Exclusive look inside Crunchy Brunch!

Crunchy Brunch, a spacious two-story Midtown Manhattan–style lunch deli, is coming to 57-37 Myrtle Avenue. A woman we met at the space told us they hope to open next month, and according to the “coming soon” sign outside, they’ll serve sushi, sandwiches, wraps, and smoothies. 

Notable neighbors include Pants Pantry, Radio Shack, and froyo shop Fruitti Yummi. This looks to be the first Crunchy Brunch location (their website is still under construction), so we can’t tell you much about the food, but we’re excited to finally have sushi on Myrtle Ave (let’s hope it’s good). We’re betting the deli will be a popular teen and family “chill zone” like Fruitti Yummi. Welcome to the neighborhood!

In other Openings news:

New burger + shake joint going in to the former Paula’s Deli location next to the Ridgewood Theater. twitter.com/Ridgefood/stat…

— Ridgefood (@Ridgefood) May 6, 2013

We don’t have any more info on Burger Palace, but stay tuned!

Crunchy Brunch (COMING SOON)

57-38 Myrtle Avenue [map]
www.crunchybrunch.com

Will they serve brunch?

Chicken empanada

Our next food cart stop might be the busiest cart in Ridgewood. El Palacio de las Empanadas Ecuatorianas greets you as you enter the Myrtle Avenue BID (on the Duane Reade side). As the day progresses and appetites swell, there’s often several people hanging around the cart, catching up on the day’s activities while they enjoy their chicken and chicken and cheese empanadas ($1.50 each). 

Two ladies work the cart, stuffing and frying empanadas. They’re rarely greasy thanks to the ladies’ expert frying skills and the cart’s high turnover (pun intended). Our non–Ridgewood-resident friend Brooke picks up an empanada whenever she visits the neighborhood, telling us: “I like the option of a quick hot snack on my walk.”

We typically order a chicken empanada, lightly seasoned with a turmeric-stained interior, because the white cheese in the cheese empanadas sometimes collects into one end of the empanada when the pockets puff out during the frying process. The chicken also tends to shimmy into one end, but you can easily shake the empanada and redistribute the meat. There’s just enough chicken and crust to curb your appetite, but not enough to give you that heavy “fried food” feeling.

Coconut beverage and other menu options

TIP: Condiments aren’t standard with the empanadas, but on the left side of the cart you’ll see red and green sauce that they use for salchipapas and hot dogs. Just ask for some. El Palacio serves a coconut beverage, too, though we haven’t tried it yet.

El Palacio de las Empanadas Ecuatorianas

In front of Duane Reade (5411 Myrtle Avenue) [map]

Chicken & rice atop a chess table in Benniger Playground

Food Cart Month continues! Today we checked out Bakhtar, the Afghan-owned halal cart in front of Rite Aid on Fresh Pond Road. The cart offers the same fare as its flagship Wyckoff Heights Hospital location: chicken over rice, pitas and gyros, falafel, biriyani, and, most uniquely, chapli and shami kebabs (flat minced-meat patties, the latter of which also contain chickpea or lentil flour). 

Chicken & rice atop a chess table in Benniger Playground

We ordered baseline-standard chicken and rice with white sauce, hot sauce, and fried onions (pictured at top). Note: we didn’t see the onions anywhere on our dish, but the guy said he added ‘em. Bakhtar is comparable to your average Manhattan halal cart. The tender chicken, served on basmati rice, readily absorbed the hot sauce. We also liked the thin consistency of the white sauce because it seemed healthier than the thicker sauces you sometimes see.

Bakhtar isn’t a destination cart (yet), but we’re glad a halal cart exists in Ridgewood (there used to be another one on Myrtle Ave in front of Torrid, a few blocks from Fancy Fruit, but it’s been gone for a couple months). Next time we’ll definitely try the kebabs and update this post. Also, if they want to expand the Indian offerings to include, say, kati rolls, that would be awesome.

