Moe’s Doughs Donut Shop

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In the year 1 BC (Before COVID), I had been flirting with the idea of adding a Greenpoint food tour to my roster of ethnojunkets (you can see them all on one page here). The plan involved scoring a sampling of several top notch kielbasi, refreshing cold summertime soups, savory pierogi, pickled tidbits and other Polish treats and sweets along with traditional baked goods. The route would include other neighborhood standouts as well, like Moe’s Donuts at 126 Nassau Ave, Brooklyn. (The story began when Moe, who used to work at the nearby and deservedly famous Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop, moved on to do his own thing…but I’ll save the rest of the tale for the tour.)

I returned last week just to scope things out only to discover that, heartbreakingly, many of my time-honored faves had gone out of business. Which raised the question: would there still be enough authentic deliciousness to build a Polish food tour around? I explored the shops that were still standing and fortunately, to paraphrase the song, only the strong survived – easily enough to qualify for a legit ethnojunket.

So I’ve decided to let you decide. Seriously. Over the next few posts, I’m going to share some pix from my recent visit. After you’ve seen them, let me know if you have some interest in joining me on a Greenpoint Polish ethnojunket!


We’re starting the ball rolling with the aforementioned Moe’s Donuts: Dulce de Leche on the left and Samoa on the right. Yes, Samoa like the coconut/caramel/chocolate Girl Scout Cookie but elevated to dessert nirvana because donuts > cookies. I’m usually not a rabid donut fan, but every variety I’ve tasted from Moe’s was a gem.

Keep following to check out more Greenpoint goodies….
 
 

Marrak-ish

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Whenever I purge the freezer it seems like I always unearth an inconsequential and hence forgotten bit of meat, in this case a sausage link that had no business being labeled “merguez”. So I decided to throw together something that might help it live up to its name while still not involving much work or any shopping: all ingredients guaranteed to have come from my fridge or pantry.

The veggie component included onions, garlic, long green hot pepper, sweet red bell pepper, carrots, scallions and a little tomato; the pantry provided dried apricots and prunes. The seasoning was primarily ras el hanout, a blend of Moroccan spices that includes cinnamon, cumin, coriander, turmeric, ground ginger, paprika, and about 20 more plus salt and black pepper, and the garnish was cilantro and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

It’s not authentic, of course, hence the characterization “Marrak-ish”.

Served it over couscous with msemen (Moroccan flatbread) and assorted pickles left over from my last Little Levant Bay Ridge food tour.

Of course, a normal person would have just fried up the sausage and made a sammich out of it with a side of fries.

I definitely have too much time on my hands. <sigh>
 
 

When Life DOESN’T Give You Lemons….

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🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋

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Sometimes I get lucky. My friends at Prospect Heights Community Farm in Brooklyn generously gave me some of their delicious freshly harvested fruits: red raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, pink champagne currants and rhubarb (yes, I know rhubarb isn’t a fruit but it works and plays well with others). Another good friend had recently gifted me some premium whole roasted almonds. Someone else gave me an unwanted bag of rolled oats, and a neighbor was moving out and liquidating her pantry so I scored some light brown sugar. Truly an embarrassment of Rich’s.

So I did what any beneficiary of such coincidental serendipity would do: I made a fruit crumble.

I already had butter – Danish Lurpak, the best of the best IMHO; it’s usually pretty expensive, but it was a bargain at an unlikely location I visit on my Little Odessa ethnojunket – join me and I’ll show you where it is. (Hint.)

I had almost everything else on hand that I needed for the recipe. Except lemon juice.

So I had to actually buy a lemon.

🍋


 
 

July is National Ice Cream Month! Celebrate Globally!

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The story began here:

Every August, as a routinely flushed, overheated child, I would join in chorus with my perspiring cohorts, boisterously importuning, “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!” Little did I realize that rather than conjuring dessert, I was conjugating it and probably laying the groundwork for a lifetime of fascination with foreign languages and world food.

We lived in close proximity to one of the best dairies in town; it was known for its wide assortment of locally produced natural flavors, certainly sufficient in number and variety to satisfy any palate. Perhaps my obsession with offbeat ice cream flavors is rooted in my frustration with my father’s return home from work, invariably bearing the same kind of ice cream as the last time, Neapolitan. Neapolitan, again. My pleas to try a different flavor – just once? please? – consistently fell on deaf ears. “Neapolitan is chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. That’s three flavors right there. If you don’t want it, don’t eat it.” Some kids’ idea of rebellion involved smoking behind the garage; mine was to tuck into a bowl of Rum Raisin….

