Cara1's Profile
Lunetta Disappointment
I was intrigued by the menu and wanted to try something on Smith Street, so my BFF and I checked out Lunetta. Even though there are like four layers of cloth separating you from the outdoors, the place is still cold; bring a sweater or a blankie. We started with some excellent wines, an organic red and a verdicchio. The pours were not full pours, they were stingy, but the quality of the wine sort of made up for it. We munched some delicious olives from the appetizer menu as we perused the menu.
Our meals were not first-rate. My friend's meatballs tasted to her like they were overloaded with some kind of grain -- at first she said "raw oatmeal" and then after eating more of the portion, revised her opinion to "wheatberries" or "bread." For sure there was wheat involved, because we had asked the waiter ahead of time. Considering that the meatballs were supposed to have been made from both naturally-raised pork and beef, this was not a good outcome.
I ordered the hanger steak medium rare. It came out cold and chewy. The menu said "rubbed" with porcini, but I didn't taste the mushroom, I tasted char, and it was not especially rubbed, but it was indeed rubbery. The side of potatoes was excellent and stood out because it was not cold.
We complained to the waiter about the cold temperature of the otherwise delicious broccoli rabe and pumpkin, and they got sent back to the kitchen for a bit of reheating. This improved them both a lot.
We passed on dessert, because we had already spent too much on too little.
Nice service from a friendly, accommodating waitron, but this won't bring us back for a second round. Oh well.
Dinner tonight near 14th and 6th avenue
Ate at Le Zie last night. Outstanding. If there are two of you, no reservations taken. If there are more than two, definitely make one. Request upstairs or in the back -- less noisy, more private.
Kew Gardens on the Cheap
Oops, the name of the restaurant is "Tu Casa," not "Mi Casa."
buffalo wings in Woodside/Sunnyside
Foxy's Diner on the north side of Queens Blvd. at 43-11 Q.B. has decent Buffalo-style wings. I lived 10 years in Buffalo, and have noticed that it's really hard for "foreigners" to get it right. Foxy's wings are messier than they should be, but the flavor is right.
Kew Gardens on the Cheap
Hi Jet41,
The "Spanish" restaurant Mi Casa, on Metropolitan Ave. just east of Lefferts is excellent. I don't know which country they''re representing -- D.R., maybe -- definitely not Spain. It's Caribbean/Latin food. Anyway, they offer cheap lunch specials and inexpensive entrees, along with the usual sides like tostones, fried or steamed yuca, avocado salad, beans, steamed vegetables, etc. The other day I saw a guy eating a humongous seafood stew that smelled and looked amazing. He said it tasted that way too. I usually get their lunch special roast chicken with rice and beans or vegetables. The food is uniformly excellent, the menu is varied, the service is friendly and solicitous. Even the coffee is good, and you can get your rice pudding or flan for dessert. No problem if you don't speak Spanish, the staff is bilingual.
Joe Abbracciamento Restaurant
Wow, we used to go to Salerno's in the early 1960's. It was my folks' favorite Italian when we lived in Woodhaven. Can't believe it's still around, and still good. That's where I "cut my teeth" on calamari marinara, and it's been a favorite of mine ever since. Salerno's is also where I developed a decidedly unhealthy interest in salted butter patties served at the table in a little dish of ice water (I ate the butter plain, without bread. I was 10 at the time).
donovan's burger - short note
Hi Mike - Yes! Rouge in Forest Hills. I had a GREAT burger there for lunch. Thanks for reminding me. Definitely in the same category as at Quaint, maybe even better. Queens burger freaks, take heed!
donovan's burger - short note
I'm not a burger expert, but every now and then I get that craving...and when I tried Donovan's I felt like you did: it was okay, but #1? I think not. Here's a place in Sunnyside that makes a better burger, IMO: "Quaint" on Skillman Ave. between 46th and 47th Sts. Nice little place with a bar, most of the dishes are comfort food and slightly overpriced, but the burger is outstanding, comes with grilled onions and a generous helping of excellent crispy fries in a paper cone, Brit style. (I can't comment on the bun, because I'm allergic to flour and don't eat it.) Their garden space is open out back now that the weather is good. Check it out.