Bakhtar Halal Cart

Hours: 10am–10pm, 7 days a week
In front of Rite Aid (66-54 Fresh Pond Rd) [map]

Roasted coconut

In case you missed it, awhile back we quietly tweeted that May is FOOD CART MONTH here at Ridgefood. We will attempt, weather and energy permitting, to visit every food cart in Ridgewood. There aren’t very many, so this isn’t really very impressive, but hey!

Previously we’ve told you about several borderland carts: Tacos La Carcachita, where the cemitas are big and meaty, and an eponymous Sundays-only Ecuadorian cart that serves salchipapas (french fries and hotdogs, basically) and whole fried fish to voleibol players in Evergreen Park. 

The nut cart needs a better sign.

The nut lady sets up shop in front of Gem — a Myrtle Avenue discount store that specializes in holiday decor — usually in the evening and at other busy times. She roasts and bags a standard variety of nuts — peanuts, cashews, almonds — coated in an un-spiced sugary mix.

We chose coconut since we’ve been coconut-crazy lately, having recently made coconut milk, coconut-oatmeal–chocolate chip cookies, and coconut blondies (follow the regular recipe, but put coconut ON TOP). The coconut bits were chewy, lightly sweet, and tasty in a novel sort of way. We’d prefer a more spiced coating, or perhaps a healthy unsweetened version.

HOT TIP: Say hello to the nut lady, then pop into Gem, where you can find big bottles of “Dr. Organics” soap (faux Dr. Bronner’s) for only $5.99. Use it to make your own household cleaner, hand soap (mix 50/50 with water), bubbles for kids that aren’t made of weird chemicals, etc.

Nut Cart

In front of Gem (5408 Myrtle Avenue) [map]

RSVP here, or just show up! Scroll down for a map of the crawl route.

The crepe & wafflerie is adjacent to a bustling stop on the Q58 bus

But first! In honor of the bar crawl, we’d like to give a shout-out to Naleśniki Gofry, the little crepe & Belgian waffle window on Fresh Pond Road. Reminiscent of food stalls in Flushing, the creperie, whose name literally means “Crepe Waffle” in Polish, has a palpable urban street-food vibe that’s perfectly suited for a night of drinking*. Stumble up to the window, which is located in a corner space that’s been carved out of Jiffy Cleaners, a working laundromat, and order a sweet waffle with Nutella & fruit, or a savory crepe with ham, mushrooms, and/or cheese. They also offer something called “casserole,” which the counter gal translated simply as “hot sandwich.”

Nutella crepe filled with strawberries & bananas

A crepe and waffle window in the corner of a laundromat

We’re not sure how it compares to other crepe & waffle stands, honestly (drunk food for us usually means French fries and melted cheese, not sugary stuff), but everything on the menu is under $5 so you really can’t go wrong!

*Or an afternoon/early evening of drinking. They close at 10pm.

Ridgewood Bar Crawl Deux Map:

View Ridgewood Bar Crawl Number 2 in a larger map

Naleśniki Gofry

Located on the corner of Fresh Pond Road & 67th Avenue [map]

Clockwise from top left: Vietnamese iced coffee over crushed ice, coconut tapioca pudding, and a summer roll from Bunker (we forgot peanut sauce – oops); vegetable samosa and cilantro dipping sauce from Nepalese Indian; and foufou & okra (foufou are like dumplings) and grilled fish & attieke (fermented cassava that resembles couscous) from Bed-Stuy’s Abidjan.

Stripped-down pljekavica (aka “Bosna Burger”) from Bosna-Express, sausage & sauerkraut medley from Zum Stammtisch, and ravioli from Trattoria Cerbone

Cheeseburger with special sauce and Mexican salad from Bare Burger in Park Slope, jalapeno-cheddar scone and a cranberry cookie from Norma’s

Final gluttonous plate: Chicken tikka masala, another samosa (they were both halves!), a wedge of naan, and cilantro & tamarind sauces from Nepalese Indian

Plus: a doggy bag from Roy and Shea, the cool dudes at Bunker! Thanks!

