Gorkhali Nepalese Restaurant & Bar

NEPAL 🇳🇵

It must have been eight months or more since Gorkhali had put up its bold sign on Roosevelt Avenue, signaling another expansion of the area's Himalayan cuisine. But then as happens with a lot of restaurants trying to open, realities of bureaucracy and the unknown set in and the windows remained papered. There must have been two dozen occasions on other trips to the neighborhood that the (lack of) progress was checked in on.

And then finally, poof! In mid-February the restaurant opened up and hit the ground running. The first floor seems to be constantly busy with small groups of family and friends as well as solo diners coming in for lunch. There is a steam table, possibly a sign of the previous tenant or maybe offerings still to come, but currently unused.

If you come for a one of those weekday lunches, you will be seated downstairs where the walls have been given a coat of bright orange paint. Upstairs is where you will find the "bar" portion of the name, along with quite a bit more seating amongst an open dining room. This seems to be where the action will take place during busy times, albeit without spirits as for now there is no alcohol.

One of the first things you notice when looking at the menu here at Gorkhali is that unless your familiarity with Nepalese foods is very high, there are many dishes that are unfamiliar and not in every restaurant around town. This was true on this occasion with the bhatmas sadeko (above), a "salad" snack made of dried soybeans and some excellent chili and herb enhancements. This made the lack of a bar more sad, as the spicy crunch would go perfectly with a cold beer.

Because chicken and vegetables made their way to the table in other forms, an order of the beef jhol momo (above) was preferred, eight perfectly formed dumplings in a slightly spicy soup. This dish was slap in the face good, rising to near the level of the jhol momo from Bajeko Sekuwa in Sunnyside. It is one of those times in life where drinking all the leftover juice is required, embarrassment or not.

Halfway through the meal a family of three sat down and ordered thalis, a different one for each person. While waiting, they told the story of the chef, a woman who had faced tragedy and loss but was in their view most deserving of a restaurant like this. They were very excited to be able to eat her food on a more regular basis now.

Furthering the theme of appetizers, the chicken choila (above) is one with dense grilled hunks of meat cooked with red chili oil. These are a bit tough and dry but absolutely delicious. Order this in Nepal and you are likely to have sweat running down your forehead, but here they tone it down quite a bit.

Another dish that was initially unrecognized was khasiko taas (below), boneless pan-fried goat. The finished product takes on the texture of being deep-fried, but the crispy exterior is done through low heat and oil at the bottom of a tawa. The spices and herbs just taste like Nepal, but feel free to squeeze a bit of the lime to cut the grease.

🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵
JACKSON HEIGHTS Queens
77-04 Roosevelt Avenue

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Buenos Aires Bakery

ARGENTINA 🇦🇷

It was a massive feeling of guilt that finally inspired coming inside Roosevelt Avenue mainstay Buenos Aires Bakery. On other days and other visits nearby, there was never room for even one of the shop's delicious alfajores. But after a destination fell through recently, it was time to enjoy some empanadas and mate cocido.

The corner space is tight, you immediately are surrounded by stacks of bread and cookies. Towering above are thermoses with River Plate and Boca Juniors emblazoned on the side, Argentina's two biggest football clubs. Blue and white tiles behind the counter use the colors from Argentina's flag to create the feeling.

If there are others waiting, make sure to take a mental note of who came before you. There is really no way to form a line, and you will want to circulate as much as possible to get a view of what is in each case. If you have ever been to nearby places like La Nueva Bakery or the shops further south in Elmhurst you can get a sense of what you might find here, but the bakery is a treat and has a couple unique items.

Unfortunately no inquiry was made about the slice of pie below ($2.50), a firm wedge of buttery crust, hard cheese, and dulce de membrillo which tastes like guava paste but is made with quince fruit. This confection is often eaten with cheese because they complement each other so well, the case here as well. It is unclear whether the firmness was due to not being fresh or intentional, but either way it was enjoyed. Plan on picking this up with your hands, as the plastic fork they offer is no match.

A look behind the counter shows a heated case full of many empanadas, which can be enjoyed both baked and fried, and taken home by the dozen. Argentinian style empanadas employ a thin buttery crust that loses its form easily once you start digging in. They let the meat and spices within do the talking and are served without any sauces.

The baked beef empanadas ($2.25 each, below) are about the size of a small fist and stuffed to capacity. The savory palate is focused on here, while enough fat and moisture remains to keep everything from getting dry. A cup of mate cocido ($1.50, not shown) goes perfectly with a pair of them.