Boring Blossom
Disappointed in Blossom (Ninth Ave. between 21st and 22nd). It's vegan and organic, which was cool by my companion and me. But the casual/upscale vibe was marred by very ordinary food on our visit last week. We shared an okay beet/tofu appetizer that the waiter told us was large enough for two, but which in fact came to about one-and-a-half mouthfuls each. My main course, a take on the Brazilian black bean stew, feijoada, was just okay. Maybe it really needs the pork, or maybe they just don't know how to jazz up the tempeh they used instead. I ordered a side of broccoli rabe, one of my favorite vegetables. It was bland, which is hard to do with broccoli rabe, and seriously required more garlic. It was also undercooked, which is easy to do with broccoli rabe, but it's the job of a good kitchen to get it just right. I had to request salt for both dishes, something I rarely do. My companion had a phyllo roulade, which she also deemed nothing special. The best thing on her plate was a cilantro pesto that I used to improve the quality of my own dish. Portions were a good size on the mains, service was attentive, and the organic wines were good. But really, with Counter, Gobo and Candle Cafe in town, there's no reason to return to Blossom for vegan or vegetarian unless you're famished and standing on the corner of Ninth and 21st St.
Life-changing Indian food
As one of Mina's original Sunnyside devotees, I was very disappointed by Spicy Mina's new incarnation in Woodside. But after reading all the good posts I figured I'd give her one more chance, which I did this past weekend. Never again. The spinach paneer, my favorite dish in Sunnyside, was tasteless, salty, dry and stringy, despite my request to the waiter to make it "spicy." Not disgusting, just seriously dull. My favorite Indian restaurant in the NYC area is Chola, a higher-end place on E. 58th St. that's still a bargain given the portion size, service and impeccable quality of the food.
Must Eat In Astoria/Queens?
Zenon Taverna, 34-10 31st Ave., between 34th and 35th Sts., 718-956-0133.
Very tasty Greek Cypriot food. Casual ambience, very friendly service.
How do I raise a little Chowbaby?
Speaking from my own experience and that of my friends with kids, I see a strong correlation between how the parents feel about food and how the kids handle it. My folks were very chowhoundish, and when I was growing up, we ate in inexpensive Chinese and Italian restaurants a lot. As a kid I was expected to eat bok choy with fermented bean curd or calamari with marinara sauce just like the adults. And my mom was an excellent, if not adventurous cook, who had some understanding of nutrition. Plus, she was a housewife who worked only in the home, and had time to cook real meals. This is a rarity nowadays. There was never soda pop or candy in our house. If I was hungry I got a carrot stick, a cut-up apple or a piece of cheese to munch on. We also had the ethnic good fortune to receive regular shipments of my grandmother's homemade blintzes and knishes, which it would have been unthinkable not to eat. My folks were extremely enthusiastic about food and approached it as one of life's great joys.
Since you're already chowhounds, half the battle is won. Eat with relish (the emotional kind), keep mealtimes fun and lighthearted, and present the food in an attractive manner. An example of how this can help: I brought a beautiful, colorful, varied fruit salad to a dinner party where the hosts' daughter was an impossible eater. She ate noodles with butter and a smidgen of cheese only. That was her entire diet. When she saw the fruit salad, all those gorgeous colors, and watched me and others eating it, she wanted some. Lo and behold, she ate her portion and was happy. Her parents were flabbergasted. Just goes to show you: you never know.
