Eating In Translation

Cosmo & Alex Pisano Brothers

This cannoli cookie ($2) has the ricotta-based filling you'd expect, and chocolate chips, too. When everything is baked together, however, it will never be as creamy as its namesake.

I bought my cookie from this market's countertop display before realizing that it had been made at the sister bakery next door, where more cannoli cookies kept company with a much wider assortment of pastries.

Cosmo & Alex Pisano Brothers
252 Mamaroneck Ave. (Prospect-Palmer Aves.), Mamaroneck, New York
914-381-4402

Dough Nation

The fresh lemon is sliced extra-thin.

Striped Bass

Pleasant if unexceptional dockside restaurant; in warmer weather, you'll find lots of outdoor seating with views of the Hudson River and the nearby Tappan Zee Bridge.

The Pier View

Thick toast and lots of bacon on the Texas BLT ($9.95); fries were just OK.

The Pier View
1 Van Der Donck St., Yonkers, New York
914-290-2162

The Chart House

The amazing, rich cream of crab soup ($9), aswim with lump crabmeat, was reason enough to take my shore leave at Dobbs Ferry (another is the marvelous view, especially if you sigh over the Hudson River School). Grilled swordfish (about $24) with a baked potato, sour cream, and broccoli, and pan-seared sea scallops (about $22) in a soy-ginger broth with spinach, bok choy, and coconut ginger rice, are substantial entrees, but after placing an advance order for dessert, I was already biding my time.

The kitchen needs about 25 minutes' notice to prepare the "lava cake" (about $9), a hot chocolate soufflé with a molten center, topped with vanilla ice cream and crunchy chocolate, surrounded by chocolate sauce. It's well worth the early decision on dessert.

The Chart House
At the foot of High St., Dobbs Ferry, New York
(one of many locations)
203-978-0268

Meetinghouse

Excellent (if not photogenic) garlic-herb-wine broth for these steamed mussels ($10) nearly compensated for the lackadaisical service. Mom's "jumbo lump" crabcake ($15) arrived lukewarm, and even after reheating, that wasn't lump crabmeat. My hefty burger ($11) was largely flavorless; double-fried fries were decent.

Meetinghouse
Route 22, Bedford Village, New York
914-234-5656

Blu

Sunday brunch on the Hudson this afternoon was intended to offer a respite from the poor service that Uncle Joe, Aunt Ann, Mom, and I had encountered at the Chart House in Dobbs Ferry, but Blu succeeded only in that regard. The restaurant overlooks not only the river but also a broken-down pier; our table also had a view into the kitchen, which could have been screened off with very little effort.

Perhaps I was overreaching with a grilled shrimp cocktail with candied fennel and mache ($12) and a rare seared tuna nicoise salad ($17). The other orders at our table — poached eggs with mushroom cream sauce and sautéed potatoes ($12) and buttermilk pancakes with blueberries, served with warm maple syrup and bacon — seemed to go down well. But when half the items on the menu include seafood, I expected better.

Blu
100 River St.
Hastings-on-Hudson, New York
914-478-4481