District 37 Assemblywoman and honoree (AND RIDGEFOOD FAN — SHE TOLD US HERSELF!) Catherine Nolan gave a rousing, inspiring speech praising the event and all the diverse restaurants that participated. She predicted that the Taste of Ridgewood will be on Ridgewood’s “permanent landscape.”

We loved this sandwich platter from renowned German restaurant Zum Stammtisch.

See you next year!

Stuffed bass and fixins from Aneta Deli. Also pictured: potato pancakes ($1 each when they have ‘em).

A typical low-key sunny day for us involves a trip to Rosemary’s Playground and a food stop somewhere nearby. Aneta Deli, situated a block from the playground on Woodward and Palmetto, stands out among Ridgewood’s Polish steam-table joints for a few reasons.

The first thing you’ll notice as you approach the deli is the amazing window art, like the singing, dancing lipstick- and heels-wearing trio of ham, turkey, and cheese — it’s part of a zone we’ve dubbed “Whimsical Window Row” (see below for more photos of WWR). Inside, Aneta is a standard Polish deli, selling staples like jars of pickled beets and celery root, berry syrups, interesting pretzels and cookies and puffs, and frozen pierogies. Near the back of the long deli counter you’ll see the steam table where they keep the hot food. Go here. 

Steam table on the left, past the deli meats

If you’re not familiar with these steam-table obiady (lunch) places, the deal is that you order one main item, and it comes with a potato or grain (buckwheat groats: yum) and two vegetable sides. Tip: Ask for gravy on your potatoes, and they’ll ladle a bit of chickeny or mushroomy sauce from a nearby entrée. At Aneta they serve a different assortment of hot food and (usually) cold sides; the only regulars are plain chicken cutlets and mashed potatoes, which you really can’t go wrong with, especially if the sides are good that day. Some days, though, you luck out and find artfully prepared entrées like chicken cutlets topped with mushrooms and melted cheese, or half a giant cauliflower head stuffed with rice and pork. (UPDATE 5/20/13: pic below!)

GIANT STUFFED CAULIFLOWER

Whimsical window art. We’re big fans, clearly.

Our lovely meal today (pictured above) consisted of bass stuffed with vegetables (peppers & onions) and topped with cheese and a tomato slice. And on top of that, the salad options were choice: we picked beet salad, our fave, and delicious sauteed cabbage accented with small, tender green olives.

While it’s not our absolute favorite Polish takeout spot (that would be Cracovia Deli – a full post about their lunch options is in the works, casually), Aneta is our go-to for quick, healthy-ish bargains. The prices are among the lowest you’ll find in the ‘wood; chicken cutlet and sides cost just $5.50, and the fancier stuff like fish or stuffed peppers will set up back an extra dollar. We frequently pop in to check out the day’s offerings, and if nothing appeals to us we’ll just pick up a grapefruit Pellegrino soda or some shortbread cookies to have on hand for unexpected guests.

More window art from “Whimsical Window Row” on Woodward Avenue:

Aneta Deli

690 Woodward Avenue
(718) 417-0510
www.anetadeli.com

Vibrant shrimp biriyani at Nepalese Indian

Nepalese Indian, the matter-of-factly named restaurant on Seneca just off the Myrtle Ave strip, has been open for 100 days. Congrats on this milestone, neighbors! We stopped by for an early-bird dinner to see how they’re doing — and, naturally, to check up on the issues (good and bad) that we originally reported.

Issue #1: Availability of Menu Items

We said: ”Our first choice, lobster tikka masala, wasn’t available”
After 100 days: The lobster tikka masala still wasn’t available during our recent visit — sad, because it sounds delicious.

We said: ”Everyone seems to be super-psyched about these traditional Nepalese dumplings (momos), which so far are the only Nepalese menu items that are available.”
After 100 days: Around half of the Nepalese menu items are available now — mostly momos and other stuff that’s a variation on marinated grilled meat. We love grilled meat but we’re especially eager to try samaya baji, thali, and sel roti, so we hope this stuff becomes available soon!

