The Grill House

PALESTINE 🇵🇸

COVID-19 UPDATE: Mostly takeout in the best of times, Grill House has a few modest tables set up now that indoor dining has resumed in NYC.

 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Written by Joseph Gessert, photographed by Liv Dillon.

On a quiet residential Bronx block sits Grill House, which on first glance looks like a run-of-the-mill shawarma shop. Behind the unassuming facade and alongside the shawarma spit is a full menu of Middle Eastern mezzeh at very reasonable prices, including Palestinian desserts that remain hard to come by in most New York neighborhoods.

First things first: the chicken shawarma ($5, below) is very good. It has pickles, garlic sauce, and is carved fresh from the spit. The spit’s seasoning is milder than at Bay Ridge favorite Al-Aqsa Bakery, but the flavor is bolstered with a vibrant green spicy schug that is heavy on fresh peppers and herbs. Be a little gentle in its application—it packs a punch.

A side of baba ganoush is never a bad idea for dipping, and here you might order it in the Middle Eastern platter ($7.99, below), which combines scoops of hummus and baba with falafel balls, salad, and pita. The dips are both garnished with green chili-infused olive oil, and the falafel balls are small, maximizing the crunch ratio as you make your own falafel sandwiches.

Other mezzeh options dot the menu, and most come in $3 or $6 sizes. Cauliflower salad is surprisingly acidic in a good way, and cucumber with yogurt is seasoned with abundant dried mint and fresh parsley.

Room should be saved for dessert, including a respectable kunafeh ($1.50), the amazing shredded filo and baked cheese dessert that is becoming more readily-available in NYC restaurants. Also good is the standard walnut and pistachio baklava ($1).

Grill House’s version is less sweet than many others, letting the nut flavors come through clearly. Most popular, however, with both walk-in traffic and during a recent afternoon lunch, is the cheese baklava ($1), which replaces nuts with soft cheese. If you take it home, be sure to stick it in the oven briefly to reheat the cheese.

Both the sweets and savories pull from the proprietors’ upbringing in Jordan by Palestinian parents. As with so many in the Palestinian diaspora, they have not been able to visit their home country, but their parents brought their culinary traditions with them to Jordan, and now the children cook the same food on this quiet street in The Bronx.

Grill House is a fifteen minute walk from the Bromx Zoo’s Bronx River Parkway entrance (and not too far from the 2 and 5 trains), making for a great post-zoo dining option. Assuming that it has stopped snowing, which as of this writing is not the case.

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VAN NEST Bronx

1991 Bronxdale Avenue

I COULD USE YOUR HELP

Eat the World NYC is and always has been free. It is a hobby born of passion and never solicits money or free food from restaurants. No advertisements block the content or pop over what you read. If this website has helped you explore your city and its wonderful cultures a little better and you have the means to contribute, please consider doing so. Eat the World NYC is a labor of love, but also takes a lot of money and time everyday to keep running.

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COVID-19 Takeout and Delivery Ideas

SITE UPDATE/COVID-19

I obviously do not need to tell you what is happening in the world. I just wanted to mention that if you read this website but are not following us on social media, the @EattheWorldNYC Twitter feed has been going through each and every restaurant ever written on these pages and figuring out if they are offering takeout and/or delivery options right now.

Please follow us on Twitter for more:
https://twitter.com/EattheWorldNYC

If you are having reservations about ordering food right now, that is understandable. I found this article recently published on Serious Eats to be very informative concerning the safety of prepared foods right now and what you can do to keep yourself safe:
https://www.seriouseats.com/2020/03/food-safety-and-coronavirus-a-comprehensive-guide.html

I hope you all are very well, and thank you for reading these pages over the years. I can't wait to get back to it.

I COULD USE YOUR HELP

Eat the World NYC is and always has been free. No advertisements block the content or pop over what you read. If this website has helped you explore your city and its wonderful cultures a little better and you have the means to contribute, please consider doing so. Eat the World NYC is a labor of love, but also takes a lot of money and time everyday to keep running.

