo, taken after my dining buddy and I had wiped our bread through the leavings of the rice dish, displays the lingering presence of lamb fat. So much for modest intentions to limit myself to a lunch special.

H/T Jared Cohee, Eat the World NYC

Dolma House
311 Ave. X (Stryker-West 1st Sts.), Gravesend, Brooklyn
347-462-2417
www.Dolma-House.com