Eating In Translation

Madelaine Chocolate Novelties

The Droste effect — in which an image contains a smaller version of itself, which in turn contains a still smaller version, and so on — was popularized by and named for a Dutch confectioner. In theory this recursiveness could go on endlessly; in practice it's constrained by space, by the resolution of the image, and by the resolving abilities of the human eye.

A blocklong outer wall is prime Droste territory, especially when it sports a collage dedicated to an American chocolatier. The inset shown in the second photo, however, doesn't take full advantage: It depicts what you might call the autographed corner of the building, nothing more.

Madelaine Chocolate Novelties
9603 Beach Channel Dr. (Beach 96th-Beach 97th Sts.), Rockaway Beach, Queens
(Mural on the Rockaway Fwy. side of the main building, one of a complex)
718-945-1500
www.MadelaineChocolate.com

"I Got Cats, Moimaids, and Boids": The Work of Sam Steinberg

Those chocolate bars weren't "the big ones, boys" — in the words of candy seller and outsider artist Sam Steinberg — but at this retrospective of his work they were free for the taking. Read more about Sam, who was a fixture on the Columbia University campus in the 1960s and '70s, in the summer 1996 issue of Folk Art magazine. And see more of his work, including portraits of Richard Nixon and John Mitchell, in this Facebook album.

"I Got Cats, Moimaids, and Boids": The Work of Sam Steinberg
Lerner Hall, Broadway at 115th St., Columbia University, Manhattan
www.Facebook.com/Steinberg2015
(The retrospective was displayed on May 29-30, 2015)

Royal Bengal Street Fair

Another sign gave the spelling "anton," like the actress, but "ontton" more accurately renders the pronunciation.

Shenlik: The Cultural Feast

You won't find moister sekerpare (sheh-Care-pah-Ray, three for $2) — these syrup-soaked Turkish semolina cookies were being fished out as I arrived.

Many readers of Eating In Translation ask where I find out about food fairs and festivals like this, which rarely are announced by the general-interest press. The answer, a trite one, is that there's no substitute for on-the-ground reporting. In neighborhoods where English is a second language, flyers posted in the doorways of restaurants and markets are fruitful sources of intel. Even when much of the text is inscrutable, often a date, an address, and a mouthwatering photo or two suffice to point the way.

Notice of the event at hand came to light earlier this month, when a dining buddy and I paralleled the route of the Paterson-Clifton Turkish American Day Parade, eating all along the way, then explored the accompanying festival. We couldn't do justice to the variety of food, but inevitably we found room for sweets; we found flyers for Shenlik: The Cultural Feast tucked in beside the asure, or maybe they were under the sutluc. The specifics are less important than the general principle: Look for notices in well-trafficked areas like doorways, and dessert tables.

Shenlik: The Cultural Feast
Clifton Blue Mosque, 492 Clifton Ave., Clifton, New Jersey
www.Facebook.com/263327716521/photos/pb.263327716521.-2207520000.1432083795./10153368721981522
(The 2015 celebration took place on May 22-25)

Janek's Fine Foods

(This venue is closed.) Assemble a sandwich with two eight-inch links of sausage, and generally the result will be much more compact. My kielbasa on rye, with sauerkraut and mustard ($5.50), had an strikingly splayed appearance — the sausage had been not merely split lengthwise, it had been thinly sliced lengthwise, exposing greater surface area and unleashing additional juicy flavor.

Most of Janek's business is in catering and to-go orders, but the shop also has a tiny counter with a trio of stools, whose short-backed, molded plastic seats don't encourage lingering. Just as well: Dispatching a sandwich like this doesn't take long.

Janek's Fine Foods
200 Monroe St. (Hope-Columbia Aves.), Passaic, New Jersey
973-778-3147

Gold Label International Food

My afternoon nosh, smoked butterfish ($3.74, at $16.99 per pound), came from the refrigerator counter at the back of the market and not from the bargain bins out front. The flesh is unusually fatty and oily, and it would have been wise to squeeze back through the crowds to grab a fork. Instead, I made do, and fixed in my mind the less-appealing definition of "fish fingers."

Gold Label International Food
281 Brighton Beach Ave. (Brighton 2nd-Brighton 3rd Sts.), Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
718-743-3900

Silver Pond

(This venue is closed.) At certain sunny times of day when the blinds are set just right, the signage by the front door suggests, inadvertently, a lenticular ad — the sort that changes its appearance as you change your point of view. So, too, with the menus. Originally, citing one bill of fare, I'd written that daily dim sum service begins at 4:00. However, a separate dim sum menu, the sort with boxes to be ticked off, gives hours of 11:30-3:30 daily and lists even more items. Thanks for the fact-check, Anne!

Silver Pond
230 Main St. (Gerome-Center Aves.), Fort Lee, New Jersey
201-592-8338

Country Coco

This carbonated beverage (300 ml., $1.29) was both bitter and sweet at once, more of a distraction than a refreshment. I did note with amusement that although the brand name is spelled with three Zs, my friend's diet mauby, from a different maker, spells its name with only two.

More interesting is the case of mauby and mabi: Are they one and the same? Some sources suggest that this is a single beverage, with various spellings, and muddy any distinctions regarding a key ingredient, the bark of certain trees in the Colubrina genus. One EIT reader, however, maintains that the two taste "vastly different" (thanks for weighing in, No/Deli!), which jibes with my own impression. After a long-ago visit to another vendor, Papo Frutas, I observed that mauby is typically much less sweet than mabi, to the point of astringency.

Two different barks may explain the two different flavors. The Dominican proprietor of Papo Frutas, who did business from a repurposed school bus, relied on a large, professionally printed banner to advertise his wares. Among them was "mabi de bouco Indio." This colloquial name, more often spelled behuco Indio, denotes one particular species of tree from the genus in question: Colubrina elliptica. A glance at the label on my Mauby Fizzz indicates that it was made in Trinidad and Tobago using extract of the bark from a different species: Colubrina arborescens. Other labels in my photo archives support this distinction. More corroboration is needed, however, except as regards my personal preference: I like mabi more.

Country Coco
3114 Church Ave. (East 31st-East 32nd Sts.), Flatbush, Brooklyn

Rispoli Pastry Shop & Cafe

Paint-the-lily moment of the day: "Would you like powdered sugar on that, sir?" This cassata ($3.50) was covered with white chocolate ganache and toasted coconut and filled with Chantilly cream.

Rispoli Pastry Shop & Cafe
824 Broad Ave. (Elm-Linden Aves.), Ridgefield, New Jersey
201-943-6002
Also at 23 Emerson Plaza East, Emerson, New Jersey
201-265-4009

"Home made ice cream"

Surviving signage, 508 Broad Ave. (near Edgewater Ave., above Ridgefield Hobby), Ridgefield, New Jersey