You can Venmo me @JAREDCOHEE or click here to send PayPal donation, no account is necessary. Thank you!

Accra Restaurant

GHANA 🇬🇭

Especially on those days when the sun shines bright, it always takes a moment for your eyes to adjust to the dim environs of Accra Restaurant after coming in from Davidson Avenue. Without much light penetrating the tinted front windows, it has that immediate feel of many West African restaurants in the Bronx and beyond. They had expanded the chain south in the borough and in Harlem as well, but are back down to two locations after the 165th Street closed recently.

In the past ten years at the original spot, not much has changed besides successive coats of blue paint to cover graffiti and a brand new logo on the awning which is not reflected in the photo above. This image is reflective of the food however, a Ghanaian flag and its black star superimposed on the continent of Africa. On any day you are likely to find options to eat from many West African countries and other languages not used in Ghana being spoken by customers.

A recent visit with friends was a chance to sample a few different things and see where the restaurant had evolved since opening other locations and gaining some traction with their social media. Thankfully the quality of everything has not changed and they were still not catering to crowds without experience eating these foods.

That being said, Accra and its cousins remain places that can be slightly intimidating for first timers. Sit down at a table and there will be no one to tell you to come and order at the counter, unless a fellow customer finally takes pity on you. Ask questions of the people working here, and answers will be quite limited. It is not something of bad service, it is just the rhythm of the restaurant.

In keeping with its pan-continental theme, the Bronx location has a large colorful map of Africa and the Harlem branch includes framed portraits of many African presidents. You will find dishes that are usually represented by the francophone countries of West Africa, and French is more commonly overheard here than in other Ghanaian restaurants in town.

It is the type of place that is worth your time to try and figure out though, the stews and soups are rich and wonderful no matter when you come. Put them over a couple different types of rice or get a fresh ball of fufu to eat like a professional. Items will change day to day, so take your time to see what looks the best and order away.

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UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS Bronx
2041 Davidson Avenue

I COULD USE YOUR HELP

Eat the World NYC is and always has been free. There are no advertisements blocking you from seeing the content or popping over while you read. If this website has helped you explore your city and its wonderful cultures a little better and you are able to contribute, please consider doing so. Eat the World NYC is a labor of love, but also takes a lot of money and time everyday to keep running. You can Venmo me @JAREDCOHEE or please click here to send a PayPal donation, no account is necessary. Thank you!

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Nana's Kitchen

ALBANIA 🇦🇱

On the street in front of Nana's Kitchen, just off Morris Park Avenue, you can barely notice some color that had long ago been painted right on the asphalt. It is so faded that the intention does not come to you immediately, but the three bands of red, white, and green that used to be bright and crisp were actually the Italian flag.

Back when these colors were laid, the space here was a bagel shop and across the street was a busy Italian cafe. This specific block of Hone Avenue had been given the name Rocco Miano Way shortly after the death of the namesake Italian-American man who lived here and had a larger than life presence in Morris Park.

But as time passes, the character of neighborhoods shift. As has happened in Belmont's "Little Italy," Morris Park has also seen quite an influx of Albanians over the years. Across the street from each other right at the point of that faded Italian flag are now a popular Albanian sports bar and Nana's Kitchen, which moved in about six years back.

Come at anytime during the morning, afternoon, and evening, and you will find its tables filled my mostly Balkan men. You are likely to be greeted in Albanian if you could pass as one, for there are not many others showing up here and speaking different languages. For this reason, it is easy to skip the portions of the menu that do not focus on Albanian specialties, backed up by the fact that plates of qebapa are arriving at almost every table.

This meal started with a small bowl of fasul ($4, above), which they simply describe as "bean soup" on the menu. You sometimes see this also called grosh, but here the hearty white bean stew feels very homemade and rustic, as if nana herself brought it out to you. Certainly there are onions and tomatoes and olive oil used but also chopped herbs and chili.

Do not pass up a nice byrek, available here in either cheese, meat, or spinach varieties. The cheese byrek ($5) below had a very thin exterior that got crisp in the oven but was otherwise very soft and savory. Five dollars does not often fill you up these days, but if you came in for nothing else, hunger would probably be avoided for quite a few hours. Grab a cup of yogurt for $2 to go with it if you enjoy dunking your byrek in something creamy and slightly sour.