And those stacks of bread? If there are any left late in the afternoon, Buenos Aires starts discounting them because they will not be selling any day old bread tomorrow. On future visits, takeaway bags are sure to be filled with both baked and fried empanadas, some of their desserts with dulce de leche, and pastafrola, a lattice-encrusted pie which would be a great item to bring to your next dinner party invitation.

🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷
JACKSON HEIGHTS Queens

90-09 Roosevelt 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 click here to send a PayPal donation, no account is necessary. Thank you!

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Khampa Kitchen Inn

TIBET 🏴󠁣󠁮󠀵󠀴󠁿

Besides some words on an area message board, Khampa Kitchen has lived most of its year of life relatively quietly. The dining room offers the same thing, separated from noisy Roosevelt Avenue and the 7 train above by a small room that acts as a vestibule. Half of this space is dedicated to jewelry and other handicrafts in a room that can be unlocked by the proprietor if you wish to see more.

But head on towards the smells coming from the kitchen, named for the people and region that spanned Eastern Tibet and Western Sichuan but today is just grouped in with the rest of Tibet. This was not always the case, as they speak a different language and have different customs than the Tibetans from Lhasa.

As if to just make sure customers coming in for generalized Tibetan food, whatever that is, will not be disappointed, the menu is full of decently executed dishes like chicken momos ($6.99, above), These have a thicker than normal wrapping, are full of the usual spices, and certainly enjoyable.

But we are in Khampa Kitchen Inn, after all, so it is worth getting familiar with the people and some of their unique contributions. Any scholar of the 1959 Tibetan uprising will know the region of Kham and its people had a very different role to play in the events leading up to it, differences that today might be erased by usage of "Tibetan" for an entire region and people.

One easy way to see this through cuisine is with the paoze ($11.99, above), similar in shape to the momo but made with a wrapper closer in flavor and texture to tingmo (called trinmo here). These are traditionally served with a flavorless bowl of rice soup. Khampa horsemen would traditionally eat these with yak meat, but here in Queens they are available in vegetable, pork, chicken, or beef versions.

Also highly recommended by the Khampa server was fried beef ribs ($10.99, below), heavily fatty chunks of bone-on meat flavored with oils and dried chili peppers. While it takes a while to eat, this dish is full of distinct flavors and worth the effort.

Another stand out Khampa dish is the beef with green pepper ($9.99, above), which is also served with a fresh and hot piece of trinmo. This is another Himalayan dish that uses chili peppers as the vegetable rather than chopped up for spice, so be prepared for a little sweat to start on your brow.

A good pairing for all the spice about to be in your life is a nice bowl of bhoethuk, a thick noodle soup here called Lhasa noodle ($6.99, below). This is only served with beef, a theme of dishes here as it probably remains the closest option to replicate yak, with a subtle beef broth. Throw in a little bit of the chili oil, but keep this as your safe place when your eyes are tearing up with other dishes.

One very unique dish, and an introduction to what may be presented on special occasions, is Khampa poethek ($12.99, above and below), a kind of meat pie that will require about a 30 minute lead time. The beautifully made pastry will arrive with the top already cut, but this would normally happen after everyone was seated.

If you were the guest of honor at someone's house, the top piece would be used as a little plate. The fillings, here seen with beef, would be piled high on the crisp disc and handed to whomever would be the person to impress.

Presented to the guest of honor.

With excellent hospitality and obvious pride in their cuisine, it is not too much of a stretch to imagine your group as the guests of honor after a feast here at Khampa Kitchen Inn.

🏴󠁣󠁮󠀵󠀴󠁿🏴󠁣󠁮󠀵󠀴󠁿🏴󠁣󠁮󠀵󠀴󠁿

JACKSON HEIGHTS Queens
75-15 Roosevelt Avenue

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Birria-Landia Tacos

MÉXICO 🇲🇽
BAJA CALIFORNIA

If you have been to Los Angeles in the past year, you have probably eaten from the truck on Slauson in South LA called Teddy's Red Tacos, which now commands multiple locations, a hoard of Instagram followers, and was even in a Super Bowl commercial. Even if you haven't, more than likely those famously red tortillas have probably graced your social media feeds in many ways, and always with that money shot of crispy tacos being dipped into cups of neon consome.

