Tasty Brazilian and Peruvian bites boost Long Island City

There are almost a dozen hotels within walking distance of the N train station at 39th Ave./31st St. in Long Island City, but only a handful of places to eat. Luckily, these three restaurants please both tourists and locals.

Bites from Brazil

At Beija Flor, Lucia Cruz’ two-year-old Brazilian restaurant, touches of reclaimed wood and burlap are a nod to the Brazilian farm where she grew up.

There’s frequent live music and a lengthy menu of caipirinhas, the Brazilian national cocktail made with sugar, lime, and the earthy sugarcane-based spirit called cachaca. (They’re $6 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and come with muddled strawberries or a squirt of passionfruit.)

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There are Brazilian-style salads and sandwiches at lunch, and mains like chicken stuffed with cheese and sage ($22). But many things at Beija Flor are purposefully served tapas style, says Lucia’s son Luccas, including frango a passarinho, or fried chicken chunks boosted with sautéed garlic and a squeeze of lime juice; or linguica caseira na chapa, a coil of grilled sausage you dip in vinaigrette and farofa, a traditional Brazilian condiment of roasted yuca flour flavored here with bacon and herbs. Both are $12, and perfect with caipirinhas.

Beija Flor: 38-02 29th St., at 38th Ave., Long Island City; (718) 606-2468

Secret Peruvian platters

Tourists often stop at Rosa’s Cafe on the way into Manhattan for a $1.50 egg on a roll, but regulars know the real deal is the NYC-style diner’s short menu of Peruvian comfort food.

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Owner Rosa Obregon, a Lima native who got her start in city restaurants working as a waitress, took over the former Greek diner 11 years ago, training her mainly Mexican kitchen staff (who also make tacos, burritos and quesadillas) how to make many of the dishes she ate at home.

That includes the extra-large ears of South American corn called choclo, traditionally served with feta-style cheese ($5); and aji de gallina ($7.50), an addictive, thick, canary-yellow chicken stew made with milk, thick slices of potato, stale bread, aged cheese and the subtly spicy Peruvian pepper called aji. It’s served with hardboiled eggs and black olives ($7.50).

And there is of course lomo saltado ($8.50), a famous Chinese-Peruvian dish where thin strips of soy-sauce marinated beef are stir-fried with tomatoes, onions and french fries. Try it with Obregon’s green hot sauce, a creamy puree of jalapeños, mayo, onions and vinegar.

Rosa’s Cafe: 3003 38th Ave., near 30th St., Long Island City; (718) 784-7906

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A small world

Brian Shornick knows his target customers at Dutch Kills Centraal, the three-year-old tavern where he works as both general manager and executive chef. It’s pretty much the world, given the diversity of both travelers and residents in the neighborhood.

That’s why Shornick’s gastropub-style menu is “for everybody,” he says, “approachable, understandable, and good quality.” That translates into burgers and steak frites, but also plates like a slow-braised, bone-in pork shank ($18), cooked with demi-glace and stout from Gun Hill Brewing Company in the Bronx. It’s served in eye-popping style on a bed of wasabi-mashed potatoes and under a pile of fried onion rings dredged in buttermilk and flour seasoned with smoked paprika and cayenne.

Dutch Kills Centraal chef and manager Brian Shornick serves meals like coriander-crusted salmon (l.) and shrimp roll sliders (r.)

There are also shrimp salad sliders (topped with more of those onion rings, $15); and a Mediterranean-inspired wedge of coriander-crusted salmon ($20), served with a lemony fresh salad of grape tomatoes, shaved purple onion, fennel and soft giant Greek beans.

Dutch Kills Centraal: 3840 29th St., at 39th Ave., Long Island City; (718) 606-8651

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