Cuisines in Bloom - New York Times

• Published: May 4, 2008

• DUKAGJINI BUREKTORJA

  (718) 822-8955; 758 Lydig Avenue (Wallace Avenue), Pelham Parkway; $; Article: 5/18/05.

  This Albanian place may be the only restaurant in the city devoted entirely to bureks: savory pies that are the Balkans’ answer to pizza. They are convincingly good, stuffed with meat, spinach, or feta cheese, the crust hovering between puff pastry and pizza dough.

• EL ECONÓMICO

  (718) 601-5577; 5589 Broadway (231st Street), Kingsbridge; $; Article: 5/18/05.

  This Dominican restaurant doesn’t look like much, but the line of regulars at the counter testifies to the quality. The specialty is a changing roster of rich stews like oxtail, eggplant and sancocho, the classic brew of pork, pumpkin and root vegetables. Boiled yuca is served with house-made pickled red onions.

• ROBERTO

  (718) 733-9503; 603 Crescent Avenue (Hughes Avenue), Belmont; $$$; Article: 5/3/06.

  This longtime Italian favorite near Arthur Avenue has an epic menu of homemade pasta dishes like fusilli in cartoccio, with clams, mussels, shrimp and fresh tomato cooked in foil on the grill; and fresh grilled salmon topped with caramelized onions.

• WORLD OF TASTE

  (718) 584-5228; 2614 Jerome Avenue (193rd Street), Kingsbridge Heights; $; Article: 2/27/08.

  This restaurant’s full name is a mouthful — World of Taste Seafood Deli/Vietnamese Food — but the space is humble and spare, tucked almost underneath the tracks of the No. 4 train.

  The specialties include New Zealand green mussels with ginger scallion. Meaty summer rolls are loaded with noodles, sliced shrimp and a generous helping of fresh mint. There are also many variations of pho; a warming and prodigiously sized bowl of pho bo is as good as any in New York.

   

  Compiled by Kris Ensminger
  E-mail: eating@nytimes.com