Eating In Translation

Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream

Tea, Earl Grey, cold.

Café Select

With Swiss thrift, this menu holder and specials-board mount gives new purpose to an old rack for telephone directories. Paging Mr. Peterman...

Café Select
212 Lafayette St. (Spring-Broome Sts.)
212-925-9322
www.CafeSelectNYC.com

Acquedolci

It's a Sicilian message.

Olive's

Muffuletta wannabe? Like the fabled New Orleans sandwich (seen here in my favorite New York rendition), the "Olive's hero" (half, $4.75; also whole, $8.50) builds on the likes of sweet and spicy coppa, Genoa salami, and aged provolone, but in lieu of olive salad it relies on a (mostly hidden) olive tapenade, as well as marinated onions, romaine, and tomatoes, on sourdough. Good in its own understated way.

Olive's
120 Prince St. (Wooster-Greene Sts.), Manhattan
212-941-0111
Also at 225 Liberty St. (inside Brookfield Place)
www.OlivesNYC.com

Colossal burger

They're in it only for the advertising value — this supersized painting promotes Colossal Media itself, not the behemoth of all burgers — but it's interesting to put a face to the company behind so many murals. The artwork has since been painted over.

Colossal burger
Broome St. (seen from Crosby St.), Manhattan

Hundred Acres

(This venue is closed.) It's not the spicy, slightly greasy style beloved in New England, though it's tweaked with pickled jalapeños and aioli. Rather, this appetizer of fried Rhode Island squid ($9) is sourced from the Ocean State; the tender curls of calamari are surmounted by two disks of fried (and fully edible) Meyer lemon.

Hundred Acres
38 MacDougal St. (Prince-West Houston Sts.)
212-476-7400

The Yoghurt Place

(This venue is closed.) Pack this much gooey filling in a handheld pastry, and it might collapse of its own weight. This small Greek food shop sensibly plants its phyllo-covered custard pie (slice; $3) on a sturdy crust, then casually pushes the sugar-saturation limit with a light pour of lemon syrup.

The Yoghurt Place
71 Sullivan St. (Spring-Broome Sts.), Manhattan
212-219-3500
Also as Kesso Foods, at 77-20 21st Ave., East Elmhurst, Queens
718-777-5303

Garlic and shrimp...

...or shrimp with garlic (gambas al ajillo): Either way you look at this classic tapa, writes Boqueria, they're two more great tastes that go great together.

Too bad about the poor quality of the clip; it's the best I could find from 35 years ago. See also this crisper variation on the theme from a decade later.

Boqueria
171 Spring St. (Thompson St.-West Broadway)
212-343-4255
Also at 53 West 19th St. (Fifth-Sixth Aves.)
212-255-4160
www.BoqueriaNYC.com

Nobu

Black gold.

Mai House

(This venue is closed.) I did like the crispy skate.