cnut's Profile
New Thai Take Out - Jackson Heights
She unfortunately closed a month or so back.
RIP.
JoJu Modern Vietnamese Sandwiches, Elmhurst
Place opened a week or so back, doing Vietnamese sandwiches. Menu's a bit more varied than the average Sunset Park coffee shop, and the few things I've tried were decent enough. They're still getting used to their systems, so service isn't yet as efficient as I imagine it'll be in a few weeks time.
Located above the former Face karaoke pub. So sad that place is gone.
83-25 Broadway
Elmhurst, NY 11373
-----
JoJu
83-25 Broadway, Queens, NY 11373
Phayul - The new Jackson Heights Tibetan with a view
Wait, there's now a second Woodside Cafe after the one on Woodside Avenue (the old Rainbow's)? So much thought went into naming the first...
Speaking of Woodside Avenue, the people behind that branch of Ottomanelli's seem to be readying a burger place next to the Cuckoo's Nest.
-----
The Cuckoo's Nest
61-04 Woodside Ave, Queens, NY 11377
Burmese Food Fair Sunday - fantastic
Sorry to make things difficult here. I have the name/address/phone number of the venue/proprietor, but I don't know of an egalitarian way to release it without possibly subjecting these folks to sanction.
I will try to get over there this week to eat and ask the folks if they can accomodate us. As I am a calculating, self-interested type, I might ask that people reply to my consolidated 'what kind of malt liquor can you get in your area' thread before supplying the info. Can't believe that nobody's willing to tell me what 40s are for sale where they live.
Burmese Food Fair Sunday - fantastic
Can't help on the Flushing place.
There's a Burmese "home-based kitchen saloon" operating not too far from the site of the fair. Has anybody tried it? I never got to try the somewhat dodgy Burmese delivery place run out of Sunnyside and would like to give this new place a shot while it's still going.
Consolidated malt liquor thread
Please tell me what 40s of malt liquor are available in your neighborhood.
In the Greater Elmhurst Cosmopolis we have ready access to Olde English 800, Colt 45, St Ides, Hurricane and Ballantine Ale (technically not a malt liquor). Jamaica and Queensbridge have Country Club and Steel Reserve.
The truly excellent Private Stock can still be found in The Bronx and odd pockets of Brooklyn (Dyker Heights for some strange reason).
Crown Heights used to be an Aladdin's cave of malt liquor, but I haven't been over there in 10 years or more.
Again, please tell me what 40s of malt liquor not included above are sold in your area.
Thank you in advance for your compliance.
Buying Kingfisher beer in NYC?
Pronto at Roosevelt/Broadway and 74th has both 6-packs of 12oz bottles and the larger (22oz?) singles.
They also sell delicious 40s of Hurricane malt liquor for a most reasonable $1.99. Those are 1992 prices, folks. Enjoy some budget malt liquor while you still have the chance.
(presumably) Unlicensed vendors in Woodside and Jackson Heights
Don't wanna create any waves for these people so I'll be kind of vague about their locations.
Have seen a woman at one of the busier corners in Woodside selling a particular sort of taco - the name of which I cannot recall - with the usual different fillings. They had apparently been pan fried, and reminded me a bit of a Jack in the Box taco (not a bad thing). Does anybody know the vendor and, more importantly, the name of these tacos.
There's also been a guy selling what looks like bhelpuri in Jackson Heights the past few weeks. I haven't tried it as I figure I can get as good or better from area shops. Would be happy to hear from anyone that's tried it telling me I'm wrong.
Isabella's Brick Oven Pizza - Maspeth?
Sign up and construction apparently in progress for this place on 69th Street. Anybody know if it's at all related to the well-regarded Baltimore place of the same name?
Also in Maspeth, O'Neill's burned down a few nights back. Perhaps the worst tragedy since they killed Tupac.
-----
O'Neill's
64-21 53rd Dr, Queens, NY 11378
Lunch options in Jamaica by library?
Patty World is nearby. Decent enough Jamaican.
-----
Patty World
89-59 164th St, Queens, NY 11432
Washington Hts - your fave ethnic restos around 160th & Bway
Thanks for the report. Parts of upper Manhattan are underdocumented on this site, so it's particularly nice to get recs from uptown.
New offerings at Tawa Foods/Tawa Deli (Broadway & 72nd)
Overzealous, underinformed moderator: kindly restore this to the Outer Boroughs board. Place is in Queens.
Anyway, they had one of the vertical grills going last week, but they had just put the meat on so the shwarma was a no-go. I went back today and the pair of grills weren't operating. The mystery endures...
