Arsi's Pateseria

ARMENIA 🇦🇲

The börek, a pastry made with thin phyllo dough and filled with various ingredients, has made its way from home in what is modern-day Turkey in all directions towards Europe, the Middle East and the Caucasus. In different places, it has taken a life (and shape) of its own.

Pastries here have been on our radar since a short report 8 years ago on EIT, but in the end we veered towards the triangles instead of the circles. On the menu they were written "bureaka" but more commonly known in Armenian as "byorek," this tiny little bakery is making them right regardless of spelling.

Each pastry is $1.25, making it hard not to stop in for a heaping bag to go. Shown below is a cross-section of the delicious mushroom version, but the unseen innards of the spinach and feta were actually the favorite.

There are a variety of goods for purchase here, including the round cheese pie reported on the EIT article linked above. We will add different shots if future visits come up with anything good.

🇦🇲🇦🇲🇦🇲

SUNNYSIDE Queens

39-39 47th Avenue

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Bajeko Sekuwa

NEPAL 🇳🇵

A beloved four decade old chain has made its first international jump by coming to New York City, opening the first location outside of Nepal. With many locations in Kathmandu where it started, a few others spread around the country, and even spices for purchase in markets, not many Nepalese people have no familiarity with this chain that started as one illegal grill near the airport for folks to grab sticks of meat before catching flights.

When speaking in English, the term used to describe this food is usually "barbecue" even on the restaurant's own website, but somehow this does not capture the spirit. It is meat over coals for sure, but distinct. There is nothing more distinctly Nepalese than sekuwa. To this point, there was really only one place in New York City that did it well, down the road in Woodside.

The goat sekuwa ($12.95, above) is a star here despite being fairly mundane to look at. Inspect closely and you will see the punctures through the meat where each piece was skewered. The dish is served simply, over a bed of puffed rice called bhuja and accompanied by some spicy pickled vegetables and lettuce.

When the menu arrives at the table and your server explains the famous dishes, the back of the menu will not be mentioned, and there is good reason for this. Quite a few Indian and South Asian-Western crossovers like chicken tikka masala populate that part of the menu, and I am sure they do them well, but to get to know Bajeko Sekuwa and the cuisine of Nepal is to stick the front.

One item that everyone knows from the Himalayas is momos, a dish I also could not refuse on the first visit.

I often prefer vegetarian momos over meat versions, but when jhol (soup) versions of these were ordered the man gently nudged me towards their chicken jhol momos ($8.95, above) which he claimed were the "best in the country." While I have not eaten every momo available in the country, shockingly I was unable to argue with his statement as they were incredible.

The soup usually used for these is just a savory liquid, but here it is full of texture and attitude, adding a nice spiciness. It was the kind of stuff that you keep spooning even after the dumplings are gone.

I really cannot wait to get back here and bring a group to explore more of that front side.

🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵

SUNNYSIDE Queens

43-16 Queens Boulevard

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Los Verdes

COLOMBIA 🇨🇴

A quick Colombian-style perro ($6.25, below), courtesy of Los Verdes in Sunnyside. This chain is all over southern Florida but has just this branch in New York City. Other Colombian favorites like arepas, and crossover Venezuelan classics like patacón sandwiches and cachapas are available here as well. This dog features mozzarella cheese oozing out (see cross section below), bacon, smashed potato chips, and a quail egg. Very satisfying, much more so than the famous NYC dog to be honest.

This comes covered with their house "rosada" sauce, a mixture of ketchup and mayonnaise, but be sure to try the other house sauces as well including garlic, pineapple, and "green."

🇨🇴🇨🇴🇨🇴

SUNNYSIDE Queens

46-26 Greenpoint Avenue

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Kabayan

PHILIPPINES 🇵🇭

There was never an intense relationship between me and Filipino food, it was more like a passing appreciation every now and then. Once a year or so I might find myself at a Queens turo turo or somewhere a little more refined like Papa's Kitchen or Engeline's, where non-steam table meals can be enjoyed. Then I visited the actual country in early 2015 and never wanted to eat the food again. Lovely people, amazing land, sadly the food scene for tourists is redundant and very heavy. After three weeks I could not think of anything I wanted more than absolutely anything else.

