joekarten's Profile
Best pint of Guiness in Woodside or Astoria?
reporting back: tried all the recs, in the same afternoon, which was a bit of workout, but well worthwhile. found cronin and phelan's to be by far the best pint of guiness. then the irish rover and then murphy's. mickey john's came in last. all were poured a bit too cold, but after they warmed up a bit, cronin and phelan's was hands down the winner. plus, it was by far the nicest room, with great service and a great burger to boot. the cronin and phelan pint really had the right texture and wasn't either too watery, too bitter or too bubbly. really the best pint of guiness i've had in new york. although, as i said, it gets poured a bit too cold, owing to the fact that it shares the same refrig system with all the other beers on tap, but short of boston or ireland, i think that's the best you can do here. donovan's gets the temp right, but it is always just a bit bitter and too watery for me. so, back to cronin and phelan's it is. thanks.
Mansoura's
they're very, very good, although they're expensive and the service is quite frequently a bit harsh. (the woman who owns it can often be ill tempered.) they have quite a few things that no one else carries, but if you're just looking for baklava, laziza in astoria has them beat on price, service, vibe and variety.
Chengdu Heaven -- the best Sichuan food in a tiny basement stall at the 41-28 Main St Mall, Flushing
went today and had the cold beef tendons and also the cold noodles with spicy sauce. both were very mediocre and, frankly, really disappointing. so lackluster, in fact, that i stopped off at little pepper on the way home and got a take out order of cold beef tendons that just blew away the version i'd had at chengdu heaven. i'm not at all convinced that they're using top quality ingredients at chengdu, and given the fact that their prices aren't that much better than the sit down restaurants nearby, i won't be going back. i wonder if the exoticness of the place is part of the appeal, or maybe i went on a bad day (doubtful, though, since it was a sunday afternoon and neither of my dishes needed cooking.) either way, i was really unimpressed.
Little Pepper (Xiao La Jiao) report - very good
i've been going to LP for years, and always loved it.
but, i wonder, has there been a slight drop in quality over the last few months? my last few visits have been a lot less impressive that they used to be. anybody else notice this?
Ayada in Elmhurst - My new Favorite Thai
ate here for the first time last night, ordered a lot of dishes, including a green curry, bbq pork, steamed fish, pad thai, tom yum soup, papaya salad. great food, great prices, great menu, great service, great room. although there will be lots of opinions here about everyone's favorite queens thai, this is mine, by far.
taramosalata?
most of the astoria places that sell taramosalata in a clear plastic, no-name container will tell you that it is home made. some of them will be honest and admit that it's just bulk Krinos taramosalata that they repackage and sell. but truth is, greek house foods, titan, euromarket, med foods etc. all sell the exact same product. go ahead, buy a small container at each place and then go home and compare. they are all identical, as far as i could tell. and they all charge more or less the exact same price, which would be really unlikely if they were all using their own recipes and labor. most of the restaurants in astoria, however, do make it homemade, and each one is vastly different in taste and texture and varies modestly in the recipe. but the supposedly homemade stuff in the stores is just bulk Krinos, as the deli guy at euromarket was honest enough to tell me. in fact, it's the same stuff you can buy in the Krinos glass jar, but for some reason it does taste better and fresher when they sell it from the bulk lot. it kind of bummed me out when i realized that the sweet woman at greek house foods was stretching the truth quite a bit with "of course i make it fresh every week with my own recipe."
Best pastrami in Bklyn Hts/Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens Area?
and david's house of brisket.
Best pint of Guiness in Woodside or Astoria?
Just like it says, looking for the best pint of Guiness in Woodside or thereabouts. I've been a bit disappointed with some of the offerings (too cold, poured too fast, wrong CO2 mix etc.) and would love to find a great pint in a place that's not too loud. Extra points for good bar food, too. Of course, I've tried Donovan's, but was a bit underimpressed. Had a pretty good pint in Astoria at the Quay or is it called the Quays. Suggestions?
Best Olives in Queens?
try:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/482694
and if that still doesn't work, search for "Best Olive Selection in Queens" and set the search for 2 years back.
Best Olives in Queens?
carmel grocery, a little israeli place in rego park, on 108th street.
euromarket, in astoria on 31st street, about 4 or 5 blocks south of titan.
also, search the board, because this question has been asked repeatedly in the past, for example at http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/482694.
