MÉXICO ?? ? 195 Monroe Street, Passaic, New Jersey EDITOR'S NOTE: I was originally working on a piece about this market and weekend barbacoa purveyor at the end of 2019 and as the pandemic began in 2020. It was going to be a bigger project to pitch to a local outlet because of the special nature of the place and people. As things ground to a halt and I eventually moved to Los Angeles in summer of that year, it obviously fell through the cracks. The restaurant is still operating and expanding, and should be part of your plans if it has not been already. The first and most important t ..read more

ALGERIA ?? COVID-19 UPDATE: The bakery is primarily takeout, with limited seating in a sheltered area on the front sidewalk. EDITOR'S NOTE: Written by Joseph Gessert, photographed by Liv Dillon. Bath Avenue is home to a handful of good Pakistani restaurants, a string of Mexican bodega taquerias, Guatemalan loncherías, a long-standing Peruvian restaurant, two Uzbek places, a new Georgian spot, great Shanghai soup dumplings, and more. Since last year they have been joined by L’Algeroise, an Algerian bakery producing fantastic French pastries headlined by a Napoleon that is literally causing ..read more

THAILAND ?? COVID-19 UPDATE: Indoor dining at limited capacity in accordance with NYS law and a covered, heated outdoor dining patio on 18th Avenue. Contact tracing and temperature checks for indoor diners. EDITOR'S NOTE: Written and photographed by Monica Parks. Bensonhurst’s 18th Avenue - alter-ego Cristoforo Colombo Boulevard - is a stronghold of Italian and, more recently, Chinese culture in Southern Brooklyn. Among the Hong Kong-style cafes and venerable pizza institutions lies a hidden gem: the innocuously-named Pad Thai Kitchen. While there are solid takeout joints throughout th ..read more

MÉXICO ?? COVID-19 UPDATE: The restaurant has built a covered patio for outside dining, and has a more spacious indoor dining area than most Mexican restaurants in south Brooklyn. EDITOR'S NOTE: Written by Joseph Gessert, photographed by Liv Dillon. Like pizza, nachos are a dish found more often on menus stateside than in the country of their supposed origin. If legend (and Wikipedia) is correct, they were invented by a bordertown Mexican chef in 1940 and popularized in Texas and then the American Southwest. But much like pizza and the Mission burrito, regardless of authenticity or lack ..read more

MÉXICO ?? COVID-19 UPDATE: The restaurant provides indoor dining and a brisk takeout business. EDITOR'S NOTE: Written by Joseph Gessert, photographed by Liv Dillon. Port Chester, the last town in West Chester before I-95 crosses over into Connecticut, is the most diverse town in the county. Its downtown has gone through a familiar pattern of abandonment, revitalization by immigrants, and modest gentrification. Despite some fancier restaurants and a renovated warehouse building advertising luxury loft living, restaurants serving the immigrant community still proliferate. Mexican stalwart ..read more

CHINA ?? COVID-19 UPDATE: Golden Palace has a well-built outdoor dining area as well as indoor dining in accordance with NYS guidelines. EDITOR'S NOTE: Written by Joseph Gessert, photographed by Liv Dillon. Brooklyn’s dim sum palaces have struggled to find working business models during the pandemic, with several remaining shuttered and others transitioning to takeout with mixed success. 86th Street’s Golden Palace has the advantage of a large parking lot, in which they have built sturdy tents with heat and plywood floors. Steaming carts have been replaced by paper menus, and while you mi ..read more

PALESTINE ?? COVID-19 UPDATE: Mostly takeout in the best of times, Grill House has a few modest tables set up now that indoor dining has resumed in NYC.   EDITOR'S NOTE: Written by Joseph Gessert, photographed by Liv Dillon. On a quiet residential Bronx block sits Grill House, which on first glance looks like a run-of-the-mill shawarma shop. Behind the unassuming facade and alongside the shawarma spit is a full menu of Middle Eastern mezzeh at very reasonable prices, including Palestinian desserts that remain hard to come by in most New York neighborhoods. First things first: the c ..read more

MÉXICO ?? (BAJA CALIFORNIA) COVID-19 UPDATE: Food trucks are perfect pandemic eating, with minimal human contact and no indoor dining. EDITOR'S NOTE: Written by Joseph Gessert, photographed by Liv Dillon. A handful of new taco trucks are springing up in south Brooklyn, and El Divino Rostro is the most exciting of them... so far. While their competitors share more or less the same menu, El Divino Rostro has taken note of the success of Jackson Heights/Williamsburg truck Birria-Landia and Bushwick’s Nene’s Deli Taqueria, and are specializing in stewed beef birria. This is a meat that has lo ..read more

EL SALVADOR ?? COVID-19 UPDATE: Puerta del Sol’s Bay Ridge Avenue location has tented outdoor dining, while Nueva Puerta del Sol on 18th Avenue is open for takeout and delivery only. You can order online directly from their website. EDITOR'S NOTE: Written by Joseph Gessert, photographed by Liv Dillon. The Salvadoran pupusa is one of those perfect foods like burritos or a Trinidadian roti wrap that combine a little bit of everything into one nutritious bundle. Some carbohydrates, a little protein, some vegetable, crafted to add up to more than the sum of their parts. These super foods are ..read more

INDIA ?? COVID-19 UPDATE: Chawlas2 is takeout only for the moment, but there is a triangle park on the same block with convenient benches for would-be outdoor diners. You can also order online through their website. EDITOR'S NOTE: Written by Joseph Gessert, photographed by Liv Dillon. Chawlas2 is not the second of two restaurants, as you might guess from the name, but is rather the first US outpost of a chain that started in 1960 in Uttar Pradesh, a province in northern India near Punjab. The location is somewhat inauspicious, at the far edge of Queens near JFK. Despite the cars whizzin ..read more