There’s lots more to the story, of course. Click here to get the full scoop! 🍨
 
 

Burmese Hut

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I don’t know precisely how many posts I’ve published on ethnojunkie.com; I stopped counting when I hit 1000. But I can tell you that the number of times I’ve suggested that you go somewhere and get something post-haste can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand.

This is one of those posts. The “somewhere” is Burmese Hut, a new stall in Elmhurst’s HK Food Court at 82-02 45th Ave (definitely not to be confused with its short-lived Burmese predecessor) and the “something” is their fantastic Laphet Thoke. Laphet is the Burmese word for pickled or fermented tea leaves and thoke means salad; in Myanmar, tea is not only drunk, but also consumed as food.

There’s no set ingredient list for laphet thoke, but there are four key elements: the tea leaves plus some other veggies like shredded cabbage and tomatoes; the add-ins like dried shrimp; the dressing, often garlic oil, lime juice and fish sauce; and the all-important “crunchies” – expect fried garlic and fried onion, fried broad beans and toasted soybeans plus peanuts and sesame seeds – all mixed together and garnished with green bird’s eye chilies and slices of fresh raw garlic. But basically the performance is entirely up to the chef.

And in this case, the chef is a virtuoso.

On last weekend’s Ethnic Eats in Elmhurst ethnojunket, my guests who had spent time in Southeast Asia were very familiar with the dish, having enjoyed it more than once. I like it so much that I spent years perfecting a recipe for it. And after all the experiences of their eating and my cooking, we concurred that this was absolutely the best, most outstanding version any of us had ever tasted.

Go there. Go there now. Order their spectacular Laphet Thoke. And tell them ethnojunkie sent you.
 
 

Khao Nom Nom Nom

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I always try to kick off my food tours with a crowd pleaser, something that will elicit an enthusiastic “yum” from my guests. Our Ethnic Eats in Elmhurst point of departure is Khao Nom, 42-06 77th St, known for their Thai desserts but also featuring a significant number of savory dishes. I’ve written about Khao Nom’s cuisine so many times because they’re just that good; here is a compilation of five posts from as far back as 2018!

Although choosing an appetizer seems like an unproblematic task, making a decision is daunting because each of the ten they offer is a gem. (You know how I know that, right?) Lately, we’ve been starting with this pair of winners:

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Kao Pod Tod. A deep fried fritter that features sweet corn, black pepper, garlic, and cilantro, combined with rice flour and served with Thai cucumber relish sauce.


Hoy Jor. Tofu skin in lieu of a spring roll wrapper filled with ground pork and crabmeat, fried and served with sweet and sour sauce.

To savor these and over a dozen other treats from Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia and parts of China, please check out my Ethnic Eats in Elmhurst ethnojunket and sign up to join in the yum – er, I mean fun!
 
 

And in This Corner – Samarkand Bazaar!

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I’ve been offering ethnojunkets in Brooklyn’s Little Odessa for over 10 years and I’ve witnessed some stellar Eastern European and Russian food markets fail, only to be replaced by even brighter stars. The prepared food buffet is the feature attraction at these locations.

They come and they go. Some are eclipsed by the competition, some just self-combust for no apparent reason, some are even decimated by natural disasters. (Anyone else remember the beloved M&I International Foods that succumbed to Hurricane Sandy back in 2012? We can be BFFs.) Exquisite Foodland caught COVID and closed for a couple of years, but it has reemerged seemingly unscathed. Gourmanoff regrouped into yet another NetCost Market, its parent company.

And not long ago, in the shadow of the spectacular Tashkent Market opening across the street from it, Brighton Bazaar gamely attempted to hang on but was ultimately extinguished by its rival. When their gates came down for the last time, I wondered what business(es) would occupy those digs.

Enter Samarkand Bazaar. It positioned itself head to head against its neighbor, Tashkent Market. The battle will be noteworthy in that they are cut from the same piece of cloth, at least superficially. They both stock comparable regional baked goods, produce, refrigerated and frozen food, cakes and desserts, smoked fish, and boxed, jarred, and canned food. Not to mention the fact that they are less than 300 feet from each other.

But, of course, the real reason to visit either one is the overwhelming selection of prepared food. They present many of the same dishes; Samarkand has a few I haven’t seen in Tashkent, although Tashkent has many not to be found in Samarkand. I’ve tasted well over a dozen of Samarkand’s offerings; Tashkent has a slight edge IMHO but I’m willing to wait until Samarkand gets it sea legs.