This is not a fair representation though and I knew it all along, but it took me a year and half to find my way to another Filipino meal. Queens Boulevard has been home to beloved Tito Rad's for a long time, but is now also home to next door neighbor Kabayan, which attracted me with their focus on kamayan dining, or what is also known as a boodle fight. More on that later.

To check out the place, I went alone for lunch to scope out some favorites on my own. The word kabayan, it turns out, is the way one Filipino will greet another as countrymen, and this seemed to be most appropriate as even for lunch the place was packed full of countrymen and women. Kabayan seems to have shot up the ranks among Filipino favorites in New York City, and has even opened a second place in the heart of all the turo turo joints on Roosevelt Avenue in the high 60's.

Thankfully, it was a good soft landing back into the cuisine. The food here is excellent. I could not resist ordering the sizzling sisig ($12.95, below), a wonderful assortment of pig parts chopped up and served just like the name suggests. A raw egg is on top, so mix that in and squirt the lemon everywhere.

In the Philippines, I noticed the sizzling platters came out more often in other versions than sisig, from bangus (milkfish) and squid to beef and pork chops. All those versions are available here on their very ample menu.

In the true spirit of a Filipino eater, I went all in with pork on this lunch and ordered the lechon kawali ($8.95, below), the deep fried pork belly that is served very simply with a side of vinegar garlic sauce. Whether you use the sauce is completely up to you, but the meat speaks for itself.

A truly special side of the place is shown in their highly promoted kamayan feast, otherwise known as a boodle fight. For $32.95 per person, minimum of four, diners here can take part in a very fun, thoroughly modern, feast of Filipino classics. Half of the enjoyment comes from watching its presentation. First banana leaves appear on the table, freshly washed, then a ring of rice is laid down and four different sauces arrive.

Each person is given a piece of fried fish and then portions of seven different courses are laid on each side of the rice. Not all of this happens immediately, and things take time to take shape, making the level of anticipation build along the way. It also becomes ridiculously clear that there is no way on Earth that you will come anywhere close to finishing the meal.

After everything is placed on the leaves, a gigantic bowl of bulalo comes out, the famous soup of slow cooked beef shank and bone marrow. For a final touch, the ring of rice is topped with prawns and mussels. Where to start?

We tried our best, but had at least twice as much to take home as we were able to eat. It is a thoroughly amazing spread. And all of it is properly eaten by hand, utensils are cleared from the table and not offered.

Be sure to ask for a glass of fresh buko juice ($3, not pictured), the young coconut juice that will help wash it all down.

🇵🇭 🇵🇭 🇵🇭
SUNNYSIDE Queens

49-12 Queens Boulevard

I COULD USE YOUR HELP

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Romanian Garden

ROMANIA 🇷🇴

Romanian Garden has been on my to-do list since I started making to-do lists. Since that time, they have renovated and expanded, and with the passing of nearby Bucharest Restaurant and Ridgewood's Romanian Coffee, they are now the standard-bearers of Romanian food in all five boroughs. What brought me back finally was football, of course, and the Euro Cup game against Switzerland that they nobly tied.

As I walked in, I first thought they had the game tuned to Univision, as Romanian can easily be mistaken with other romance languages when not heard clearly. 

The menu here is quite large, so my solo visit does not come close to exploring much of it. A bigger group could take a nicer stab at the cuisine, which can be influenced and shows hints of all of its surrounding neighbors through history. I will update this post when I have the chance to come back with friends.

Per mL, Romanian beer and sparkling mineral water are about the same price. They each satisfy their job admirably, on this hot day with football on the television, I needed both.

Under the heading of "soup" on the menu is a list of items that almost exclusively are called ciorba, but this Romanian word is a bit more specific than just soup. It actually denotes a soup that is made sour by using lemons, sauerkraut juice, and/or bors, a bottled liquid ingredient consisting of fermented wheat or barley bran. Still interested? Try the delicious ciorba de fasole ($6, below), which simply goes by "bean soup" in English. Vegetarians beware though as the main ingredient is actually chunks of smoked ham. Perfect.

It was only in the city's Moldovan restaurant that I have ever tried mamaliga, so I decided to see what the similarities were as I retained fond memories of that meal. Here the appetizer mamaliga cu brinza si smintina ($8, below) is the yellow balls of cornmeal, or polenta, served hot underneath white cheese and dollops of sour cream.

