Category Archives: Good Eats

Cevichochos

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Instagram Post 8/22/2018

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Ceviche isn’t always about seafood. This Ecuadorian ceviche de chochos (lupini beans), known colloquially as cevichochos, was served up by a street vendor near Our Lady of Sorrows Church, 104-11 37th Ave in Corona, Queens. The beans are combined with tomatoes, maiz tostado (toasted corn), red onion, and cilantro and marinated in a citrus blend. Often a vegetarian dish, this version included bits of fried pork (see second photo), a happy addition. Typically, it’s garnished with a crunchy topping – here it’s chifles, fried plantain.
 
 

Yu Tea

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Instagram Post 8/17/2018

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For all the times I’ve visited their neighbor, Pata Market, I had never made it into Yu Tea at 81-18 Broadway in Elmhurst, Queens until now. Without hesitation, I went directly to the Cheese Fruit Tea Smoothie section of the menu and selected Cheesy Doubleberry (strawberry and blueberry). The three layers you see here are meant to be well stirred, but of course I had to sample each individually: the bottom was sweet and a little syrupy, the middle represented what the final mixture would taste like without the final fillip from the top layer which is where the salty, cream cheesy magic happens. If you’ve ever had cheesecake flavor ice cream, imagine a strawberry/blueberry combo of those; now liquefy it, thin it out, sprinkle in a bit of salt, and mix well. This popular admixture of cheesy-salty-fruity-juicy can be found in malls around your favorite Chinatowns, and yes, it totally works!
 
 

Pata Market – Sai Oua

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Instagram Post 8/9/2018

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Pata Market at 81-16 Broadway in Elmhurst, Queens has won me over with their prepared food, particularly the savory items like this Sai Oua. Sai (intestine) oua (stuffed – an apt description of sausage in general) hails from the northern region of Thailand. The stuffing is ground fatty pork with that immediately identifiable, signature northern Thai flavor attributable to chilies plus some combination of shallots, garlic, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime, fish sauce, turmeric and red curry paste. Pata Market’s was right up there with my favorite renditions.

In addition to both sweet and savory items displayed on tables (most of the shop is given over to those), there are freezer cases and reach-in refrigerators protecting perishables and hard-to-find ingredients like crickets and silkworms for the culinarily adventurous.
 
 

Little House Cafe – Pandan Cake

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Instagram Post 8/8/2018

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Pandan cake (not the multi-layered cake) from the grab-n-go prepared food area near the register at Little House Café, 90-19 Corona Ave in Elmhurst, Queens. What you see is what you get. It’s pandan. It’s cake. What’s not to like? 😋

(Now that I think about it, a scoop of Chinatown Ice Cream Factory’s pandan flavor 🍨 would be perfect with this. More shopping to do!)
 
 

Little House Cafe – Nasi Lemak

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Instagram Post 8/7/2018

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Nasi Lemak: coconut rice with dried anchovies, peanuts, cucumber, onion, sambal and a hard boiled egg; they all manage to squeeze into this Little House snack.

It’s a Malaysian standard and Little House Café, 90-19 Corona Ave in Elmhurst, Queens does it well. Once again, this treat was available at the grab-n-go prepared food area near the register, but when you arrive, don’t hesitate to sit down, have a look at the menu and order something more substantial. If your experience is like mine, whatever you choose will be great.
 
 

Pata Market – Part 2

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Instagram Post 8/4/2018

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The departure of Sugar Club, the beloved Thai snack bar and prepared food market in Elmhurst, Queens left a void that is currently being half filled (because the space was subdivided – the other half is a tea shop) by Pata Market at 81-16 Broadway. I was pleased to find a considerable assortment of grab-n-go snacks, both sweet and savory. I’ve written about the sweets – now for some savory items.

Today’s post covers their Kanom Jeen Nam Ya Paa, noodles with spicy fish curry. Kanom Jeen are thin, fresh rice noodles, an integral part of Thai cuisine; Nam Ya Paa refers to the spicy jungle curry (heavy on the spice with no mitigating coconut milk) soup. The curry, replete with chunks of fish, tiny fish balls and chicken feet is thickened with pork blood and seasoned fearlessly; the noodles, cabbage, bean sprouts, pickled vegetables, and bitter melon are packaged separately for à la minute addition. Definitely good eats! More savories from Pata Market to come.

