The following are in Jackson Heights, near the 82nd St. subway:
— El Palacio de los Cholados (83-18 Northern Blvd)
— Xtasis (Northern Blvd between 81st and 82nd)
— Aquí Colombia Antojitos (81-06 37th Ave)

Now that the weather is getting warm, it is officially cholados season in Jackson Heights. At the height of summer, lines form down the block on Northern Boulevard as folks gather on the sizzling sidewalks to shoot the shit, listen to salsa and Spanish-language hip-hop, and sip these icy South American concoctions.

I had never heard of a cholado before living in this neighborhood. One of my neighbors, who lived in Venezuela as a child, introduced me to the concept after we devoured an enormous meal of Vietnamese pho in Elmhurst. It was a mid-July evening, and the air was steamy. We strolled up to Northern Boulevard and joined the line snaking out of what appeared, from the outside, to be a video store.

We had arrived at El Palacio de los Cholados, which, in true Queens fashion, is housed within a video store. Three briskly efficient women behind a counter inside pile all of the essential ingredients into a large plastic cup while you wait: First goes a thick layer of shaved ice, which is followed by a generous squirt of fruit syrup (the Palacio's is flavored with fresh blackberry, guayabana, and passion fruit, whence their edge on the competition), topped with fresh pinneapple, melon and banana, finished off with condensed milk, and sprinkled with dried coconut. You eat the fruit with a spoon, then sip the lusciously chilled sweetened-milk-syrup through a straw. Despite the neat packaging, it is difficult to consume a cholado without dripping condensed milk all over your clothes, so I usually take mine home and center it on a plate (see left).

Nothing is more refreshing or more satisfying. El Palacio whips up the best cholados in the neighborhood, and the price ($3.50) is well worth it. (For $4 they'll add fresh strawberries.) But the doors close at midnight, demand-curves notwithstanding—which brings us to Xtasis, which is one block down the street and open all night. They also serve a variety of other Columbian delicacies, including excellent fresh-squeezed juices and an impressive array of fried arepas.

There's an excellent cholado to be had on 37th Ave, at the Aquí Colombia bakery and café. The pastries at this place look deadly, but the cholado is spot-on, with chunks of mango snuggled between slivers of pinneapple. — May 2006