Samosas, Jackson Heights
dehli palace has great take out in the little storefront to the left of their restaurant on 74th, about halfway btwn roos and 37th on the east side of the street.
disappointing meal at little pepper?!?!
went to little pepper last week and had a very disappointing meal there. i've been a huge fan of the place since it opened and we go about once a month and i've never had a bad meal there until last week. so, i'm assuming it was just an off night. but was wondering if others have had a similar experience: the food just wasn't as spicy and when we asked for more spice, the waiter just sprinkled on some dried hot peppers instead of taking the order back to the kitchen or even getting some more hot chili oil, which is what we'd asked him to do; the meat dishes were kind of bland and uneventful; the sichuan soft tofu was terribly underspiced; the twice cooked pork was also bland and unremarkable; and the normally attentive and helpful waiters avoided our table by deferring to a new waiter who they seem to think speaks better english than they do. all told, it was a completely forgettable meal, which is something i've never experienced there. but worse was our fear that their popularity with non-chinese patrons has led them to tone down their fare due to increasing complaints by non-chinese that the food was too spicy. obviously, i'll not be avoiding the restaurant based on one bad meal and will surely go back soon to eat there again. but i was worried. comments?
How is Five Guys?
ate there about 3 or 4 times. finally decided that the food just isn't that good. the portions are huge- much more than you can or should eat. and that's evidently part of their appeal: they give you so much food that you think it's a good deal. but when you finish the meal and consider what you just ate, you realize that it didn't really taste very good, it was way more than you needed/wanted, and it really wasn't that cheap. it's true that for the amount you're getting, the price is reasonable. but each meal ends ups costing more than is really reasonable for a fast food meal, regardless of the fact that they gave you a huge amount. and the bottom line is that the food isn't really that tasty. and to top it off, the service is kind of bad. even over a year after they opened, they still had service problems (eventhough many of the same staff were on the job). each time i went there, they slightly screwed up our order. nothing huge, but things like forgetting to put something on the side instead of on the burger, forgetting to put lettuce on the burger etc. in the beginning it seemed like those were just kinks that would work out with time. but over a year later, they were still happening and i think that problem is that the staff just isn't really paying attention. they're all very, very friendly, but i never got the sense that they were really that well trained, attentive to detail or even really thinking about what they were doing.
over all, i'd say it's a mediocre meal, at a slightly high price, where you get a huge amount of food with very friendly but slightly inept service.
Catering in Queens for approx. 70 people--Greek, Italian or American food?
philoxenia, on 34th ave at 32nd street. it would fit the bill perfectly, the prices are very good and the food is fantastic.
Great falafel in northeast Queens?
i prefer grill point, on the corner of main and jewel. really good eats. the salads (baba, hummus, turkish etc.) are the best i've ever had.
best burrito in Queens?
guideboy, my main point wasn't that chipotle was a source of an authentic northern mexican burrito. my point was that chipotle was a place to get a burrito here in nyc that most closely resembles a san francisco "mission style" burrito. i picked up on an earlier poster's remarks that sf mission style burritos were northern mexican. if that's incorrect, sorry. but having lived in the bay area for 15 years, i can say that chipotle is the closest thing to a bay area burrito that you can find in nyc. in fact, the chipotle burrito is more bay area than the bay area burrito, so to speak. it does what the bay area burrito does, but without the lard and, generally, just as well if not better than most of the mission places in sf. i know, it kills me to dig a chain, but a chain i do dig, at least in this one isolated case.
first visit ever to philly- where should we eat?
coming to philly for the first time ever. we live in queens, ny, so we're used to eating a great and wonderful variety of fantastic and cheap ethnic food. but what should we have in philly that's not to be missed and that can only be found in philly?
cheesesteaks? pizza? pretzels? stick buns?
teach me, please!
Ginger Beer in Jackson Heights
try the health food store in jackson heights on 37th. i think i've seen it there. or the trade fair on 37th.
bahn mi on Flushing Main Street?
my post from a while ago, for what it's worth....
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/375133
Gu Shine / Gu Xiang - pretty good and holy cheapness
what street exactly is it on? 39th ave?
Where to go for Champurrado
i like the champurrados that they sell at the hawaiian pizza/taco joint on the southwest corner of northern and 84th in jackson heights. but they only sell it during cold weather months. also try the api, which is a bolivian purple corn hot drink and is available at any bolivian place. there's also a nice hot drink from ecuador, called morrocho, i think, available during the winter from any ecuadoran place, made with raisins and rice and milk and cinnamon.
