flo220's Profile
Delivery to Manhattan
Try Aron's Kissena Farm in Queens http://kissenafarms.com/door-to-door-delivery.html.
Anyone tried Ladino Tapas Grill Yet?
We were there last night as well and while the service was somewhat slow, I didn't think it was horrible and plan to go back again. We (5 of us) had a 6:30 reservation and they seated us individually as we arrived. (As opposed to Prime Grill when they refused to seat 5 of us until the 6th arrived which was annoying.)
Our Guacamole came quickly and was very good. The tapas we ordered also came in time and were delicious. We ordered 6 of them (for $50) including the skewers, the 2 ducks, the ribs, a ceviche and the deviled eggs. All were delicous. As expected with tapas, the plates are fairly small although I could see making a dinner of the tapas if you order enough of them.
Getting the main course was slow while the waiter apologized several times it was clear that the kitchen was overwhelmed. Then 3 of the 5 came out well before the other 2. The food (short ribs, tuna, sliced steak and braised meat) was good, although not as special as the tapas, The portions were average size. The choices of desert were limited to 3 sorbets so we skipped it, got our check and left.
Paying was quick. Our waiter said that the charge system did not allow them to add the tip after the charge receipt was generated so we added the amount of the tip to our bill and he ran it up including that amount. We were out by 8:30 -- the slow service probably added less than a 1/2 hour to our time there. When we left the restaurant was very full with people at the bar seemingly waiting for tables and the restaurant was very loud.
It seemed to me that they are still working through their opening pains. They were out of several of the items (which at 6:30 meant they did not order sufficiently) and are still planning to add more desserts and beers to their menu. However, given their location, unusual menu and the good food, I would expect them to continue to be popular although maybe not as hectic as these first 2 weeks. We plan to try them again in the near future.
Chocolate Tea ???
Stash (www.stashtea.com) has several chocolate teas (along with other dessert teas.) I love the chocoalte hazelnut which has a Kof-k.
Kosher Food and Wine Experience 2012
I couldn't said it better myself! It was a lot of fun last year -- hoping for the same this year. I noticed that the Prime Grill group and Abigael's were not listed for this year. Too bad if that is the case.
Sushein - Conveyor Belt Sushi
The business model response is ridiculous. I have been to sushein twice. The first time it was fun to guess what was on the conveyer belt but by the second time it was tiresome. Keep in mind if you take it off the conveyor to look closer, you are supposed to keep it not put it back. So the lack of identifying the sushi is actually a reason not to go back, particular since the sushi is not as good as other kosher sushi place.
Kew Gardens / Forest Hills
There is also Grill Palace (64-19 108th Street (718) 897-2400) a block from Chosen that serve shwarma etc. and a Pizza Place another block away -- Pizza Palace Cafe (63-60 108th Street (718) 997-7492 ). Also near Kew Gardens is another Pizza shop Queens Pizza (116-14 Queens Blvd. (718) 544-5800 ). Both pizza shops have more than just pizza. And finally there is Stir Fry Company (100-19 Queens Blvd. (718) 896-0310 ) which is mostly Chinese food -- although it is a dingy. And there is another Shwarma restaurant --- this one on Queens Boulevard -- Rego Pita 97-12 Queens Blvd. (718) 897-2746 )
Sushein - Conveyor Belt Sushi
I was there Monday night. When we got there at 7 it was fairly empty but by 8 PM the booths had filled up although there were still some empty seats on the counter side of the conveyer belt. (There are also seats in the back -- there was a party there that night.) The sushi was good. The beef sushi was better than the chicken which was a bit dry. We ordered some appetizers from the menu as well -- the pot stickers and the lamb -- which were very good although pricey. The entrees looked good but we were having fun eating the dishes from the conveyer belt.
It is worth a visit but I would make sure to make reservations because I think they will continue to fill up -- at least while this is new.
Coffee Bean at Miracle Mile Shops/Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas
We went to the Coffee Beans at both the Venetians and at the Miracle Mile and found the menu to be identical. All of them did not have all of the sandwiches on the menu available when we were there but there were a couple of the sandwiches and some of the hot sandwiches as well. To get there go in the north entrance and go toward the back. It is across from a Gap near an American Apparel (you would make a right at the corridor near those store and then it is on your left.)
kosher places to eat in Las Vegas
We were just there. This is what I posted on another thread. In general we found the food to be fine -- nothing spectacular -- and the prices to be higher than in NY for the type of restaurants that they were.