While the dish goes well with beer, I sort of missed the bits of fatty ham that were present in the previous version. My decision to make it a main dish was probably an error, but by no means should take away from this being a part of your meal. Just by comparing the menus, mamaliga does not seem to be as strong a focus as it is in Moldovan cuisine, but it should definitely be a part of anyone exploring the food of Romania.

🇷🇴 🇷🇴 🇷🇴
SUNNYSIDE Queens

43-06 43rd Avenue

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!

Thai Diva Cuisine

THAILAND 🇹🇭

Some restaurants, even good ones, like to flirt with Northern Thai menus and provide the cuisine of Chiang Mai here in New York. Usually they don't do it quite right, with dishes like khao soy and nam prik ong being too sweet or not fiery enough, respectively. The ingredients necessary to make these northern dishes are harder to come by and their substitutions really matter. Chiang Mai Restaurant in Red Hook, Brooklyn did things the right way, but is still trying to open in a permanent space [UPDATE: One of the chefs has opened Ugly Baby in Carrol Gardens].

Enter Thai Diva Cuisine, about two weeks old in Sunnyside, Queens. We visited last Tuesday night and spoke at length with the the staff here, who speak Northern Thai language to each other, always a good sign. We were told the head chef is only working during the weekday lunches and every other weekend, so the evening chef is an apprentice of sorts. A very capable one though, as we sent in an order for six, basically asking for everything from the two pages of "Northern Thai Style" items that are outside of the restaurant's official, but typical menu.

We plan to return for lunch soon and see what the differences are, but already the food is worth coming here for. Here are our selections from that evening:

Larb muang ($9)

Khanom jeen nam ngiao ($11)

Moo ping ($6)

Sai-ua ($9)

Naem moo ($8)

Nam prik ong ($7)

Nam prik noom ($7)

Khao soi ($12)

Tum kanoon ($9)

This tiny place will certainly be on every radar imaginable soon, so go get your seats before there are no seats to be had. Hungry City will take away any chance of sitting here most nights!

🇹🇭 🇹🇭 🇹🇭
SUNNYSIDE Queens

45-53 46th Street

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!

Punda Tibetan

TIBET

The Himalayan community of Queens seems to be expanding out of Jackson Heights and taking over some turf in Sunnyside. Last year another Tibetan restaurant opened on 47th Avenue eight blocks down, in addition to the Nepalese mainstay on Queens Boulevard. Punda is the latest place to give it a try, a proper sit down restaurant from the chef of popular takeout spot Gangjong on Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights.

The shop still has the smell of fresh paint and varnish, and unfortunately has no charm. Thankfully, with cooking this good, there should be plenty of time for that to change in the future. First and foremost, the momos here are off the charts, and come in a few options.

Beef momos ($7, above) are crescent shaped and appear more like their east Asian brothers. The pickled cabbage offers a sweet companion to your bites if you so desire, and the momo hot sauce is a must.

Chicken momos ($8, below) are the more typical round version you may be used to, and add $1 for any of your momos to be fried here. These guys got a round of ooohs and ahs from our table as we ate.

The group also ordered a plate of shabhalap ($7, below), a Tibetan patty stuffed in this iteration with meat but sometimes available with chicken or vegetables as well. The same dipping sauce is served with these, and inside to pair with your meat is added minced onion and coriander. I enjoyed the doughy crust and juicy interior combination.

When we brought in a couple six packs of beer (for now the bar here is unstocked and the place remains BYOB), our server recommended the chat phat ($7, below) for another appetizer we would enjoy. This is a crispy chicken dish (admittedly more crispy than chicken-y) that does qualify as South Asian bar food, greasy bits topped with onion, tomato, and green chili.

Our resident daal expert was enamored by the dal fry ($6, below), a simple dish on the small "Vegetable" section of the Indian page on the menu. The lentil-onion-tomato combination was spot on and seemed perfectly homemade.

After such a beginning, we all looked forward to our array of entrees, seen below:

Phing-sha ($9), Tibetan beef and potato stew with tingmo.

Shabtak ($9), spicy sliced beef with tingmo.

Langsha jintsel ($9), sliced beef with fresh celery.

Shabri sonam ($9), traditional Tibetan meatballs.

Ping-shogo ($7), vegetable stew with potatoes.

Tsampthuk ($7), barley soup, a Punda specialty.

SUNNYSIDE Queens

39-35 47th Avenue