Eating In Translation

T-Bone Diner

The neon, I liked; the burger, not so much.

Krause's Candy Kitchen

They have chocolate, too.

Andre's

The rugelach at this Hungarian bakery ($14 per pound), lovingly assembled with walnuts, raisins, and raspberry or apricot jelly, is wonderful off the shelf, and amazing if you have the good fortune to arrive when they're still warm.

On the Upper East Side, the owners operate a snug café. For a prix fixe dinner ($22.95), my cold cherry soup, cucumber salad with paprika and vinegar ($2 extra), stuffed peppers, and apricot-and-nut palacsinta, or crepe, each struck familiar but comforting notes. Though the entrée must be smaller, the prix fixe lunch is just $12.95, and simply stopping in for coffee and one of the many tempting pastries would run you even less.

Andre's
Bakery: 100-28 Queens Blvd. (south side, near 67th Rd.), Forest Hills, Queens
718-830-0266
www.andresbakery.com
Café: 1631 Second Ave. (84th-85th Sts.)
212-327-1105

Cheburechnaya

The kebabs are capable, but I go for the dough.

Sunflower International

Haphazardly arranged, even cluttered repository for sweets and savories, but not unpleasantly so; at the register, I pried a seed from a pomegranate sliced open for sampling. Most items seem to hail from Europe and the Middle East, like this plain-label red tkemali sauce (9.5 oz.; $1.39) from Georgia. In addition to the namesake wild plums, flavorings include coriander, dill, garlic, red pepper, and fenugreek; compared with green tkemali sauce, it's less sour, more tart.

Sunflower International
97-22 Queens Blvd. (south side, near 63rd Dr.), Rego Park, Queens
718-275-3800
Closed Friday evening and Saturday

Piu Bello Gelato

Many of the choices at Piu Bello dazzled at first sight; bilberry (one scoop; $3.25) had the mild-mannered looks of its cousin, the blueberry, but a little more tartness, too.

Oh, yes: Piu Bello also does the panini/wrap/soup/salad thing.

Piu Bello Gelato
70-09 Austin St., Forest Hills, Queens
718-268-4400

Bonelle Pastry Shop

A prune hamentash ($2.50) boasted rich, buttery dough, but it was on the small side, and the filling was just OK.

Bonelle Pastry Shop
108-30 Ascan Ave., Forest Hills, Queens
718-575-1792

Oishii's

The clerk's bright blue hair was a hint: A scanty selection of foodstuffs took second billing to shelves filled with Japanese videos. UCC coffee with milk (11.3 fl. oz.; 99 cents) comes from "the pioneer maker of the canned liquid coffee in Japan." Wouldn't be half-bad if not for the tinny overtones.

Oishii's
109-09 71st Rd. (at Queens Boulevard), Forest Hills, Queens
718-544-8877