We said: ”…it’d be great if the Nepalese menu included descriptions of each dish, because unless you’re Nepalese, you won’t know what anything is.”
After 100 days: This remains a major problem. They need to redesign the Nepalese menu’s layout and include descriptions and pictures of each dish. This would undoubtedly encourage more diners to choose items from the Nepalese menu. Nepalese Indian Restaurant folks: if you’re reading this, please consider making the Nepalese portion of of the menu more appealing. We want to love it!

Samosa interior

Issue #2: Quality of Food

We said: ”We also liked the samosas.”
After 100 days:  Samosas still taste great; plump and non-greasy, they’re filled with potatoes, peas, CASHEWS, and these adorably tiny Indian curry leaves.

Lamb tikka masala

We also enjoyed: lamb tikka masala and ginger- and cardamom-studded shrimp biriyani (pictured at the top). And tomato soup with fresh ginger and garlic slivers resembled broth more than soup (we expected cream), but it’d be an excellent base for steamed mussels — and at $3 per bowl, the upcycling would be cost-effective too. Mulligatawny, which we’ve ordered for delivery, was more soup-like than the tomato. Saag paneer (below) was nicely spiced and garnished.

Saag paneer (delivered)

Issue #3: Weird Service

We said: ”[The service is] really quite bad (menus, water, ordering our food, and the check all required prodding).”
After 100 days: Good news! It’s much less weird now. They bring water and menus promptly and even remember to come back to take your order. Our server did hover a bit, but we chalk it up to his sincere desire to make our experience pleasant. We tweeted that the restaurant is a bit Seinfeldian, and we stand by that assessment. Delivery is prompt and courteous and they thoughtfully include a free mini-salad with lettuce, tomato, carrots (?), and a lemon slice, all packed in a loose bit of foil.

Issue #4: Decor

Chinese scenery on opening day

A reader said: ”I hope they remove the old Chinese Resaurant wall photos and put up some Himalayan scenes along with Tibetan prayer flags.”
After 100 days: The Chinese photos are still up, but we agree that Himalayan scenes would be a nice improvement. Undoubtedly this wouldn’t be cheap to implement, so we’d be happy to see this done during a phase 2 renovation.

Final (For Now) Thoughts and Suggestions

• Overall, the food was great this time and we’ll be going more regularly. It’s better/cheaper than Curry Row, and their pickup/delivery business seems steady so that’s a good sign.
• Once again, and we can’t stress this enough: Make the Nepalese dishes more prominent and appetizing. Include pictures and descriptions!
• They should also get a liquor license or — even better — allow BYOB. Back in December they told us they’d be transferring and preserving previous tenant Golden Star’s liquor license, but that failed to materialize.
• A sad note that we’re in denial about so we’re mentioning it last: We ordered delivery and noticed that they’d used frozen carrots in our mixed vegetable curry. A friend also reported seeing “Asian medley” standards corn and edamame in her vegetable biriyani. Obviously,  frozen vegetables are NEVER acceptable at a restaurant, and we truly hope that Nepalese Indian will discontinue this practice. Readers, please help: if you see something (resembling frozen vegetables), say something (to both Nepalese Indian Restaurant and to us, Ridgefood). 

Nepalese Indian Restaurant

907 Seneca Avenue [map]
(718) 417-1873
www.nepaleseindianrestaurant.com

Hope to see you there! We’ll be shuffling between all our faves (and trying Bare Burger, which sounds amazing) until we pass out. Here’s the complete list, with links to related Ridgefood posts where available:

(*restaurant located in neighborhood other than Ridgewood) 

