El Pastorcito Taqueria

MÉXICO 🇲🇽

It seems like every month brings some kind of new innovation (the word for "catching up" when it comes to New York City) in the Mexican food scene in the various neighborhoods where they live in big numbers. Sometimes they do not last very long, but others seem to have caught fire right out of the gate.

A new cart in Sunset Park has been on the block of 5th Avenue between 51st and 52nd Streets for about two months, offering alambres, what seems to be a first coming from a street vendor. An Alambre (below), most of which are $11, is basically a selection of grilled meat that is diced with bacon, onions, poblano peppers, and in the case of the options here, plenty of stringy Oaxacan cheese.

El Pastorcito alambre.

The word in Spanish translates to "wire" and has some reference to the skewers the meat is originally grilled on before becoming the mixed platter. It does take on the character of the beloved Tex-Mex fajitas, and sometimes in restaurants you might even see it served at the table sizzling. No matter what, it will always be served with corn or flour tortillas and salsas.

Many of El Pastorcito's options are also offered on flour tortillas, so this seems to be the proprietor's preference. Since neither is of the homemade variety, the flour do well for making your own tacos with the order, especially with all the cheese. On the night of this order, a rain started and made the small stools provided not work, so an escape plan was made to the McDonald's across the street. This turns out to be an excellent place to eat an alambre with the help of a table. An apple pie was procured for dessert as not to be completely offensive. With free wifi, the second floor of the fast food chain was something of an office for a few others.

Gringas.

As the name suggests, there is a small trompo here, although business is not quite fast enough yet for it to remain under constant fire and spinning. An order of gringas ($4 each, above) will be quickly toasted up on the grill before serving with nicely melted cheese. It turns out to be really tasty and probably should be the starter point for any small order here.

Once you do get a friend or three to join you for alambres though, there are six or eight varieties to choose from including a "Hawaiano" which of course gets pineapples thrown in and the "Sabores" which uses the marinated pork from the pastor trompo.

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SUNSET PARK Brooklyn
5120 5th Avenue

Map of Eat the World NYC:

The Cradle NYC

NIGERIA 🇳🇬

One of the main drawbacks of visiting the Rockaways is that the vendors on the beach can sometimes be a bit lacking in terms of flavor and history. Some operations come and go offering hints of countries they may or may not have connections to, but in the end the food has been altered, often intentionally, to cater to the tastes of the weekend crowds arriving on shuttles from Williamsburg. As shown before on these pages, there are good neighborhood options, but sometimes you just want to stroll up shirtless and order some lunch.

Thankfully for all interested, Mr. Babajide Alao, who lives nearby and will introduce himself to you as "Jide" with an ear to ear smile that can almost set the boardwalk on fire, has decided to bring his young catering business to the sea and his brand new food cart, now in its fourth week of operation.

The written menu is limited, and likely to be even more limited as Mr. Alao continues to find his sea legs and figures out what works and what does not, but a couple options for lunch and dinner should always be available. Choose a rice style, a meat, and a side, all for $10.

The combination above included jollof rice, seasoned beef, and fried sweet plantains. On a second trip back to the cart (below), baked seasoned chicken and sweet potatoes were swapped out. His vegan jollof rice had to stay, as it was very tasty. As with this, the chef seems interested in making sure the traditional recipes he knows are kept as healthy as possible. These bowls had no lingering effects nor did they require a 30 minute wait before jumping back in the ocean. West African food that leaves you feeling light as a feather.

On the days with heavier traffic, the chef is also bringing his homemade zobo, a drink made from sorrel and fantastically popular all throughout Nigeria. This is the kind of cool refreshment needed on those summer days.

Best of luck to Chef Alao and his new business!

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ARVERNE BY THE SEA Queens
Rockaway Beach Boardwalk at Beach 73rd Street

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Bohemian Bakery

CZECHIA 🇨🇿

The Central European fried flatbread known as lángos or langoš (or langosh here, the "h" added to deal with the "shhh" sound of the Czech "š" most likely) continues to have a finicky relationship to New York City. Originally from Hungary, nowadays it can be found in versions from its northern neighbor at Slovak places like Koliba in Astoria and as the "bun" in terrific burgers at Brooklyn's Korzo. For a short time, a Hungarian lángos truck roamed the streets of Midtown but disappeared before we ever found it.

For those wishing to try it, one more option has popped up and seems to be a permanent fixture at the Queens International Night Market, which takes place every Saturday evening during warmer months. The pair who created the new business were spotted at a Christmas market and a fundraiser here and there late last year, and have made the leap to offering their goods to a broader audience here in Queens.

Bohemia is a well-used word in the English language now but finds its roots in what is modern day Czechia, a region and former empire that is home to over half the country's land and people, as well as everyone's favorite European city Prague. The over 100 year old Astoria beer garden of the same name gets its inspiration from here as well.