Slides of just a few of their goodies:


Want to know what these yummy dishes are? Want to try ’em? You know what to do. Join me on my “Exploring Eastern European Food in Little Odessa” ethnojunket! Check it out here!
 
 

Dragon Boat Festival – Zongzi Day

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Dragon Boat Festival, the time-honored Chinese holiday that occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, commemorates the death of the beloved poet and scholar Qu Yuan in 278 BCE. The holiday interconnects the poignant tale of his demise, dragon boats, and zongzi, the traditional sticky rice dumplings associated with the event; in 2023, the date corresponds to June 22.


Zongzi (aka joong in Cantonese) are fashioned from sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves and shaped into triangular semi-pyramids tied with twine. At your local dim sum parlor, you might see sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves but those are Lo Mai Gai, usually rectangular or pillow shaped and featuring chicken – different but also delicious.


They’re made with an array of fillings, some sweet, some savory, and the particular flavor distinctions vary throughout regions of China and elsewhere in Asia. Here in New York City, it’s easy to find savory versions packed with peanuts, pork belly, lap cheong (Chinese sausage), ham, salted duck egg, dried shrimp, mushrooms and more in various permutations and combinations; they’re available year round in any of our nine Chinatowns. (Yes, nine. We are blessed.) Sweet types include red dates and sweet bean paste.

For best results, steam them first, then snip off the twine, unfold the leaves, and dig in.

This one has all of the savory ingredients I mentioned (you can play Where’s Waldo with it if you like); it came from M&W Bakery, 85A Bayard St in Manhattan’s Chinatown, where they offer at least five varieties.

And yes, of course that’s one of the stops on my Manhattan Chinatown ethnojunket.
 
 

Ba Xuyen

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It seems that Bánh Mì, the deservedly vaunted Vietnamese sandwich, is ubiquitous these days. In the past I loved them, but lately it feels like the thrill is gone. Have I gone off my feed on these beauties? I vividly remember the bánh mì I once craved. What happened?

So I decided to return to a place that I used to visit frequently about 20 years ago, before bánh mì eateries were as common as taco joints: Bà Xuyên at 4222 8th Ave in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park. For old times’ sake, I got a Bánh Mì Thịt Nguội, the Combination #1, in an attempt to try to figure out why my tastes had changed so radically.

Turns out my tastes have not changed. Not in the least. The #1 was still number one. But the pervasive copycats have been ruining it for everyone. And we’ve become inured to their (IMHO lackluster) product. I’ve even heard a few foodies applaud the bánh mì from some of those wannabes.

For starters, using the right bread is crucial. A Vietnamese baguette is paramount, as opposed to a hero roll you could pick up in the bakery department of your local supermart. They’re made with a combination of wheat flour and rice flour – for that initial crunch and subsequent crackle. It should be toasted, slightly sweet, sturdy enough to stand up to its fillings but still airy, fluffy and a little chewy, with a crust that’s crisp but not so inflexible as to declare war on the roof of your mouth.

Now for the fillings. Pay attention, impostors: it’s more than just a few slices of Vietnamese cold cuts and some shredded veggies. For the classic, Bà Xuyên’s sine qua non condiment is a blend of Vietnamese pâté and melted butter (and probably some Maggi seasoning) slathered on the bread before loading it with ham, head cheese, pork roll, pork teriyaki and BBQ pork, and finally topping it with sliced cucumber, perfectly pickled carrots and daikon radish plus cilantro and spicy green pepper.

My two cents. Sorry, not sorry.

Marvin and Tammi said it best: Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby!
 
 

There’s the Beef!

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(The answer to Clara Peller’s question. IYKYK)

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I recently attended an outdoor family gathering where grilling was the order of the happy day. An abundance of spectacular homemade dishes (“appetizers” falls far short of reality) was available well before the meat was ready and I wasn’t shy about sampling all of them. More than once. (No photos, but it gave new meaning to the term groaning board.)

Needless to say, by the time the steaks came off the grill, my capacity had been pretty much maxed out and after a couple of bites, I knew my appetite had met its Waterloo. Now, when you have a chunk of perfectly grilled ribeye posing fetchingly on your plate, you don’t cast a longing glance over your shoulder as you walk off; you ask the host if you can bring it home in service of prolonging the ecstasy.

How to do it justice the next day? Start with a warm baguette, layer with arugula, bacon, and ripe tomato, then thin slices of ribeye bathed in melted truffle garlic butter, and top with Cabot white cheddar cheese. Cavatappi macaroni salad on the side.

Definitely not your mama’s steak sammich.