The cheery red and yellow awning let's you know it's all O.K.

The other day Robert Sietsema of the Village Voice and I were discussing the closure of Bromo Satay House. It was a short-lived Indonesian spot in Elmhurst. Robert quipped that we should journey to the island nation to recruit restaurateurs. Thankfully Elmhurst has such a high concentration of Indonesians there's no need to undertake such a mission. The latest entrant into the area's Indonesian food scene is OK Indo Food Store. As the name implies it's more market than restaurant. Nevertheless Tante Santí Su and her family offer several excellent dishes daily at their two-month old shop.

Bak cang: Indonesia's answer to China's glutinous rice in lotus leaf.

The sticky rice tamales found at dim sum parlors are one of my favorite things to eat. So I was pleased to learn there's an Indonesian version, bak cang ($2). Unwrap the bundle to find a pyramid of sticky rice. Entombed inside find a duck egg and some ground pork that's been cooked with the sweet soy sauce, kecap manis. Add a dollop of fiery and fishy sambal terasi—made from fermented shrimp—and dig into one of Elmhurst's finest snacks.

Tante Santí's ayam goreng, is one flavorful bird.

Ayam goreng, or fried chicken, is one of several lunch boxes OK Indo offers for $6.50. It's so delicious I'd never trade if it was found in my childhood lunchbox. It's marinated in a mixture of  salt, garlic, turmeric, sugar and lemongrass for about day. This treatment imparts a wonderful flavor and a texture akin to smoking. Lime and sambal help round out some of the bird's salty edge. For now the shop's other offerings are Bali daging, or beef tendon, and nasi empal, shredded beef with noodles along with fried shrimp in liver sauce.

I intend to keep a close watch on the evolution of OK Indo. It would be especially awesome if they created an Indonesian grilled cheese. Did I forget to mention Tante Santí's son, Chip, once worked at The Queens Kickshaw? He left the Astoria grilled cheese emporium to help his Mom with the cooking at OK. He plans to rent the backyard adjacent to the shop as a seating area. I plan to have him to teach me how to cook Indonesian food.

OK Indo Food Store, 88-15 Justice Ave., Elmhurst, 718-606-0104
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There’s much more than kebabs at Astoria’s Halal Sandwich Shop.

The stretch of Steinway Street known as Little Cairo announces itself with the sweet aroma of sheesha wafting from numerous hookah cafes. Amid these find the cheery orange and yellow Halal Sandwich Shop. I’ve been wanting to try this Moroccan joint for years. Scanning the menu I skipped over the usual suspects—merguez, falafel, and lamb kabobs—heading straight for the section labeled discreetly labeled “Delicacies.”

“What's fouilat?” I asked. “We don’t have it today,” the gent behind the counter replied. “They’re, you know the lamb eggs,” he said when pressed for a description of this decidedly off cut. I opted instead for a sandwich of kalb ($6), or beef heart. It should be noted that there was also some excellent looking lamb shank on offer. Sadly that falls outside the purview of today’s column. A return visit is in order.

Nothing goes better with a heart hoagie than a can of Vimto.

The halal hoagie comes wrapped in deli paper making it hard to photograph, but easy to eat. Toothsome chunks of beef heart are crammed into the hero along with charmoula. The concoction of onions and tomatoes with green olives makes the whole sandwich taste like a sausage and pepper hero with a Moroccan accent. I was psyched to see that they had Vimto, a wonderful black currant soda.

A look under the hood.

I didn’t know what to expect when I entered the Halal Sandwich Shop, but I’m glad I found heart. Just a few days earlier I had eaten a truly awful plate of Peruvian grilled beef heart. So with culinary equilibrium restored I strode happily back out into the rain.

Halal Sandwich Shop. 25-61 Steinway St., Astoria, 718-726-9262
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This morning I awoke from a food coma brought on by trying to eat every meal for the last two weeks at the now shuttered M. Wells. Stepping outside I noticed a dirigible lazily traversing the skies above and I knew it was that time of year. Time to talk about what to eat during the U.S. Open. Here then, a list of Seven Things to Eat During The U.S. Open. Most of these places lie along the 7 line or are a short walk from the stadium. For a complete guide of where to eat along the 7 line be sure to check out World’s Fare 24/7 in the fall issue of Edible Queens. You'll find plenty there to keep you busy long after the Open ends.

Anyone for crawfish?

1.  Ma la xiao long xia at Sliced Noodles in New World Mall No. 21, New World Mall Food Court, 40-21 Main St., Flushing
Fresh lobster can be had at the stadium, but when’s the last time you ate a lobby at a sporting event? For a championship level crustacean experience take the 7 train to Main Street. Head over to Sliced Noodles in the New World Mall Food Court and order the ma la xiao long xia, or spicy little lobsters. Just under $10 buys a small mountain of crawdads bathed in chili sauce shot through with ginger and Sichuan peppercorn. If you simply must have lobster an outfit aptly called Live Seafood will gladly oblige with whole lobster prepared in a variety of styles, including spicy and ginger scallion.

A Colombian kitchen sink burger will fuel hours of tennis watching.