Couple things of note in that area. There sometimes present sometimes not dosa cart on Broadway across from Astoria Federal hasn't been there the past few times I slid through. Have they abandoned the spot? And Rice Avenue/Eat Rice in NYC has rechristened as Chili Chicken, advertising Thai and Chinese food.
New offerings at Tawa Foods/Tawa Deli (Broadway & 72nd)
Looks like they're now offering the long-promised Mediterranean stuff. Has anyone tried it yet?
-----
Tawa Food
37-38 72nd St, Queens, NY 11372
Sripraphai - Your Favorite Dish(es)
First, I don't really share all the love shown Ayada, though I wish I did. I'm very often within a block of the place, and the many of the customer-facing staff are extremely kind. The food's never seemed that great though apart from a few good meals a year or so back.
Second, I take vigorous exception to attributing "much better prices" to the listed restaurants (apart from TCP - I've never been and would be very pleased to hear it was an outlier on price). The OP's dishes would come in around $30. Ex-ing out the watercress salad and subbing scallion/chive dumplings for steamed chicken dumplings in the interest of comparability, the ticket comes in at $20 for both SriPraPhai and Ayada. It'd be $23.40 at Chao Thai.
SriPraPhai is a tremendous value in my book.
-----
Chao Thai
85-03 Whitney Ave, Queens, NY 11373
Ayada
77-08 Woodside Ave, Queens, NY 11373
Peter Luger's from Grand Central [moved from Manhattan board]
If he's committed to a $2 journey he'll also need a time machine. Fare's $2.25. Yes, I am a total d!ck.
Depending on the time of day you might save time and a few (literally) dollars taking the 7 across to Queens and getting a car over the Pulaski and then down.
But I'd just get a cab straight from Grand Central.
New Thai Take Out - Jackson Heights
Signs had been up for a while, and I was beginning to think they'd never open. Curious to hear how you rate the food.
Have you gotten anything from the karaoke place next to Zabb? They've put a new sign up billing themselves as The Playground, and look to have placed an English language menu by the door. The one time I was in there I don't recall being offered a menu or seeing anyone eating, but I was horribly bombed after having drank a few 40s in Chong Hap's parking lot. It was a desparate stop to try to use the toilet. I sort of failed to make it to the bogs in time and wound up soiling my trousers. Humiliating, but not humiliating enough to keep me from going back to sample the food.
-----
Zabb Elee
71-28 Roosevelt Ave, Queens, NY 11372
Manila's BBQ Stop, Centereach, LI
You can Google for the exact address. Or maybe you are as stupid as you look and cannot. Wouldn't surprise me if that were the case.
Anyway, this is a fairly recent open. Some steam table turo turo options, as well as a proper menu. The BBQ is quite good, but the portions are smaller than what you'd get for the same price at one of the Woodside places, for instance. Order accordingly.
Apparently does delivery to a few of the local hopitals, which might be an indication of autheticity.
Check it out.
Paisa Pan bakery - Farmingville, NY
Mix of a Queens Colombian bakery (bunelos, the usual empanadas and fried things under a heat lamp, etc) and a traditional LI one. Thing is there used to be a Mexican restaurant in the same shopping center - it functioned more as a bar, actually - but it's now closed. Vacuums being abhored, the Colombians are now cooking some Mexican food, and doing a quite fair job of it. Had an alambre preparation in there last week that was pretty damn fine.
It's next to the Compare Foods (379 Horseblock Rd if Google Maps is to be trusted; I do not trust it).
Panda 88 Taiwan Hand Pastry, Corona
Had a sign saying something about Chinese tacos and didn't look like one of those 'Fresco'-type places so I checked it out. It's a bunch of breakfasty fillings wrapped in a flattop fried roti of the sort you get in Malaysia. The skins were good, the fillings less so. If they had something a bit more savory to stuff these things with I'd go back.
There's a similar place around East Broadway in Manhattan, and it looked like both places are franchisees of the same concept.
102-23 Roosevelt Ave
Choopan Grill, Selden, LI
I assume the same people as the Choopan in Hicksville have taken over the apparently cursed space in Liberty Plaza that was formerly home to Lucky Kabab & Grill and then Thai Classic (who - when the right person was in the kitchen - produced a crispy duck salad that beat any of the Elmhurst places).
The mosque that backs the parking lot has a very large number of Afghan congregants, I believe. Should bode well for the food.
Has anybody tried it?
Near Broadway/Roosevelt Subway, Open for Lunch
MiDang - the Korean-Chinese place on Broadway and 75th - is worth trying. Food in my experience has been uniformly good, and the woman usually presiding over things is very kind and solicitous, though her English is not great.
The large Asian supermarket across the street stocks 24oz cans of Blue Bull and Red Bull MALT LIQUOR (along with 16oz cans of Silver Thunder MALT LIQUOR) at favorable prices. These are increasingly tough to find elsewhere in Queens, and you'd be foolish not to have at least two cans before getting back on the train and returning to the office.