Those aforementioned plates of meat are available focusing on one meat or as a combination of three. Upgrade to the shop salad for $1 extra, a fresh mix of tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions rather than lettuce. Most of the other tables had made this move as well.

The combination ($13, below) comes with five skinless sausages known as qebapa, a ground beef patty called qofte, and suxhuk, a dried and spicy sausage full of red pepper. They throw a slice of feta cheese in there that combines nicely with not only the meats but the shop salad, and of course no Albanian meal is complete without a basket of their freshly baked bread.

Stuffed peppers ($11, below) come full of ground beef, but it is the sauce that really gives this dish its punch. That basket of bread will come in handy to mop every last delicious drop off the plate. The table had that awkward moment late in the meal where the kind server wanted to clear dishes, but with some of that orange-red delight still left, it had to be rescued.

If desired, wash it all down with a refreshing Albanian orange soda called Ivi ($3, below). This is not overly carbonated and is not too sweet, making it quite a good drink, helping to cut the grease from the meat.

Enjoy your stay in Morris Park! Both sides of the Adriatic are both alive and well.

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MORRIS PARK Bronx
1809 Hone Avenue

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Taqueria Sinaloense

MÉXICO 🇲🇽 (SINALOA)

The tiny little neighborhood of Marble Hill is a frustrating piece of land, with a Bronx zip code and having all the geographic clues of a Bronx neighborhood, but still annoyingly part of Manhattan. To understand it, one must travel back in history over 100 years to the dredging of the Harlem River Ship Canal. Before this time, the river ran to the north of the neighborhood and Marble Hill was part of Manhattan island, but that section was too narrow and shallow for the kind of ships desired to pass and the new canal was born. For a few years after this, Marble Hill was actually an island, but eventually the north part of the river was filled in and the neighborhood is technically the only part of Manhattan that is connected to the mainland of the country.

In modern times (since 2018), Marble Hill is home to a tiny little taqueria with a name just as odd for New York City as the history of how the neighborhood is part of Manhattan. In the area's most southerly street, overlooking the tracks of Metro North and the Harlem River, a few steps down brings you into Taqueria Sinaloense, of course named for the state of Sinaloa in northwest México known for some of the most delicious cuisine in all the country.

Unfortunately for New York City and the east coast, most people from this state have remained out west. Los Angeles, as well as much of southern California and Arizona are populated with Sinaloan restaurants, where even regional differences and rivalries between the cities of Culiacán and Mazatlán can be tasted in neighboring establishments. We briefly were entertained by a restaurant in Queens of the same name that whetted the appetites of even the paper of record before closing down suddenly after less than a year.

When the new Taqueria Sinaloense (no relation to the former) opened last year, I spoke with the owner over the phone to inquire about some of the most well-known and delicious foods from Sinaloa and whether they would be offered here. At that time there were no plans for them, but with a menu that uses the state's seal and proclaims "Authentic Tacos from North of México" right on the front, somehow I knew it would be necessary to keep checking in from time to time.

After recently seeing a plate of chilorio and frijoles puercos show up online, I did not bother calling and high-tailed it back to Marble Hill. The results are decidedly mixed, but with some imagination, and the right orders, a meal here could be very good. Unfortunately the chilorio (above), a slow-simmered pork that is then fried with chilies is not part of that order, as it has the consistency, temperament, and spicing of something that recently lived in a can.

The frijoles puercos (beans cooked with pork lard) from the photo were unfortunately discontinued because they were not a big seller, and machaca (dried and shredded beef usually enjoyed for breakfast with eggs and fluffy flour tortillas) does not seem to be in the cards. This led to an order of pozole ($8, above and below), which gives no hint of its style on the menu but after inquiry was promised in estilo Sinaloa.