Cooking for non-food people
After reading the replies to this post, I believe I have something new to add. People like the guest who refused to eat a lovingly prepared gourmet meal are what I call “foodphobic.” Foodphobes are literally afraid of food. Not all foods, of course, but most foods. Foodphobes have in common a limited repertoire of acceptable foods (which foods specifically varies from person to person) with an overwhelming preference for meat and refined carbohydrates. With the possible exception of potatoes, all vegetables and salads are considered scenery, as unlikely to be eaten as a tree leaf or a blade of grass. Fish and beans are off-limits, except maybe tuna or baked beans from a can. Perhaps these people have overly sensitive sensory perception and experience tastes differently than other people. Particular smells, appearance and textures also give these folks the “willies.” These “willies” manifest as actual FEAR, similar to the way one of the posts above described a guy who recoiled in horror at sour cream.
For instance, a foodphobic friend of mine will eat nothing that has a creamy texture; she's repulsed by farina and oatmeal. The smell of fish nauseates her. She would sooner eat someone’s gangrenous leg than a slightly bruised banana. A co-worker of mine sent back a chicken teriyaki that she had ordered at a fine restaurant, without even tasting it, because she looked at it and was clearly afraid. The terror was evident in her expression. My mom will often refuse to eat normal, ordinary food because it sometimes looks "funny," meaning “not perfect.” The common denominator for all these people is an instinctive FEAR that overcomes them...fear of the sudden exposure to a taste or texture than might -- damage or destroy them? cause them to faint or vomit? When I’ve tried to gain more insight into exactly what bothers my friend about the texture of oatmeal, she can’t tell me. It just disgusts and revolts her. The look of terror I see in the eyes of people who refuse to sample a new food is real. These folks are not snobs, they’re not stupid, they’re not rude or crass. They are afraid. How it happens that some people develop a love of food and the exploration and expansiveness that go with it, while others shrink back from food and actually feel threatened by it, is a fascinating topic that I’d like to see explored. But not by me. I’m too busy eating.
Curry Hill - Brief Update
I must agree with the thumbs-down review of Curry Leaf. I was there last friday and had one of the worst meals of my life. Old, dried out food that had undertones of rancidity. I will never eat there again.
Sunnyside Grill: great food, reasonable prices - why is this place not packed?
I walk past this place all the time, and the reason I haven't eaten there is because it looks awful, like the worst cheapo diner. I guess I've been superficial in my judgments. I tend to assume that the owner will do at least a minimal amount of decorating to make a new place inviting to enter, but not here. It's not dirty looking, just a nondescript Twilight-Zone kind of place. But now that I hear the food is actually good, I promise to give it a go.
Extremely spicy - restaurants in Queens/Bronx?
Try Tangra Asian Fusion on Queens Blvd. in Sunnyside between (I think) 39th and 40th Streets. (The 7 train to 40th St.) It's food as prepared by the Chinese community that lived in India, so you get a beautiful combination of flavors and heat. The waitrons are very sweet and helpful and will make sure the dishes are prepared to your specifications. The tangra masala, Manchurian and chilli sauces start off hot and go up from there. By the way, the tangra masala, a red sauce, is absolutely delicious. This is a sister restaurant to Tangra Masala further east on Q.B. Just ask for it hot, and assure the waitron you can handle it, you enjoy it, and you expect it.
Vile Meal at Curry Leaf
Last night, on the advice of a trusted friend who's a good cook and a foodie, I stopped at Curry Leaf on Lex at 27th for dinner. The place was fairly crowded, which can sometimes be an indicator of a decent reputation based on past experience, so I felt fairly confident I'd get something decent to eat. The vegetable pakora were hard and dried out as if they were not prepared freshly but were sitting around. The sweet brown tamarind condiment had a rancid undertone. The saag paneer was made with the worst gloopy, viscous spinach possible, and the paneer contained a vague note of ammonia, something I've never experienced before in Indian cooking. Needless to say, it was disgusting. The very cordial and solicitous waiter (no complaints there) brought me a free mini-dessert of rice pudding. How can Indian rice pudding be bad? Well, it was. The toasted seeds that were sprinkled on top had burned and imparted an ugly, burned flavor to the dish, rendering it inedible. My friend who referred me eats meat, and maybe the vegetarian dishes suffer from being ordered less often. In any case, I won't be back.