We ate at Jerusalem Grill and also picked up take out food to take on our trip to the national parks. The menu is your standard Shwarma restaurant menu but the food was good.
Another night we ate at Pannini Cafe. They had a very extensive menu with many great choices. The food, however, was mediocre. It could have been our choices but we were only really happy with our smoothies and the appetizers. Furthermore the service was very slow.
One day we went to Yaffa's Steakhouse which, when we got there, ended up being Wok On Over. Since one of the people there was named Yaffa I assume it was the same place just renamed. Wok On Over, offer an interesting menu of Mongolian Wok (you choose your meat, vegetables and sauce and they cook it for you), Mexican and Israeli. We got the Mongolian Wok which was good. Service was quick -- something we were especially happy with since we had a tight schedule.
The last restaurant we tried was Adar's pizza, which is just a couple of blocks off the northern end of the strip. It is more of a sit down restaurant than a pizza shop and they have pasta, pizza, some mexican food and they serve you at your table. The decor is more pizza shop like though. The food was good. We ended up eating there twice mostly because of our schedule and when we wanted to avoid being fleishig.
We also ate a few times at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. A limited menu of sandwiches and pastries but they are conveniently located on the strip at the Venetian and the Mall by Planet Hollywood.
For shabbat we decided to just buy some food at the Albertson's near the Young Israel rather than ordering any of the packages that are offered by several of the restaurants. We went on a Thursday night so the selection was limited but there are frozen food options which we bought and microwaved before shabbat.
It was nice to have so many choices for kosher food while on vacation. (Usually we live off tuna and peanut butter sandwiches.)
New UWS Restaurant
We just ate there this afternoon. The food was good -- we had the Meatme sampler for 2 as an appetizer --which we enjoyed a lot -- the chicken salad and the duck. Service, while very pleasant, was slow. Even though we were the only people there at 3 PM, it took nearly 1/2 hour to get our appetizers. I would try it again.
One thing to keep in mind is that cost wise this is more in the league of Prime KO than Talias. The cost for the food above and 4 nonalcoholic drinks (soda, ice tea) was $65 a person (including tip.) Also the tables seem to be fairly close together and if it ever got busy, I could see it being cramped. Nonetheless, I think it is a nice alternative for a fancy kosher meal on the UWS.
UPDATES needed - Las Vegas & Phoenix / Scottsdale
I know this is after your trip but since we are just back from Las Vegas I figured I would post where we went for future visitors. We were in Las Vegas for a week and found that overall the food was fine (nothing that if it was in New York I would rush to go back to) but somewhat expensive for the kind of food it was.
We ate at Jerusalem Grill and also picked up take out food to take on our trip to the national parks. The menu is your standard Shwarma restaurant menu but the food was good.
Another night we ate at Pannini Cafe. They had a very extensive menu with many great choices. The food, however, was mediocre. It could have been our choices but we were only really happy with our smoothies and the appetizers. Furthermore the service was very slow.
One day we went to Yaffa's Steakhouse which, when we got there, ended up being Wok On Over. Since one of the people there was named Yaffa I assume it was the same place just renamed. Wok On Over, offer an interesting menu of Mongolian Wok (you choose your meat, vegetables and sauce and they cook it for you), Mexican and Israeli. We got the Mongolian Wok which was good. Service was quick -- something we were especially happy with since we had a tight schedule.
The last restaurant we tried was Adar's pizza, which is just a couple of blocks off the northern end of the strip. It is more of a sit down restaurant than a pizza shop and they have pasta, pizza, some mexican food and they serve you at your table. The decor is more pizza shop like though. The food was good. We ended up eating there twice mostly because of our schedule and when we wanted to avoid being fleishig.
We also ate a few times at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. A limited menu of sandwiches and pastries but they are conveniently located on the strip at the Venetian and the Mall by Planet Hollywood.
For shabbat we decided to just buy some food at the Albertson's near the Young Israel rather than ordering any of the packages that are offered by several of the restaurants. We went on a Thursday night so the selection was limited but there are frozen food options which we bought and microwaved before shabbat.
It was nice to have so many choices for kosher food while on vacation. (Usually we live off tuna and peanut butter sandwiches.)
Turquoise on Union Turnpike in Queens
We ate last night at Turquoise Kosher Fish Restaurant and wanted to pass along how good it was. The menu is primarily a fish menu and offer whole fish as well as fillets. There were 6 of us and we shared zucchini chips and roasted asparagus for appetizers. Both were fresh and tasty. For our main course, 3 of us got the combination platter (where you can choose 3 different types of broiled fish fillet) and the rest got the St. Peter's fillet in parchment paper, the tuna and chilean sea bass. All were excellent. We were too full for dessert so I can't speak to that. Service was quick and polite. We paid around $40 a person -- but all we ordered was what I mention above so it can get pricey. Definitely somewhere I will go back to.
