Eating In Translation

Wheels Down, Surf's Up: A JFK Layover in Rockaway Beach

Between bites: buskers on the boardwalk (Tim Otto & Free Ride, for the moment, minus their drummer). For more, boogie on over to Culinary Backstreets.

Uma's

Housemade halva ice cream, topped with more halva as well as black and white sesame seeds. After a long walk in search of something cold and refreshing, I'm glad I walked away from the kiddie-colored ices across the boulevard!

Uma's
9207 Rockaway Beach Blvd. (Beach 92nd-Beach 94th Sts.), Rockaway Beach, Queens
718-318-9100
www.UmasRockaway.com

Caracas Arepa Bar

By default a Venezuelan arepa is sliced and stuffed; this open-faced presentation honored visiting chefs representing Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Alas, the "Nordic arepa" — which boasted smoked bluefish, pineapple sauerkraut, caper-dill crema, and microgreens, atop a patty whose dough was colored with squid ink — made port only briefly, then sailed on.

Caracas Arepa Bar
www.CaracasArepaBar.com
At the Munchies Festival
Hester Street Fair, Hester St. at Essex St., Manhattan
(The festival was held on September 16-17, 2017)

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

MasaFest

Not ceviche — aguachile.

DiCosmo's

(This venue is closed.) Three green barrels sitting outside meant three flavors on hand: lemon, orange, and coconut.