After somewhat of a disappointment with the rest of the order, what arrived in this bowl was pure joy. In Sinaloa the pozoles are normally red with chile pasilla or chile ancho, but they go a step further here and turn the pork hominy soup into a fiery dream with chiles de arbol, a much spicier cousin. The broth is also full of garlic and onions buried within, and worth coming for on its own.

Another specifically Sinaloan item you can find on the menu is the taco gobernador ($4, below), named for the former governor of Sinaloa who first asked for the combination. Unfortunately, this is not a taco gobernador, which should be filled not only with shrimp, tomatoes, and peppers, but also cheese before being briefly fried after filling. The resulting taco should be crisp as the cheese melts and surrounds the tortillas, maybe next time this can be specifically asked for?

The rest of the menu is extensive and reads like much like many deli groceries around town, with photos of everything posted on the front of the shop as well to entice folks to enter. There is one table that seats four, and another four can eat at the high counter along one wall, but if the shop ever had close to eight eating all at once it would probably feel a bit too intimate. Thankfully for those dining in, it seems like most people just come in for takeout.

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MARBLE HILL Manhattan
113 West 225th Street

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Kingston Food Truck

JAMAICA 🇯🇲

If you are not already on a long walk through the Bronx, the southern reaches of Castle Hill require at least one transfer to a bus from the 6 train up on Westchester Avenue. And getting over to Zerega Avenue to find the home of the Kingston Food Truck requires a bit of extra walking after that anyways. Located just before a bend in the road that follows Westchester Creek getting read to dump into the Atlantic, the area is dominated with large-scale light industrial facilities and can seem like the end of the world.

The truck's primary clientele are Caribbeans who work at the FedEx Ground location it parks in front of, but some others walk over from the Castle Hill Houses, which are not far away. On the day of this visit, the sun was bright, a pleasant breeze filled the air, and walking out to the truck was not a problem at all.

The only obstacle for those without a house, office, or car to take their food back to is a lack of seating in the area to enjoy your meal in any fashion but on your feet. A walk down to Castle Hill Point and the Bronx YMCA will take around 10-15 minutes but rewards you with a couple benches and views out to the Whitestone Bridge. After the industrial portion of the neighborhood, this more southern section feels very quiet and is full of single family homes and apartments on tree-lined streets. Besides the flights taking off from LaGuardia and flying overhead, it can be downright tranquil and feel like a reprieve from city life.

But open up that to go bag and the city in focus immediately shifts down to the Caribbean and the capital of Jamaica, the namesake of the truck. Tourists to the nation normally do not spend much time here, but Kingston is home to around a quarter of the island's inhabitants and is a big, vibrant city worth exploring for many reasons not least of which is the excellent food.

While owner and chef Paul Smooth (I think he prefers "Chef Smooth" based on his social media presence) has been cooking in New York City for a while, the truck is relatively new, hitting the street around the beginning of November of last year. It can be found here in Castle Hill every weekday for lunch and dinner, with a rotating menu that is usually posted on Instagram in the morning.

Two sizes are available, either a $10 or $15 portion. The jerk chicken with rasta pasta (above and below) is the smaller of the two unbelievably, a heaping container stuffed almost too full to close. Besides this bird, you can usually find some style of shrimp, possibly a salmon, jerk pork, a stew or two, and oxtail amongst others. Pair this with the side of your choice and you are good to go for at least two meals.

When I jokingly asked him why he only charges $10 for such a massive portion of food, he relayed some instances of customers actually being mad at him for not serving enough! After sitting down and eating everything, it was obvious that the food here was a substantial upgrade from the common steam table Jamaican restaurants around town, so even if the portion is small for someone, the quality would demand an appropriate price.

In the mood for rasta pasta, this order incorporated that rather than rice and peas to go along with the meat. A healthy squirt of jerk sauce to cover the whole thing meant that by the end the concoction at the bottom was quite lovely with everything mixing.

Noticing that Chef Smooth seems to make a big deal of his mac n' cheese ($6, above) on Instagram whenever he has it available, an extra side was also procured knowing that much of the meal would have to be repacked and taken home to eat later. This dish is well worth the order, small elbows and multiple cheeses perfumed by herbs and black pepper. As seen above, he does not skimp on a healthy piece of the baked crust top.

