Around the World in an Evening at the Queens Night Market

[elleng]

'“This is what you eat in La Paz at 4 a.m.,” said the man half-devoured by smoke as he stood at the grill, stroking oil over beef hearts with a brush of banana husks.

It was only 8 p.m., but at the Queens Night Market, next to the undulating walls of the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the night already felt a little lawless, in the best sense of the word: emancipated from day and of unlimited promise.

In one hand, I clutched a newspaper printed in Bengali, whirled into a thonga, or cone, and brimming over with jhal muri: a loose bouquet of cilantro, puffed rice, crunchy filaments of fried chickpea flour and hoops of green chile like castoff earrings. Mustard oil trickled through. The heat clarified the soul.

In the other hand was a cup of chicha morada, a Peruvian drink of purple corn brewed with pineapple peels, cinnamon and cloves, and darker than any wine, so purple it was nearly black. The sweetness was a jolt, and then it was gone. . .

There are other, more celebrated open-air food bazaars in town. But, for me, none is more surprising, thrilling and inspiring than the Queens Night Market. It runs Saturday nights from April to October (with brief breaks during the United States Open and Maker Faire), but in summer it has the most shimmer.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/dining/queens-night-market-review.html?

[shenmue]

1. I grew up in Flushing