Galactic Pie

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One of the destinations on my “Flavors of Little Levant in Bay Ridge” ethnojunket is Bay Ridge Bakery at 7805 5th Avenue, a fixture in that Brooklyn neighborhood that has been creating first-class cakes, cookies, and pastries since 1972. They feature superb French, Italian, and American baked goods like those shown here…

…but this post is about their exceptional galaktoboureko (γαλακτομπούρεκο), a Greek pastry featuring sweet semolina custard encased in phyllo dough. Its name literally means “milk pie” and the English word “galaxy” is derived from the Greek root: think Milky Way.

The bakery is the creation of John Nikolopoulos, a pastry chef who hails from Greece – so you know you’re getting the real deal. Head inside and walk straight to the back where traditional Greek pastries are hiding in plain sight and buy a piece (or more!) of their quintessentially definitive galaktoboureko – truly one of the best versions I’ve ever tasted.

And needless to say, we always stop by for a piece on my Little Levant ethnojunket!

ώπα!
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! ❤
 
 

Día de los Muertos

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You’ve heard it before: “Oh, Día de los Muertos is Mexican Halloween, right?”

Wrong. Día de los Muertos is decidedly not Mexican Halloween any more than Chanukah is Jewish Christmas – and if any unenlightened soul tries to tell you that, please disabuse them of that fallacious notion inmediatamente!

The Mexican holiday, Day of the Dead, is celebrated from October 31 through November 2 (dates may vary depending upon the locality) – and “celebrated” is the proper word: families congregate to memorialize loved ones who have passed away, but it is seen as a time when the departed temporarily revivify and join in the revelry rather than as a sorrowful occasion. Additionally, these days Día de Muertos, as it is also known, serves as a paean to the indigenous people with whom it originated in pre-Hispanic times.

So I headed out to Sunset Park, Brooklyn, to get myself into the Día de los Muertos spirit; sequin-eyed, neon icing-coiffed calaveras (sugar skulls) are relatively easy to find in the neighborhood. Although spirits don’t eat, this one seemed particularly interested in the pan de muerto I picked up.

This bread of the dead is customarily embossed with bone shapes, sometimes crossbones, sometimes in a circle, and other traditional embellishments such as skulls and a single teardrop. It’s a barely sweet, simple bun (like so many Mexican panes dulces), light and airy with a tight crumb, and topped with sesame seeds or sugar (like this one) with hints of cinnamon, anise, and orange flower water.


Above: A view of the inner sanctum.
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! ❤
 
 

Goblin’ Futomaki on Halloween

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Halloween is just around the corner and I wanted to indulge in something that didn’t involve Reese’s Cups, M&M’s, or Kit Kats, so I’ll be goblin’ futomaki that’s decked out in an All Hallows’ Eve costume – I guess that makes it both a trick and a treat. (But, not gonna lie, I’m waiting for the post-holiday sales: just as leftover Thanksgiving dinner tastes better the next day, so does leftover half-price Halloween candy.)

In obeisance to the official black and orange Halloween rubric, the black monstermaki (futomaki means thick or fat roll) is wrapped in nori, its conventional costume, and its orange sidekicks are swathed in soy wrappers that come in five flavors/colors: original soy, sesame, spinach green, turmeric yellow, and paprika orange.

I filled them with kani (krab sticks), avocado, cucumber, strips of sweet kanpyō (dried gourd) and most important, eel because – in keeping with the holiday spirit 👻 – it’s only one letter away from EEK!

And in case you’re wondering – no, I’m not handing out these spookomaki on October 31; the kids are supposed to scare me, not the other way around!

Happy Halloween! 🎃 🍣
 
 

Le 2025 Lait de Poule Est Arrivé!

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Eggnog! First sighting of the year!

It’s like waiting for this year’s vintage Beaujolais Nouveau to appear: Le 2025 Lait de Poule est arrivé! (They say that the French have a word for it, and I have to admit a certain fondness for their spin on the word “eggnog”, lait de poule: hen’s milk.)