If exploring Castle Hill is not in the cards for you on weekdays, Chef Smooth and his truck can also be found parked on Fordham Road and Valentine Avenue on Saturdays just one block east of Grand Concourse. In this busy shopping district, the feeling is much different and the lines can get quite long when the weather is nice. Either way, bring your appetite, and be prepared to take home some leftovers.

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CASTLE HILL Bronx
570 Zerega Avenue

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Mi Casa Bakery & Coffee Shop

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 🇩🇴

On multiple occasions the neon signs had beckoned during walks up or down Grand Concourse, but for whatever reasons on those past trips the pull was not quite strong enough. Recently the promise of coffee and a sandwich cubano was too much though, and Mi Casa had finally won. When you open the door, the smell is distinctly more bakery than coffee shop, freshly baked breads and cakes find their way to your nose before the busy grill.

This location is actually the third of three for what is an expanding franchise, and the furthest south so far. They have another location on Kingsbridge Road and the first was further up on Bedford Park Blvd. All three took over the spots from other bakeries with a focus on custom cakes, a business that is always in high demand amongst certain communities. Flip through their photo album on Facebook to see some of the truly creative cakes they have designed.

There is a list of breakfast foods and sandwiches available up on the wall which most people order takeout from, but grabbing one of the barstools and settling into the rhythm of the place is more recommended. The women who run everything are quite friendly and manage the always swirling goings on very well. They treat their regulars the way they want to be treated, and get good laughs at people who come in for the first time asking for something they do not offer.

Never afraid of taking extras home, an order of two sandwiches was made, both of which were even larger than expected. The first, a pernil ($6, above) was loaded with thin slices of pork shoulder obviously marinated with care and full of spices and flavor. The bread also shined and was the first hint at the skill of the baker here. Soft and pillowy, slightly sweet, easy to bite through yet strong enough to hold the heft of the sandwich without falling apart.

The same bread was used for the cubano ($6.50, below), which I marvelled at for its mashup of so many ideas. The bread's sweetness wanted to trick me into thinking it was a sort of medianoche, but the bread was unlike any of a traditional Cuban sandwich. You can get many versions of a cubano around town, but this rooted itself here in the Bronx, a Dominican-American hybrid loaded not with mustard and pickles but with lettuce, tomato, and mayo like at any proper bodega. This might infuriate a purist, but on this day it was appropriate, and delicious.

With more ingredients but including the tasty pernil, this sandwich is an upgrade and highly recommended with Swiss cheese, ham, and those aforementioned toppings. A New York deli sandwich on quality bakery bread and a touch of Bronx Caribbean flair.

After eating half of each and tucking the other halves away to go, focus shifted on the other patrons, one of which seemed to have his own seat at the counter and knew everyone working here. He was proud of the fact that it was his 81st birthday the next day.

Right before I left, a woman came in asking for flan, but the bakery had just ran out. It was not a tough switch for her to decide on cheesecake instead. At Mi Casa, it seemed very appropriate.

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MT. HOPE Bronx
2031 Grand Concourse

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Ecuadorian Ceviche/Encebollado Vendor

ECUADOR 🇪🇨

On a couple walkabouts during the last six months I have twice hiked by this corner in the Mt. Hope section of the Bronx and been intrigued by a regular-looking food cart offering very unusual (for a food cart) Ecuadorian treats. This past weekend conditions finally aligned on the third visit (the right day, an empty belly) to give it a try.

Encebollado de pescado, a uniquely Ecuadorian fish stew cooked with onions was actually the first choice but already finished by 12:45 on a very nice Saturday. That left three varieties of ceviche, all $12, on offer; shrimp, shrimp and fish, or shrimp, fish, and octopus. These options are only available on Fridays and Saturdays, otherwise the sandwich board is flipped around and just the normal New York City offerings of hot dogs and sausages are shown.

