Çka Ka Qëllu

Belmont is the Bronx's Little Italy, but its back streets have been Albanian for two generations, and this is the room that proves it. Step off Hughes Avenue into what looks like a mountain house in Kosovo — timber beams, woven textiles, copper pots, low lamps — and a kitchen cooking the food of Albania and Kosovo with real care. The name means, roughly, "whatever's on hand."

The bread comes first and is reason enough to come. Then burek with soft cheese, sarma cabbage rolls, grilled meats, and flija — a slow, layered crêpe cake baked under a lid, a dish of village weddings. Newcomers should order the brumat, a sampler of house specialties. The New York Times has kept it on its annual list of the city's best restaurants; the Michelin Guide lists it too.