This and other trucks and restaurants like it serve birria de res, the beef version of the dish that many goat birria purveyors from central and southern México still laugh off amicably and otherwise. This is not that, birria de chivo (goat) is often something saved for weekends or special occasions, preparation starting at least 24 hours before a meal. People eat it in their best clothes after church on Sundays.

Let the sun go down before coming.

Birria de res has always been around though, savoured by the people in northern states of México and as far south as Zacatecas. In Los Angeles it was here and there, but the Michoacán and Jalisco-born generations of Mexicans who lived there still treated it without much respect. But a few years back the Tijuana flavors jumped the border and haven't looked back, the style seems perfectly suited for the culture of outdoor eating and food trucks and stands.

Most of these purveyors did not actually have roots in Tijuana, but when the style started to blow up got into the game fast. Pueblan taqueros are known to be the best in the business and can adapt to any taco desire. It is in this spirit that the non-TJ proprietors of brand new Birria-Landia Tacos have hit the street in Jackson Heights, seeming to have gone to study in Los Angeles and bring back the trend of birria de res and an homage to Teddy's Red Tacos at the same time.

Three tacos, mulita, small consome.

Jackson Heights and Queens and New York City as a whole can only hope that this truck is a starter point, a continuation of the trend here. Only three years or so behind? That is not bad for this town when it comes to certain things. But when it first rolled up two months back, the truck was just plain awful. Not expecting a meal here after an already large dinner, only a couple tacos were ordered because of necessity, but they were not finished out of utter disappointment.

Two months later, another shot seemed the right thing to do. They still are finding their legs, but the upgrades are evident. They are getting much better with their frying to get crispy tortillas, the birria spicing is improving by bounds, and their chile árbol salsa is a net positive although does not pack much heat. At $2, the small taco lines up with expectations of Roosevelt Avenue eating at night, but might still be their weakest link.

The mulita ($3, above) stands to take top prize here, using the same ingredients as the taco but adding cheese to melt it all together and that second tortilla on top. I heard the taquero describe it to a customer as a small quesadilla, but this interrupts the simplicity of a mulita, with nothing getting in the way of meat, cheese, and salsa. Those stupid Instagram boomerang pull shots of stringy cheese are just waiting to learn about Birria-Landia in New York City.

One normal courtesy of a birria de res vendor is a small cup of consome to use for dipping with your tacos, but this service is not offered here. Instead, grab a very worthwhile cup of consome for $3 (below) and make your own dipping station. This cup is not just liquid though, large pieces of the stringy beef are given in generous portion and ready to be ladled out.

One of the most interesting things about the truck is the curiosity that neighborhood Mexicans have for it. Our largest wave to this neighborhood came from Puebla, far from anywhere birria de res exists. As the truck still finds its legs and orders take a bit too long, waiting lets you hear the questions and see the faces that pass by, Birria-Landia is still foreign.

Their online hours show 5pm until late (later on weekends) but the proprietor says 6pm at the window. On this night, they had just arrived and started setting up at 6:30pm so a few beers were procured nearby. The smart move might be to give them a couple hours and not show up near any of these times, let them warm up and get into the swing of things as the summer sun sets.

After all, the grill needs to be extra hot to get those tortillas crispy and that cheese melted perfectly. Welcome to Tijuana.

🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽

JACKSON HEIGHTS Queens
Roosevelt Avenue/78th Street

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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

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Raan Kway Teow

THAILAND 🇹🇭

If you plug "raan" (ร้าน) into Google Translate, it spits out "store" in English. If you speak a little more in depth to a Thai person, they might include the word business and mention that it can naturally mean other things depending on what kind of business you are talking about. In this case, that word would trend towards restaurant, but somehow there is an enjoyable simplicity to store or business when followed by "kway teow" (ก๋วยเตี๋ยว), or noodles. At its core, this brand new Roosevelt Avenue Thai restaurant is in the noodle business.

The tiny space is actually located around the corner of 78th Street despite its address. All businesses on the block seem to share the same 78-14 address since it is all one building, but Raan Kway Teow is tucked away from the scramble of honking cars and screeching trains on the thoroughfare. It accommodates about 16 chairs at small tables meant for two or four, so limit your groups to your closest friends.

Before the restaurant gets noticed by a wider audience, for now it is a simple star of the Thai community, all coming to check it out from listings in Thai Facebook groups and word of mouth. On a recent visit, all ages of Thai folks were coming in to see how it stacked against other neighborhood favorites. A table of four 20-somethings laughed throughout their meal, a 30-something couple quietly savored theirs, and even an elderly couple ambled in and seemed to be enjoying themselves, striking up conversations with the tables close to them.