Red Hook Ball Fields
sounds like the full, real story is still not being made available. even after reading or listening to the fuentes interviews (like at porkchop express), i still don't understand why 1) the vendors seemed to have permission in the spring and yet still aren't open 2) why they need trucks and not just carts (like the grills on astoria's corners or in flushing meadow park) 3) why the city seems so intent on making this difficult for the vendors etc. i'd love the read an article entitled "the truth about what's going on in red hook." seems like fuentes is purposefully no longer attacking city policy, but i just don't get it. first there were no permits. then there were permits. then the permits had to be changed. then schumer got involved. now they need trucks. what's really going on here?
new sushi coming to Jackson Heights
no, i didn't know that. what are the ways in which it can be best defrosted? also, when i lived in the bay area, we often bought sashimi grade fish from the fish market and i know for a fact that much of it had never been frozen. the hamachi usually had been frozen, but the california albacore and the maguro were both fresh and never frozen. obviously, the albacore had been caught in california, but the maguro was flown in a few times a week from around the world. maybe things are different now.
Cheese shops in Queens?
monya and misha's in forest hills on 108th. euro mart on 31st st in astoria. sonrisso's in astoria (on bway, i think), the little greek place next to united bros. fruit in astoria, some of the italian delis between flushing and bayside (like the ravioli store on crocheron and about 170th or the deli on fran lewis near 34th ave), sapori d'ischia, the italian delis in whitestone (corona heights and then 2 or 3 others i can't remember, but you can find them under best italian sandwiches in whitestone), most russian delis (like on 76th and 35th in JH). although, there really isn't a super bourgeois kind of cheese store anywhere that i know of in queens.
new sushi coming to Jackson Heights
we had a really nice meal at tomo on sunday. nice sushi and rolls, and a good miso soup. for rolls and sushi, it's very inexpensive. and the service and ambiance was really nice. it's a great addition to the neighborhood. dinner for 2 ran us about 40 bucks, tip and tax included. we didn't have any complaints. the sushi slices are a bit thin, but it was better than the sushi we've had in the korean places in flushing. and all the sushi is $1 a piece. even the uni was good.
yeah, it might not be mind blowing sushi, but it's a great neighborhood place. affordable, friendly, good service, good food. kind of reminded me of all the neighborhood japanese places in the bay area where you could go for japanese comfort food. although, like almost all the sushi places here in new york, you can tell that most of the fish has been frozen somewhere along the way. it just doesn't have that perfect melt in your mouth feel. it always feels a bit water logged to me. but i get that same feeling even at the expensivish sushi places in manhattan (where dinner for 2 costs $80-140). but for a great neighborhood joint, tomo hits the mark. we plan on going back frequently. i can't compare it to happy, since i never went there. but i still give it very high marks.
Best steak in JH?
la cabana has a pretty decent lunch special, m-f. it's like $9 for an empanada, soup/salad, steak and a glass of wine/soda. or you can get pasta, pizza, chicken etc.
dinner before shea with vegetarian/kosher friend
depends on your mode of transportation. the best kosher place near there is probably grill point at jewel and main in kew garden hills. awesome shwarma and mid east salads and grill. but it's easiest with a car. also, any of the bukharan places in rego park, and there are about 4 of them on 108th street just south of the l.i.e.
Philoxenia Best Greek in Astoria
last night we had pilio salad, taramosalata, tzatziki, grilled octopus, broiled feta, potatoes with feta, a grilled fish and a side of dandelion greens, as well as some house retsina and a dessert of galactobureko. it was all fantastic, although next time i think we'll opt for the branzino, the loup or the dorada instead of the sea bass, which is what we got last night. the sea bass doesn't seem to grill as well as the others, which we've had before. in the past, we've also enjoyed the meatballs and the sausage as well as the fried haloumi cheese. but it's all great. and they've recently expanded their menu a bit to include mussels, clams, shrimp, red snapper and mullet, none of which they had in the past. enjoy!
Philoxenia Best Greek in Astoria
had another fantastic meal at philoxenia in astoria. this place just gets better and better. after a few months in their new location, they've worked out all the bugs. great food, great service, great desserts, great prices, great room. can't say enough good things about it. but the dining room was sadly empty. it's a pity, because this place is really ready for prime time. but it was great to see that the small service hang-ups that they had upon opening have all been worked out.
philoxenia
32-07 34th ave, astoria
bad lunch at deshi biryani
don't be so sure i didn't bother to ask. i might not have known the details of the dish, but i did ask and the language barrier made impossible even the question of "what is the difference between the goat curry and the goat paaya?" and for your info, they spell it paaya on their menu. and even for trotter, my dish was more akin to 'no meat' than 'very little meat.' also, i didn't order the salad. they just brought it.