For no reason besides ignorance, expectations were quite low when the table was approached here on one of the first pleasant evenings of 2019, somehow the market just did not seem to be the right environment for langoš. The results were indeed surprising and full compliments must be rewarded to the bakers here at Bohemian.

What looks to be a light and airy puff is actually dense, chewy, and very moist inside. All varieties of savory langoš are $5 as the market encourages and come as "basic" (above, right) with garlic and cheese, can have bacon (top photo) or tartar sauce (above, left). Those feeling spicy might try the "devil," which adds their undescribed "devil sauce" to the top. No matter which one you order, be prepared for an intense garlicky experience.

It will be difficult to resist an order from here each time a return to the night market is on offer.

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CORONA Queens
Queens International Night Market

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:

Fuska House

BANGLADESH 🇧🇩

On the "quiet" side of 37th Avenue, on the block dominated by the big Duane Reade, a bright green food cart has recently set up shop in mid-February and began serving more foods of Bangladesh to Queens's most centralized Bangladeshi community. Here the focus is on quickly prepared snacks.

You may know fuska (more oftenly spelled fuchka or phuchka) by what it is called in most of India; pani puri. In the state of West Bengal and in the country of Bangladesh, fuska is the name and slight alterations are usually made.

I have been wanting to return to the cart and get a second dish before writing an article, but now that Eating In Translation has written briefly about the mango and guava vorta, interested parties can at least make the call with two dishes sampled.

The biggest difference is the heft of the small ball, filled with potatoes in addition to the lighter ingredients found in pani puri like chaat masala, tamarind chutney, and onions amongst other crispiness. When ordered, the proprietor will ask if you want it spicy or not, which translates to a nice pepper being placed at the bottom, only to be found after a few chews.

Each order is made fresh, little holes are punched into each ball and they are filled as you wait. They rely less on a ladle of tamarind water and can be eaten on their own or with a bit of his magical sour and spicy concentrated green tamarind concoction.

The cart also serves other street snacks like chotpoti, jhalmuri, and the vorta mentioned above. On their Instagram page, it is proclaimed "Fuskahouse is Bangladesh." Do you agree?

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JACKSON HEIGHTS Queens
37th Avenue btwn 73rd/74th Street

Map of Eat the World NYC:

I Eat Lao Food

LAOS 🇱🇦

With so few Lao people in New York City and the eastern seaboard, the best chance to get some sense of what Lao cuisine is all about is to visit some of the most traditional Isan restaurants in the city. The northeastern province of Thailand has much in common with Laos and in fact is populated by more Lao people than the whole of Laos. Their languages are from the same family, and many of the spicy dishes go back and forth over the border.

But if you visit Laos, you will notice many differences as well, and many dishes that are never a part of the menus of Isan restaurants. Luckily we have a new chef who has been popping up here and there to serve traditional Lao food, and most recently was found in the North 3rd Street Market in Williamsburg.

The first four or five times I sampled his cooking was at the Queens International Night Market, grabbing a delicious $5 portion of nam khao tod between other plates from other vendors. I could not resist returning to the plate of crispy rice and fermented sour sausage full of lime juice and fish sauce. It never disappointed.

In Laos you would be served leaves of lettuce to wrap the rice in, but I always found the multiple crisp textures fought each other when  employed together and liked to focus on the rice alone.

The full kitchen at the Williamsburg market has allowed the chef to expand his operation and the menu has followed suit. One dish that is found on both sides of the border is laab ($13, above), a "salad" of minced or ground meats. In Laos, this always includes all the inside bits of the animal involved, although you see that less here. The version served at the market is actually with fish, and wonderful. All the right parts are there to make the dish the intense combination of flavors and textures that it should be, and despite not having a conversation about spice, a decent amount of peppers were sliced up in there to make it right.

Like many Lao dishes, this is a dish meant to be eaten with your hands. It is served with a generous hunk of sticky rice, pick a small piece of that and use it to pick up a bite of larb. Heaven.

Kapoon ($11, above and below) is another uniquely Lao dish of rice vermicelli. It is not altogether different from Malaysian laksa if you have had the chance to try that and not this, a curry soup of coconut milk and spices. This Lao dish will have galangal, lime leaves, and fish sauce though, setting it apart from other similar soups.

The dish is complex and fresh, as is everything on the menu I suspect. It looks like the month-long run at the market is coming to an end soon for I Eat Lao Food, but keep a watch on their social media to catch up with them in the future.

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POP UP RESTAURANT/Changing Locations

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Wembie

MOLDOVA 🇲🇩
RUSSIA 🇷🇺

Early in the evening on a recent visit to the Queens International Night Market, I found Wembie empty on both trips to the stand. Most patrons to the market were starting to shuffle in and look for meals, far from ready to take care of their sweet tooth. But having been fortified by other foods in Queens already, this was the perfect time to be their first customer of the night.