Our meal began with a simple look chin moo ping (ลูกชิ้นหมูปิ้ง, $8, above) denoted on the menu as "grilled pork balls." These get served in a sweet and slightly spicy chili dip.

Better yet are the curry puffs (กะหรี่ปั๊บ, $5, above and below), thin, flaky pastries filled with curried chicken and potato. A side of cucumber vinaigrette is served along with it for dipping.

After your initial hunger subsides from the nourishment of the appetizers, an appreciation of everything that is being accomplished in the space is in order. A brick wall is decorated by a random assortment of bowls, while in the back a gold-plated map of Thailand oversees everything. There is not much room for much else besides the service counter, which takes up a good chunk of space itself.

While much of the menu overlaps with all the common themes of soups, salads, curries, and stir-fries that populate every non-specialized Thai menu, this is a noodle business, and we recommend sticking to "Noodle Bowls" that they offer.

The kway teow beef num tok (ก๋วยเตี๋ยวนํ้าตกเนื้อ, $13, below) is the pig's blood soup that often gets translated to English as "boat noodles." They have a pork version, but you can also get it served with beef as shown here, although the blood stays the same. It arrives a touch on the sweet side, but this is easily remedied by the condiment caddy that should arrive at your table when the noodles show up. (If not, ask for it)

There are peppers on the menu to denote a spicy dish like normal, but no conversations take place during ordering asking for the diner's heat preferences. I like a noodle business that is confident enough to serve a dish as they think it should be served, but this could just have to do with the fact that the "sensitive" clientele has just not showed up yet. No doubt Hungry City will "fix" this within two to four months.

And thankfully that condiment caddy exists for those of us that want to make their dinner extra painful. The Thai dried red peppers are smashed in house and even come with a written warning of their potency.

I am naturally drawn to bowls of kway teow pork tom yum (ก๋วยเตี๋ยวต้มยำหมู, $11, above and below), a hot and spicy poem for your mouth. The version here is no let down, a symphony of different flavors all living together and never missing a note. It starts well past medium, but feel free to add more of those homemade dried chillies if desired, and plenty of the vinegar spiked with green peppers for more sourness.

Pye Boat Noodle's bowl of tom yum Sukhothai officially has competition.

🇹🇭🇹🇭🇹🇭

JACKSON HEIGHTS Queens
78-14 Roosevelt Avenue #6

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Picantería El Austro

ECUADOR 🇪🇨

As you might expect if you know a little bit of Spanish, a picantería is traditionally a place that sells spicy foods. Typically a lunch establishment, the word is actually more associated with the country of Perú than Ecuador, but in New York City it seems exclusively reserved for establishments of the latter's community. Often times they are open for dinner as well here, and serve as a watering hole like this one in Jackson Heights that I have always been curious about.

From evening until very late into the morning, the jukebox is usually on and can be heard from outside. Groups of mostly (maybe exclusively?) male friends meet here to order buckets of beer and fill their hungry bellies. But during those lunch hours it is a quieter place, you will find the servers watching telenovelas during the afternoon and taking care of a random guest here and there.

As a picantería in South America might offer, El Austro has a few lunch specials each day that offer a soup and entree for about $9. The sopa de pata (above) and seco de chivo (below) came together as one of those specials, but you have the option to choose between a few soups and entrees. It ends up being an enormous amount of very good food for the price.

The menu is much larger though and offers most of the standards that you will see in New York City's Ecuadorian restaurants, from meats and rice to fish stews like the encebollado de pescado ($13, below), one of my favorite dishes from the country. Along with a generous amount of fish in the bowl, starch is provided by cassava and a layer of pickled red onions is always necessary for the right tastes. A side of green salsa is always served alongside your dishes, and after squeezing in half a lime, I scooped in quite a bit of this fiery sauce to get the soup appropriately picante.

The mood is really nice here before it gets too loud. Wood-paneled walls make it feel like a rustic shack and the kitchen seems to know well what they are doing in every arena. I have been too intimidated to come in when the place is more raucous, but this is probably just overthinking it. If you come on a festive night and enjoy yourself, let us know!

🇪🇨🇪🇨🇪🇨

JACKSON HEIGHTS Queens
37-08 83rd Street

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