Pâté, a commonly consumed cornmeal cake.

Down Roosevelt Avenue, an arepa stand does a brisk business all night, frying up the traditional Colombian cornmeal cakes topped with cheese.

Oyster sopes, little fried cornmeal cakes topped with a plump seared oyster, black beans and corn, were seasoned just enough to be bracing.

Best dishes: Harvest salad, guacamole, sopes, duck chili mole, cornmeal cakes with shrimp, shrimp quesadillas, loin of lamb, banana-sesame cakes.

Among the main courses are lobster shepherd's pie ($20) and barbecued salmon with jalapeno-and-cheddar cornmeal cake ($17).

Also sample the Love Cakes ($6.95), sautéed black bean and cornmeal cakes topped with tomatillo salsa, sour cream, feta cheese and red onion.

Corn ice cream, served with an ingratiating warm fig and cornmeal cake, is simply too sweet and rich for the role.

The menu includes items such as cornmeal cakes and rice gruel.

They had bags of cornmeal with them, and enough of the round cornmeal cakes to feed them while they crossed the water.

Crostino di polenta, for instance, consisted of four sizable triangles of grilled, crispy-edge cornmeal cakes enveloped in a pungent melted Gorgonzola sauce.