While Moldovan waffle rolls were the draw in the beginning, they have expanded to include another dessert from a different underserved country here in New York City, adding the farm cheese donuts native to Bashkortostan. This autonomous republic within Russia bumps up to the western slopes of the Ural Mountains in the south of the country near Kazakhstan.

The new banner is up with their new logo and emblazoned "Moldovan-Bashkir Cuisine," although this is a bit of a misnomer. These desserts are a connection to each proprietor's childhood, but exist completely separately except here at this market, probably the only place in the world that will see this particular fusion.

The original Moldovan waffle rolls ($5 for two, above) are filled with your choice of chocolate or vanilla whipped cheesecake, thicker than what appear to be simple frosting and much more enjoyable and rich. Extra sweetness is sprinkled on top in the form of powdered sugar, the booth's "secret" weapon.

On this chilly autumn evening, they even brought a pumpkin version in celebration of the season.

After ordering and eating both, I asked the Moldovan partner which one had been more popular since they expanded. With a stern face, he told me that people could not resist the word "donut."

That word of course is part of their other creation, the Bashkir farm cheese donuts ($5 for four, above and below).

These are also sprinkled with sugar and further sweetened by a trail of condensed milk, but the insides are slightly savory from the cheese and quite enjoyable. Freshly deep-fried, the little warmth they provide your body was also nice on this cold night.

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CORONA Queens
Queens International Night Market

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Pereybeurre

MAURITIUS 🇲🇺

On their first official unveiling to the world, Pereybeurre doesn't disappoint with their Mauritian food, a self-described blend of Indian, Chinese, and Southern African flavors.

Their first offerings showed the heaviest influence from Indian, with well executed chicken biryani ($5, below) and dhal puri with curry lamb ($5, at bottom). The latter chickpea flatbread is seen a lot in the city's Caribbean communities, which have their own Indian influences. Nice to see a new cuisine make it here to our shores. Best of luck to Pereybeurre!

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CORONA Queens
Queens International Night Market

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Sambuxa NYC

SUDAN 🇸🇩

[UPDATE 01 APRIL 2019: Samosa NYC has changed their name to Sambuxa NYC, a name more representative of its Sudanese roots. In 2019, find them at the outdoor Smorgasburg market.]

Sometimes new countries take years to find, hidden in plain sight in their communities until the right keyword or walking route uncovers their locations. At other times, a new place will metaphorically just fall from the sky as a surprise. Samosa NYC and its Sudanese snacks falls directly into the latter category, a new food vendor on the scene in 2018.

The easiest place to find them will be the Queens International Night Market, where they will be a weekly vendor at the Saturday night affair when they open April 21st. In the meantime, we caught up with them at a small handicrafts market in Park Slope where they provided the only food available.

The wonderfully friendly proprietor was offering two choices on this day, her namesake samosas in three varieties as well as mahshi, which was new to me. This is a dish of various stuffed vegetables, on offer today were green and orange bell peppers and zucchini. Rice, tomatoes, and onions create a savory interior with some spicing that is slightly sweet and herbal.

She told me that eggplant is often used as well, which would have also been good. The arrangement itself with the different colors is so pleasant.

Next to this was a tray of three different samosas, filled with beef, vegetables, or feta cheese. My curiosity must have been appreciated, for after my questions I was awarded all three types as part of my order.

In other East African countries, this pastry often takes the name sambusa, but is usually triangular like this. While it is small enough to fit into your mouth, take your time and have a few bites. Each one of the three had a very different taste, making the assortment quite good.

As I discussed the lack of Sudanese food with the proprietor, she mentioned eventually wanting to open a restaurant. We can only hope! Denver has a really good Sudanese restaurant, maybe one day we can too.

[UPDATE 09 APRIL 2019]: As mentioned above, Sambuxa NYC is spending weekends during 2019 at the two Smorgasburg markets. Taking advantage of good weather on the first weekend, we caught back up with the proprietor to see what was new and found the beef agashe ($10, below) was in order.

On the streets of Khartoum you can find skewers of beef, lamb, and chicken, while some seafood restaurants are starting to make fish versions more prevalent. If you have ever had Nigerian suya and see the resemblance, you are not crazy for agashe is actually a descendent of this dish from further west, brought by Northern Nigerian Hausa people. On their trips back and forth to Mecca to perform the hajj, some settled in Sudan and of course brought their customs and traditions with them.

The skewers are simple but pack a lot of flavor, relying on the marinade and a coating of ground peanuts. An order comes with a side of either the "black" eggplant salad called aswad or a tomato-centric version of dakwa (which means peanut butter dip and is a common side for agashe). If you smile pretty, you might get a little bit of each (recommended).

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samosanyc.com

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