If you’ve read me, you know that I have a few (ha!) guilty pleasures when it comes to holiday food, and for me, nothing heralds the advent of the season like the first appearance of eggnog on supermarket shelves. And snatching it away precipitately as they do every year when the yule log’s embers have barely begun to evanesce only makes the anticipation and craving for next year’s batch more intense.

But which one(s) to buy? The brands in this photo may not be my fave – they’re merely the first I’ve found this year: October 6 to be precise! It definitely benefits from a liberal dusting of freshly grated nutmeg. But fret not. I and my OCD are here to offer you the benefits of my research and experimentation regarding this happy holiday quandary. Please check out my annually updated essay, An Eggnog Excursus – and unlike the holiday libation itself, it’s available year-round under “Deep Dives” on my homepage!

Cheers!
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! ❤
 
 

Now Boarding! Little Odessa Ethnojunket on October 9 at 1pm!

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Here’s another chance to take part in a scheduled ethnojunket to Brooklyn’s Little Odessa for some delicious Russian, Georgian, Azerbaijani, Uyghur, Turkish, Uzbek, and Ukrainian food!

An ethnojunket is a food-focused walking tour through one of New York City’s many ethnic enclaves; my mission is to introduce you to some delicious, accessible, international treats (hence, “ethno-”) that you’ve never tasted but soon will never be able to live without (hence, “-junkie”). My most popular tours are described on the Ethnojunkets page but there are always new ones in the works.

A scheduled ethnojunket is one which is about to happen soon. Generally, I try to keep the group to a maximum of six people or so; it’s a comfortable size: larger groups tend to get impersonal and less participatory. But occasionally, only one or two people have signed up for an ethnojunket – and when it comes to food tastings, the more participants, the greater the opportunity to taste more dishes! So when that happens, I announce it in the Now Boarding section of the Ethnojunkets page. Subscribers always get email notifications about these.

And this is one of those occasions! There are still some openings available for our Exploring Eastern European Food in Little Odessa ethnojunket on Thursday, October 9 at 1pm so here’s your chance to join in the fun! Click here to sign up!
 

The Zenith of Zongzi

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If you visit any of New York City’s nine or so Chinatowns, you’ve probably seen zongzi, a pyramid of bamboo-leaf-wrapped glutinous rice filled with savory tids and bits. In addition to pork belly, this one contained preserved duck egg yolk and lap cheong (Chinese sausage); the yellow, rice-grain-sized fragments are mung beans that add immeasurably to the savory flavor of this treat.

Zongzi are an integral part of Dragon Boat Festival, the time-honored Chinese holiday, but fortunately they’re available year round. They’re crafted with an array of fillings, some sweet, some savory, and specific distinctions vary throughout regions of China and elsewhere in Asia. Locally, it’s easy to find savory versions packed with peanuts, pork belly, lap cheong, ham, salted duck egg, dried shrimp, mushrooms and more in various permutations and combinations; sweet types involve red dates and sweet bean paste.

Note that in our Chinatown dim sum parlors, you might encounter sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves but those are Lo Mai Gai, usually rectangular or pillow shaped and featuring chicken – different but also delicious.

So why did I bestow the title of “zenith” on this example (aside from cheeky alliteration, of course)? Because when I sliced it open on the bench in Columbus Park, I lucked into picture-perfect symmetry.

Want to see if I can repeat the shot? Only one way to find out: join me on my Not Your Ordinary Chinatown Tour and we’ll give it another shot!
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! ❤
 
 

Alpha: Bravo!

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I’ve written previously about Alpha Bakery & Mediterranean Marketplace, the paragon of Greek cuisine on 5th Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn; I praised their comforting Bakaliaros and Skordalia (Fried Codfish and Garlic Mashed Potatoes) and their sweet Bougatsa (custard filled phyllo dough dusted with cinnamon and sugar).

