This Nosh New Yorker is back to blogging - after a three year absence!

It has been over three years since I last posted on this blog! In that time, I've not only continued to operate Noshwalks and published several issues of Noshnews, but I've made a special effort to explore the Bronx, where a lot is happening foodwise, culturally and residentially. There's an emerging artisanl sector - mostly, as far as I can tell - with the establishment of two rum distilleries and some craft beers. I included a visit to one of them - Rine Tirado in the Port Morris neighborhood - to my Crossing 149th Street Noshwalk in the summer. Since September 2010, I've visited Istanbul and Quito - taking food tours in each city and collecting more food lore. I didn't travel last summer - it was my daughter's last in NYC before heading to college, so NYC neighborhoods were my destinations. I led quite a few custom tours this past year. Other news: I'm transforming Noshnews from an 8-page newsletter focusing on one or two neighborhoods at a time to a soon-to-be-published free four-pager that will be more wide-ranging and flexible so that I can produce it more often and more easily, drawing on experiences I've had leading tours and exploring on my own. There won't be one concentrated neighborhood theme. Each will depend on what I see, what I"m thinking, new observations on neighborhood food trends, and so on. Each will be packed with infornation, which I think is the strong ponit o0f Noshwalks and Noshnews - that people learn more about New York City neighborhoods from being with me or reading what I've written. It got to the point where it took 10 months or more to produce one issue - very labor intensive - but I did publish 24 in that format - not bad! In October I offer the first "Dining Out With Noshwalks," a now-periodic get-together in a different neighborhood, visiting a restaurant I've been curious about but couldn't include on a Noshwalk because it didn't really fit in. The first took place in October, when we wen tto the Yemeni restaurant Oasis in the Van Nest section of the Bronx - an area where there's an emerging community of people from different Islamic countries, including Egypt, Yemen, Palestine and Turkey. The second took place in Sunset Park, where we met at Pacificana, a huge dim sum place (although dim sum was not offered in the evening - my error - some places have it 24 hours and I thought this place did...). Then we decided to go elsewhere for dessert and headed to Fifth Avenue in Sunset Park, stopping first at Gran Via, a Dominican/Cuban Bakery and then sat down at Flor de Izucar, a Mexican bakery. We had tastes at each one. That addition to our dinner was so much fun that I'll propose that the nest Dining Out will have the main meal and dessert at two different place. Expect announcements on my Facebook page about the next meal in mid=Kamiaru! You really should "like" my Noshwalks Facebook page. It's full of photos, including pictures from my travels. But in my next posts here, I will add photos from both cities. The photo in this blog is of a bunch of guys who work for Google in NYC and hired me to lead a custom tour. At first they asked if I'd lead a tour in the Meatpacking District, which I don't cover. Their offices are near there, so I told my contact that it would be much better to go someplace new. We went to Elmhurst and had mostly Thai food. A big, big yum! They loved it! I always love going there. I'm glad to be blogging again! Please let me know what you think! Myra

Short takes

Yesterday - August 5 - I concluded my summer Noshwalk season with a tour of Ridgewood, Queens. It's one of those neighborhoods that neither artists nor hipsters have discovered, and the reason, probably, is that it's physically intact. There are no sprawling industrial blocks of former factories waiting to be rehabilitated. There isn't a poor community in pre-war housing stock waiting for newcomers to "upgrade" them. (I'm thinking of the Grand Concourse here.) Instead, there are blocks and blocks of brownstone-type homes and later constructions, most no higher than three stories, and many in pristine condition. The residents seem to represent a wide cross-section of immigrants from Central and South America and the Caribbean; Eastern Europe (especially Poland); some Chinese; and older residents with German, Romanian, Slavic and Italian roots.

On Fresh Pond Road we went to Catania Bakery and on the way passed the new Pharaoh Cafe, an Egyptian place. Are Egyptians among the newer-comers to Ridgewood?

An old diner on Myrtle Avenue has been converted to the very animated Monta's Restaurant (54-55 Myrtle), evidently the property oif a baseball-obsessed owner. Parrot Market at 58-22 Myrtle has food from all over the place; its owners are Bulgarian, and they have delicious fresh bureks and spinach pies as well as packaged goods. We got a wonderful Romanian sheep cheese there. Monreale Italian bakery had gelato for just $1.25 for one scoop and $2.25 for two. In Manhattan you'd pay at least twice that, and I don't know if they'd be as good.