PS: Do you have any idea how much restraint it took to not plop a fish ball into the chicken’s foot for this photo? 😂
 
 

Little House Cafe – Savory Taro Cake

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Instagram Post 7/29/2018

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Unlike their sweet layered dessert taro cake that I’ve written about here, this kind of savory steamed taro cake is more akin to the variety you might request at Chinese dim sum. Grabbed from the grab-n-go prepared food area near the register at Little House Café, 90-19 Corona Ave in Elmhurst, Queens, having gone home, I fried it lightly to heat it through. So easy and so good. Little House Café is an Asian fusion counter service venue with a few tables and remarkably delicious food. I’ve said it before: these folks definitely have their own spin on Malaysian food (even if this one is relatively Chinese) – and I like it!
 
 

New Asian Cuisine – Halal Beef Onion Buns

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Instagram Post 7/11/2018

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The sign hanging just below the awning of New Asian Cuisine at 153D Centre Street, Manhattan, was what caught my eye: Halal Beef Onion Buns. I believe the Chinese text was literally “Halal Beef – Big Scallion (hence onion) Bun”. The text in French at the bottom (which I can read far better than I’ll ever be able to read Chinese) was “Recettes d’une Chinoise”, Recipes from a Chinese Woman. That was enough to persuade me to venture into what looked like an old school downtown NYC coffee shop that had seen better days.

(The second photo shows the inside scoop.)

I don’t know if this inexpensive but tasty snack was really Chinese. I don’t know why the subtitle was in French. And I know even less about that emoji-like face stuck to the sign. But I do know that this steamed bao hit the spot right before I descended into the subway station next door!
 
 

Tulcingo Bakery

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Instagram Post 7/10/2018

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One of my favorite destinations when I’m craving Mexican carbs is Tulcingo Bakery at 103-02 Roosevelt Ave in Corona, Queens. Named for the municipality in Puebla, Mexico 🇲🇽, it’s a triple threat: a market featuring the freshest ingredients for your cocina Mexicana, the go-to place for amazing carnitas, barbacoa (goat), tamales, and atoles on the weekends, and of course, an extensive panadería, the focus of today’s post.

Literally dozens of kinds of Mexican cookies, sweet breads, layer cakes and loaf cakes, and holiday and traditional breads, not to mention fruit tarts, gelatin desserts, puddings, and more are on display; just grab a tray and a pair of tongs, and let your corazón be your guide. According to Wikipedia, it’s estimated that there are between 500 and 2,000 types of breads and baked goods currently produced in Mexico. Each is distinct: the treats shown here are soft or flaky, sugary or fruity, crispy or filled with custard or cheese and the list goes on from there as you’ll see when you visit this cornucopia of confections for yourself. The perfect leisurely breakfast is one of these beauties and a cup of Café de Olla. Or better still, Mexican hot chocolate!
 
 

Republic of Booza

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Instagram Post 7/9/2018

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Booza (بوظة), an ice cream that hails from the Levant and Egypt, is known for two qualities, its stretchy consistency and its ability to resist melting. The elasticity comes from mastic, the resin that makes Turkish Delight delightfully chewy, and its prowess in fending off the consequences of Middle Eastern heat stems from sahlab (aka salep), a thickener that’s also used in beverages and puddings.

The stylish Republic of Booza offers seventeen flavors in three categories: classic (like vanilla, chocolate and strawberry), global (like horchata, red miso and mango-tajín) and “experimental” (like salted Oreo, Sichuan white chocolate and saffron peppercorn). Always eager to explore the roots of an ethnic dish before venturing into a more fanciful rendition, I chose Original Qashta, subtitled “candied cream”. (And I coyly chose “roots” here because sahlab is made from ground orchid tubers.) I was familiar with the word qashta from my Bay Ridge, Brooklyn ethnojunkets where it appears as ashta (colloquially) or kashta (more formally) and refers to the Middle Eastern clotted cream spiked with rose water or orange blossom water that suffuses many desserts of the region. My second selection was pistachio, simply because it seemed like an appropriate option given the territory. Because there’s no overrun (air that’s a component of most commercial ice creams), booza is remarkably creamy. Both flavors were delicious and the texture was a cool experience.

Since July is National Ice Cream Month, I’ll be writing a featured post about ethnic ice cream here on ethnojunkie.com in which I’ll attempt to run the global gamut of frozen, creamy treats. For now, I highly recommend your making the journey to Republic of Booza at 76 North 4th St in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (no passport required), especially in this heat. Suffice it to say that this may be the most unusual ice cream you’ve ever tasted…and that isn’t a stretch!