The ceviche (below) is served with white rice as common in Ecuador, but thankfully the beloved ketchup and mustard toppings were left out this time. In addition to a small portion of maíz tostado (toasted corn) that is essential to Ecuadorian ceviche, a packet that looks like ketchup but is actually hot sauce is given as well. Squirt that all in as it is not that hot.

The cart sets out a couple stools for customers, but these seem to be the exclusive property of some local old-timers who come to chat with the proprietor and each other. Standing while eating is probably going to be a requirement here, but the communal atmosphere of the always busy cart is enjoyable to be around.

Other customers were ordering grilled skewers of meat variously called chuzos or pinchos at many Latin American carts but usually referred to as carne en palito by Ecuadorians. These seemed to be the most popular item, and much more convenient for eating while upright.

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MT. HOPE Bronx
East Burnside Avenue & Walton Avenue

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Ruinas de Copán

HONDURAS 🇭🇳

Come on the right Saturday night to Ruinas de Copán and you might walk into a performance by famous Honduran Garifuna band Bodoma, playing into the wee hours of the morning. Come a little earlier on that Saturday, after the lunch rush, and you might see the woman running the dining room also catering to her children, feeding the baby and letting an older son hook up a video console to one of the flat screens.

From breakfast in the morning until the early morning of the next day, this Mott Haven restaurant goes through quite a bit of change and caters to the needs of just about everyone. Besides Hondurans and Garifuna people (groups that have a lot of overlap), the restaurant has the entire neighborhood in mind and does offer other meals, but the focal points of the menu have a distinctly Honduran feel to them. The two photos on each side of the name on the restaurant's awning might best describe what is inside, the flag of Honduras, and a bucket of beers.

I was here for the flag and in that respect, the food. The antojito most synonymous with Honduras is certainly the baleada ($3, above and below). Here the fluffy tortilla steals the show as it should, the savory beans, cheese, and cream inside play backup. These beauties have an eating culture very similar to what tacos have in México, find them sold by vendors on the street, out of front windows in restaurants, or sit down for them at lunch and dinner.

Sometimes people will fill them with meats and make a more hearty meal, but I wanted to sample other things on the menu and opted for the simple.

While you are eating, even on a weekday afternoon, you will probably notice the full bar that centers the place. The steam table lives in the front, but the bar serves the back, where more dining tables and two billiard tables are situated. This is the space that is rearranged when love performances are going on, and the place where late nights are spent. They have beers from Honduras like Salva Vida (see below) and Port Royal, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.

On Friday and Saturday night, Ruinas de Copán closes at 4am, allowing plenty of time for reveling. On this day I was happy to have the beer to accompany my late lunch, but I was more interested in the Honduran-style tamales and the sleepy daytime vibe. If a Mexican tamal is more masa than lard, a Honduran tamal ($3, below) is the opposite, and larger.

The interior is filled with pork meat (and some bones, be careful), but also potatoes and rice, making for a starchy carb-y brick. Once ordered, it arrives within a minute, having been stewing for hours and ready to go. This preparation causes it to fall apart when touched and melt in your mouth, each bite full of flavor from all that stewing. While tamales are eaten daily in Honduras, a large bag of them will show up in family homes during Christmas, the focus of the meal and a reason to celebrate. No matter day, the tamal is important.

In its most famous form in México, an enchilada consists of corn tortillas wrapped around meat and peppers and other ingredients, usually smothered in sauce and covered with cheese and/or cream. A Honduran enchilada resembles what Mexicans call a tostada though, an antojito formed on a base of a fried tortilla.

Ingredients are much different, this one here ($3 each, above and below) consists of slightly sweet ground beef in a tomato sauce and quite a bit of chopped up vegetables and crumbled cheese. A hard-boiled egg is cut in half and put on top.

Versions I had in Honduras sometimes had layers of sweet plantain or potatoes, but here it remains fairly light and goes down easy.

The feel is good here. I look forward to taking a friend and challenging others on the pool table after a few cervezas hondureñas and maybe some rum. Maybe we will stay for a show and dance until 4am. I would not bet on this, but maybe.

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MOTT HAVEN Bronx
483 Brook Avenue

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