Our last stop, by the way,was Bosna Express, one of two Bosnian eateries. We got a delicious lamb kebab. The chef was Mexican. The photos shows a few Noshwalks loving their kebabs!

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In Astoria a couple of weeks ago, we stopped at a San Antonio #2, a Chilean bakery at 36-20 Astoria Boulevard. (#1 is in Valley Stream.) I've included it on my Astoria tour for years, but usually by the time we get there, towards the end, we've eaten so much that there's little space for anything else. I was happily surprised to see that the owners had renovated the exterior to make it much more attractive to visitors, creating a showcase of the empanadas and dulce de leche filled pastries that they make. But their specialty is actually a Chilean hotdog, with a topping combining guacamole and other flavors. At $3.50 it seems pricey, but it's very rich and we cut a couple of them into pieces to share tastes. The owners were very friendly and it's worth a visit!

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Seen in Harlem: A Taste of Seafood on the southeast corner of Madison Avenue and 125th Street (50 E. 125th St.) continues to draw lines of customers in search of its fried fish dishes. About two or three months ago I saw that they're getting ready to move across the street to 59 E. 125th - a new facade and, I think, 2 floors. Interesting food-related developments have taken place on this stretch: Wimp's Bakery also moved into spiffy quarters with an extra floor (and a hot buffet in addition to their traditional baked goods); Manna's, which already has a soul food buffet place on the northeast corner of Madison and 125th, opened an outpost nearby on the south side closer to Malcolm X Boulevard. Charles' Southern Fried Chicken, whose main place is on Frederick Douglass Boulevard near 150th Street, has rented a portion of A Slice of Harlem, on Malcolm X BOulevard just north of 125th Street. Mo'Bay, an upscale seafood place, has been around for a while.

Gee - is it just a coincidence that Bill Clinton's NYC office is in the midst of all this, in the Carver Bank Building at 75 W. 125th St.? (And I wonder if his foundation, of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, have anything to do with all this.)

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Borough Park always surprises me. Going in the summer usually means it's a lot slower - so many people are away. But the Zion Market, which has moved to a new, larger location on 13th Avenue between 38th and 39th Streets, is always busy. To my knowledge, it's the only Jewish Yemeni market in NYC. The space is about twice as large as the old one, and it felt oddly airy. I suspect that whatever law of physics it is (can't remember the name!) that says you'lol fioll out whatever space you have, or something like that, will apply in the case of this market: it will once again be very crowded. Best purchases there are their breads: a roti-like grilled bread and the "lachloof" (my spelling), which it the name of their injera-like Yemeni bread. The eggplant dip has a delicious smoky taste. I always love shopping there, and in this market, unlike most other in the neighborhood, people are very chatty with recommendations and encouragement. I was with a small family group on a tour, and we had a spontaneous "picnic" with our "finds" there in front of the store, where there was a flat surface that we turned into a table. Various customers - some clearly quite religious - either wished us a good meal or suggested something else that we may have missed.

Later in the day, when my clients had left, I wandered around on my own. Found a Salvadoran restaurant on 14th Avenue around 40th Street and a Hungarian eatery on 13th Avenue at 55th or 56th Street. It's more like a small diner that also has Hungarian dishes (not kosher), but since most Hungarian places I'm aware of have closed, this was a surprising find. I didn't have time to linger, but it's one of those places I mean to get back to. There are quite a few Polish markets and some Polish restaurants on the outskirts of the Jewish hub of Borough Park. I believe that many employees of the local markets are Polish.

I also noticed a large restaurant on 13th Ave. called Uzbekistan, near 42nd Street on the east side of 13th Ave.. Chances are it's been there for a long time, but the sign looked brand new. There has been a presence of Bukharan Jews in Borough Park for a while, including a run-down market and an unappealing kosher gyro place called Samarkand, on the west side of 13th Ave.. I take folks to the Tandoor Bakery on 48th Street between 13th and 14th Aves. One fellow in my group spoke Russian and convinced the owner to let him (and us) go to the back of the bakery to see the fresh bread being baked. A treat! Later the owner told me that the Bukharan synagogue in Borough Park is on 41st Street just east of 13th Avenue. It's really two attached houses serving as the synagogue, but I will be interested in seeing if they build a completely new structure at some point.

My point? That Borough Park, both in terms of its Jewish community and non-Jews, is more diverse than many people think.

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More to come...