2.  Super Especial Hamburger at La Dulce Vida
107-22 Corona Ave., Corona, 718-271-3033
Skip the stadium's burgers and take a trip to Colombia instead. That country takes an everything but the kitchen sink approach to the humble hamburger. Find La Dulce Vida not far from the action in nearby Corona. The Super Especial Hamburger ($7) is topped with all manner of things. Some are conventional: bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mayonnaise. And some are not: ham, garlic sauce, pink sauce, Russian sauce, and potato chips.

Why get just lemon ice, when you can have spumoni.

3. Spumoni at the Lemon Ice King of Corona
52-02 108th St., Corona, 718-699-5133
If you have room for dessert after that burger cross the street to the Lemon Ice King of Corona. Get a signature lemon ice. Better yet, try a spumoni new for this season. Head over to William F. Moore “Spaghetti” Park where locals play bocce late into the night. Watch a few frames and feel lucky to have had the chance to take in two great sporting events in one day.

4. Mixed Grill at La Porteña, 74-25 37th Ave., Jackson Heights, 718-458-8111
Cowboy steak can be had at the stadium’s Champion Bar & Grill. For a cowboy experience Argentine style take the 7 train to 74th St. and dine at La Porteña. Order the mixed grill ($18.95 for one, $29.95 for two). It’s a carnivorous combination of skirt steak, short ribs, pork sausage, blood sausage, sweetbreads, and tripe.

Perfect for a midnight snack.

5. Sandwich de media noche at El Sitio
68-28 Roosevelt Ave., Woodside, 718-424-2369
This Cuban spot—with its sunny orange counter—is as old school New York as it gets. Get the sandwich de media noche ($4.40), essentially a Cuban sandwich on darker, sweeter bread. With a cup of café con leche ($1.50) it makes for a perfect midnight snack or prematch meal.

Game, set, crunch: Crispy papaya salad.

6. Thai home Cooking at TCP
63-19 39th Avenue, Woodside, 718-651-6888
Sure you could go to the wildly popular (and excellent) Sriprapahi just down the street along with dozens of other tennis fans. Instead head to TCP or Thailand’s Center Point, a mom-and-pop outfit that recalls the old days when Sripraphai was but a humble hole-in-the-wall. Aom “Annie” Phinphatthakul prepares such dishes as crispy papaya salad ($8.50), a riff on the classic som tum and crispy thousand egg with basil sauce ($10), three batter-fried preserved eggs were set atop ground pork in basil sauce. Shop for Thai ingredients afterwards at TCP’s adjoining grocery store.

Mixed khatsa combines the flavors of Tibet and with those of Sichuan.

7.  Tibetan-Chinese at Phayul, 74-06 37th Rd., Jackson Heights, 718-424-1869
There are so many Tibetan and Nepalese restaurants in what’s still known as Little India that I’ve taken to calling it Little Tibet. Phayul, where the chef offers what he calls Tibetan-Chinese, is one of the best. There are excellent momo here ($4.99), the crescent-shaped beef dumplings that are Tibet’s national dish. Tibetan-Chinese offerings include mixed khatsa ($8), wobbly strips of tripe and creamy bits of tongue dressed with chili, garlic, cilantro, and sesame seeds, and Sichuan peppercorns. If you’re lucky you’ll get to watch a few Tibetan hip hop videos while dining.

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That bun's good for more than just soaking up the secret sauce.

The wonders of ma la yang lian, or spicy and tingly lamb face salad are no mystery to me. It's one of my favorite things to eat in the 36th chamber of Flushing's Golden Shopping Mall, otherwise known as Xi'an Famous Foods. Back before Anthony Bourdain ever set foot inside the granddaddy of Flushing food courts and had his first taste of liang pi, before Xi'an Famous Foods became actually famous I spied someone with a plate heaped with meat of unknown provenance slicked with a fiery sauce.

"What's that?" I asked the proprietor. "That's a very special dish. It's lamb face salad" David "Liang Pi" Shi said. Soon I was feasting on various bits of ovine offal—creamy tongue, crunchy cartilage, slivers of palate—along with snow white blobs of fat and bits of meat. All of it was slicked in a more incendiary version of the same "secret sauce" XFF uses for its wildly popular liang pi, or cold skin noodles. In addition to tahini, garlic, cucumbers, sprouts, and cumin there was no shortage of green hot peppers.    

Have it your way.

On a recent visit I ordered lamb face salad ($9.75) as well as a jia mo ($.50), a griddled wheaten flat bread that is the Silk Road's answer to an English muffin. The breads are used to make the minichain's lamb and pork "burgers." I had ordered it to sop up the copious amounts of fiery sauce. And then it hit me: Why not make a lamb face salad sandwich? Why not indeed. So I piled a tangle of offal, sprouts, cucumber, cilantro, onions and peppers on to a round of bread, being sure to spoon over a goodly amount of the "secret sauce."

The resulting  ma la yang lian jia mo was delicious. The warm bread stood up nicely to the filling and gave me a new appreciation for what was already one of my  favorite dishes. It was so good I ordered another piece of bread and fixed myself another sandwich. (One order of lamb face salad will easily make three sandwiches.)

I already have an ordering strategy for my next visit to XFF. They make a hubcap-sized version of jia mo.  Supersize me, Flushing style! 

Xi'an Famous Foods
Stall No. 36, Golden Shopping Mall, 41-28 Main Street, Flushing
Flushing Mall, 133-31 39th Avenue, Flushing

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