*Abidjan (West African/Ivory Coast cuisine under the JMZ) 1136 Broadway, Bed-Stuy, yelp
*Baluchi’s (Indian food) 113-30 Queens Blvd., Forest Hills; baluchis.com
*Bare Burger (Organic, grass-fed, humane, etc. burger joint. Michelin-recommended, Zagat “Top 10 Burgers in NY,” wut.), 170 7th Avenue, Park Slope; bareburger.com
Bosna Express (Bosnian “burgers” and sandwiches, neighborhood institution), 791 Fairview Avenue
Bunker Vietnamese (New, uber-popular and excellent modern Vietnamese), 46-63 Metropolitan Avenue
*California Pizza Kitchen (Pizza chain, frozen pizza manufacturer), 71-03 80th Street, Glendale
Corato Pizza II (Pizza & Italian dishes), 60-91 Myrtle Avenue
Edison Place (American/pub), 71-28 Cooper Avenue
Energy Fuel (Light fitness-themed sandwiches, smoothies, baked fries), 65-04 Fresh Pond Road
Fajitas Sunrise (sub-par Tex-Mex with lively atmosphere) 59-29 Myrtle Avenue
Joe’s (Old-school Italian), 66-11 Forest Avenue
*Layali Dubai (Middle Eastern), 2417 Steinway Street, Astoria; yelp
Nepalese Indian Restaurant (Newish place, part of Ridgewood’s “Himalayan Invasion”), 907 Seneca Avenue
Norma’s (Homey, inviting cafe with coffee, soups/sandwiches, baked goods), 59-02 Catalpa Avenue
Rosa’s Pizza (Family-friendly pizza & Italian with excllent grandma slice)
Rudy’s Pastry Shop (Italian-owned German bakery & cafe), 905 Seneca Avenue
Tendo Sushi (Japanese), 66-26 Fresh Pond Road
*The Ave Bar & Grill (American Bar & Grill), 71-22 Myrtle Avenue, Glendale
Trattoria Cerbone (Italian cuisine with brick oven pizza), 71-24 Fresh Pond Road
*Zum Stammtisch (Traditional German), 69-46 Myrtle Avenue, Glendale; zumstammtisch.com

We recently stopped by Morscher’s Pork Store on Catalpa to procure some ground pork for Vietnamese BBQ pork meatballs (details in a future post entitled “Turning Vietnamese: How We Suddenly Started Eating Vietnamese Food Pretty Much All the Time”). Feeling especially piggy, we also picked up two different types of prosciutto, both of which were excellent. Prosciutto is sort of an entry-level charcuterie in that you might find it on a panini in your local coffeeshop, but it gets way better than that*. Enter Morscher’s prosciutto.

Occasional Ridgefood contributor Ari hipped us to the rice flour–coated prosciutto that’s pictured above. It’s snowy white and impulsively perched above the front counter. Behind it sits the “regular” prosciutto (the Morscher’s guy didn’t provide an official name), which is a more traditional hammy color. Both types cost $11.99/lb, which is quite reasonable!

Taste test: “regular” prosciutto on top, rice-flour prosciutto on bottom. The younger counter guy told us the two types of prosciutto were the same except that one has the coating and the other does not. I think he was trying to be helpful and simplify things for us, because in reality, they are very different; the rice-flour kind is more dry and chewy, whereas the other variety is softer and a bit fattier. We liked both types, though the rice-flour kind wins in the uniqueness category; it’d make a nice host(ess) gift for all you partygoers.

Meat awaits you: bacon, salami, sausage, many cuts of pork and beef, BEEF TARTARE

What else is good at Morscher’s? We’re dying to try their beef tartare and steak burgers.

*Did you know that Norma’s uses Morscher’s ham in their flaky ham and cheese pastries? To boot, they recently started serving panini and they actually look really inventive and tasty. We need to try one asap!

And don’t forget to mark your calendars: Delivery Man, starring Vince Vaughn and filmed at Morscher’s (check out our exclusive paparazzi vid), opens October 4.  IMDB sez: “A former sperm donor finds out years later that he fathered hundreds of kids and now many of them want to meet him.” Ok!

Morscher’s Pork Store

58-44 Catalpa Avenue [map]
(718) 821-1040
www.morschersporkstore.com

Norma’s

59-02 Catalpa Avenue [map]
(347) 294-0185