-----
MiDang
75-14 Broadway, Queens, NY 11373
Beer Lao, Amarit Lager, San Miguel, Mahou
The large Asian grocery at Broadway and ~45th Ave (? across from the park) often has Beerlao, both dark and lager. $7.50 or so for a six, but they'll also sell individual bottles. Might want to note the date of manufacture, as the stuff is usually pretty old.
Scrumpy or strong cider needed badly
Anybody know of a place retailing bottled scrumpy or a high ABV cider anywhere in Manhattan? Imports (Wesons?) or domestic fine.
I need to get sozzled immediately, and appreciate any help in th getting there.
Captain Fish 'N' Chip/Caribbean Soul, Wyandanch, NY
Went past two weeks back and they were closed. Went back this weekend. Closed again, and this time I spied what looked to be a sheriff's notice on the roll-down gate.
RIP, my friend.
Selden or nearby?
This place in Selden is quite fair:
http://thaiclassiccuisine.com/default.aspx
The pics make it look a bit more flash than it really is. It's Halal (there's a mosque next door), so no pork. Salads are very good provided you make it plain to the waiter that you'd like things served as if they were preparing them for themselves - i.e., plenty of fish sauce, chili, rice powder, etc.
Vajira Concert - Thai temple event, Centereach, NY
Saturday, March 29. $25 admission buys you entertainment (song and dance) and, more f-ing importantly, FOOD. Get down there, roundbottom, lest ye be condemned to a life of TGI Friday's dinners.
http://www.vajira.org/
Captain Fish 'N' Chip/Caribbean Soul, Wyandanch, NY
Perhaps you've had your fill of fusion crapola in Great Neck and Rockville Center, and could care less about the micorscopically documented 'food scene' in Park Slope. If so, jump on the LIRR to either Wyandanch or Amityville stations and take the #33 bus to 1340 Straight Path.
This atelier d'genius sits opposite the Wyandanch unemployment office, and makes a most convenient stop after submitting a fraudulent workers comp claim (I'm sharing here, people, so don't rat me out). It's a small take-out spot offering Island food, chicken and ribs, and, most importantly, the best fried fish I've found in the area. The whiting, ultra-cheap and ultra-fresh, is ordered by most. Sandwiches of flounder and catfish are just under $6 - two generous fish fillets and two pieces of white bread. Squeeze bottles of hot sauce, jerk sauce, etc sit at the ready.
Have yet to try any of the shellfish.
The curries are good but I've found the quality of the accompanying rotis to vary (there's a Trini roti spot further up Straight Path on the right-hand side heading toward Wyandanch train station that I've yet to sample).
'Cheap as chips,' as we used to say, and the chips are indeed cheap. Get down there.
Istanbul Cafe, Centereach, LI
Pretty uninspired/uninspiring name, I know. There was a pretty lame gyro spot in this location (2139 Middle Country Road, across the street from Pathmark) for quite some time. An ownership change in the last few months has rendered the storefront spot worthy of a fat man's attention. I'd rate the food higher than nearby Turkish standouts Konak and Angora.
Izgara kofte is a favorite, and their beyti preparation, while unconventional, is outstanding.
The wraps, which use fresh lavash-like bread, are excellent. They don't put sauce of any kind on them, so make sure to ask for either some cacik or thick yogurt (the better bet, my opinion) on the side.
Some choices atypical of the usual Turkish menu for the more adventurous.
No booze and I haven't asked if they are okay with BYOB. If thirst overcomes you, resort to the gas station or Salvadoran grocery nearby and eat in your car whilst brown-bagging. If there's a balding guy next to you in a 1988 Plymouth Reliant drinking a 40 of Ballantine while shoveling manti into his mouth feel free to say hello.
Pollo Rico, Centereach, NY
This place opened a few weeks back in what was a decent red sauce Italian joint. Bills itself as a 'Latin bistro.' Basically decked out as nicely as chintzy building materials will allow. Decent-sized bar up front where you'll find some of the many Central American guys that have moved into the area in recent years enjoying an afternoon or evening off work. Mainly 'Spanish' families in the dining areas.
The draw, as always, is the food, and it's pretty solid here. Appetizers are quite nice. We shared tostones w/ shredded chicken, arepas w/ chicarron and some empanadas. Mains were mainly grills. I had a decidedly Colombian combination that I think was about $15. The centerpiece steak was decent-sized and of better quality than I expected.
I will go back.
The owners have a couple other restaurants around the Island, including, I think, another place by a similar name in Patchogue.
2435 Middle Country Road
631.471.0585