On this visit, the Olympic-sized tray of Pastitsio (παστίτσιο) beckoned. It’s a three tiered affair: pasta at the base (typically the long tubular number 2 variety), a layer of meat sauce, (optionally another thin layer of noodles) and a dense, creamy béchamel topping.

Searching for a word to describe it adequately, I stumbled upon this: Meraki – “a Modern Greek word (μεράκι) that describes doing something with your soul, creativity, or love, putting a piece of yourself into your work. It refers to a deep, passionate devotion and undivided attention to any task, leaving a part of yourself in what you create.”

Obviously, the Greeks have a word for it!

Join me on my Flavors of Little Levant in Bay Ridge ethnojunket and taste some for yourself!
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! ❤
 
 

Syrian Synergy

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Brooklyn’s Bay Ridge is home to a multitude of Middle Eastern restaurants and bakeries and each one offers a multitude of regional specialties. So of course, after years of conducting my Little Levant ethnojunket, I’ve developed some choice picks from a number of establishments. Which set me to wondering if I could combine some of my faves into a “whole is greater than the sum of its parts” delicacy. So I accepted the challenge.


This unique, aromatic, two-toned Middle Eastern bread (from Bay Root Meats) – one half covered with za’atar (a heady blend of spices), the other with mild cheese – would serve as the base.


I cut up some briny, nigella-seed-studded Nabulsi cheese and savory sujuk (from Balady) and distributed the slices on the cheese side…


…folded it over…


…then heated it up just until the cheese melted. I cut it into wedges and topped them with bits of cheese and sujuk plus a squiggle of hummus (from Al Salam). Pickled cauliflower (unretouched color, Balady again) on the side.

Synergistic success if I do say so myself.

Tempted to join one of my Flavors of Little Levant in Bay Ridge ethnojunkets? Check it out here and sign up to join in the fun!
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! ❤
 
 

Al-Sham from the Inside

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“The Levant” is a term that refers to the region in the Middle East encompassing Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey. “Little Levant” is a term I use to describe the region in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn that encompasses numerous first-rate restaurants, markets, and shops featuring the wares of the Levant with the addition of a nod to those of Greece. (Did you know that Beirut and Bay Ridge are cognates? Just kidding.)

One of the stops on my “Flavors of Little Levant” ethnojunket is Al-Sham restaurant, always rated at the top of every relevant list I’ve seen, where we pick up a shawarma sandwich to go. The Arabic word “shawarma” has its roots in the Turkish word “çevirme,” turning, which describes the pirouetting conically-stacked slabs of marinated meat as they inch past the searing glow of the vertical rotisserie.

Al-Sham boasts two of those rotating devices, one for chicken and the other for beef & lamb; the extremely helpful and absolutely delightful woman behind the counter advised me that the beef & lamb always sells out first.

I replied, “Okay! One beef & lamb shawarma, please.”

“To go or to stay?”

I thought I could use a break so I responded, “To stay,” and we took seats at a nearby booth.

BUT. I had neglected to utter one important word: “sandwich.” A fortuitous gaffe if ever there was one because they presented the photo-worthy shawarma entrée you see here.

Needless to say, the Little Levant itinerary has been permanently modified!
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! ❤
 
 
 

Not Just Any Pancake: The Pancake

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A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon a new spot in the 136-55 Roosevelt Avenue venue in Flushing: The Pancake. They offer six versions of the eponymous treat; I opted for the Pork Pancake, although the cute, yellow (a signature color) wrapper reads “Meat Pie Pepper Flavored,” a more informative description.

The Chinese legend on the back of the wrapper (謝謝, Google Translate!) continues, “peppery and crispy,” “refreshing and lingering fragrance,” and delivers the helpful caveat “To keep the crispy texture, please eat me as soon as possible!” Not one to disparage instructions, I obliged and was rewarded with a perfect snack.

A peek inside.

Definitely put a smile on my face! It’s good to be back, Flushing!
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! ❤