New Sushi place in Queens
Sushi Fussion just opened in Forest Hills, Queens. http://www.sushifussion.com/
It is takeout and delivery only and they offering many different types of rolls -- vegetarian, raw, cooked, tempura, low carb -- as well as salads and soups. We just tried 3 of their rolls and 2 of their salads and they were good. Delivery was within 30 minutes.
It is funny, how this is the fourth restaurant under the Vaad of Queens in the 4 block shopping area on 108street in Forest Hills to offer sushi, but they have the largest variety and I think lower prices which might work well for them.
BTW, the extra "S" in fussion is on purpose, as they explain on their website.
Kosher Catering under $60/pp
You may also want to look into the Vanderbilt in Staten Island. If you are interested you can have your chuppah on the beach and I believe the prices are comparable to Crest Hollow.
My son looked into the Vanderbilt as well as Crest Hollow and Rockwood Park for his wedding last May and ended up at Crest Hollow. Crest Hollow does a great job -- beautiful location and rooms, very good service (especially from the maitre d and the bridal attendant) and good food (especially at the smorg.) The only downside is that it has several affairs running at the same time and that is obvious.
One thing we learned, is that a quote of $60 pp is actually closer to $90 pp once tax, gratuities and all fixed costs are added in. (We also had 175 people.) We found this roughly 50% increase to be basically across the board no matter what the price. Rockwood Park might be more willing to negotiate some of the additional costs but most other were not. (I am not sure how flexible the Vanderbilt is -- my son and daughter-in-law decide on Crest Hollow before negotiating more with the Vanderbilt.)
Kosher catering costs
We just did a wedding at Crest Hollow in Woodbury and paid around $90 a person. Keep in mind, whatever fee a caterer quotes, you need to add another 50% to the cost to cover taxes, service charges and other overhead fees. Crest Hollow was among the lower cost venues but it was beautiful and they did a great job. They offered 2 fish and 1 vegetarian options among the 5 choices guests were offered. They may be able to do offer others as well. When we were looking, Rockwood Park in Howard Beach was less expensive but the venue was not as nice. It is a synagogue but it is already decorated, they are helpful and you can bring your own rabbi. (You can typically bring your own rabbi to many synagogues.) Other places we looked into were either more expensive -- in the $120 to $150 range (such as Terrace on the Park, Sephardic Temple) or needed a minimum of 300 to 400 guests. Manhattan venues were even more expensive.
Congratulations and good luck.
Any reliably kosher places near the Kew Gardens courthouse?
Queens Pizza at116-14 Queens Blvd. - Forest Hills ((718) 544-5800) is under the Vaad of Queens and around 5 long blocks (.4 mile) west.
aron's kissena farms
I agree with arifree. They have a great selection of prepared foods, bakery, meat, frozen food and groceries. Reminded me of whole foods. Very little wait for the cashiers even though the store was crowded.
Kosher Wedding Cost for 200 in New York City
It probably normal for a place like a Museum where a Kosher Caterer has to bring everything in. We priced various synagogues with very nice catering halls, and even very fancy ones like the Park Avenue Synagogue were closer to $150.
New pizza shops & restaurants in Queens
The following places recently opened in Queens:
Pizza Palace Cafe in Forest Hills (63-60 108 Street) is under the Vaad of Queens. It serves sushi (has a sushi chef there making the food in front of you), pizza, breakfast foods (eggs, pancakes), soups, nachos, bourekas, calzones, garlic knots and varying main courses. All of the food we have eaten there (and we have been there 5 times in the past month or so) has been good. The sushi is fresh -- they even have yellow seaweed. It does get crowded there but they are open late, particularly on Saturday night, so if you go in off hours it easier to find a seat. They also deliver. They still don't have menus which makes it harder to order-- the choices are just written on boards -- but supposedly that is coming soon.
(Rumor has it that another Grill Point will also be opening, after Passover, in Forest Hills on 108 Street in the location previously occupied by McDonalds.)
L'Bella Pizzeria & Restaurant in Kew Garden Hills (69-26 Main Street) took over Angelos, which was on the same block as the now closed Caffecino (formerly Burger Nosh). They have split the store into 2 separate stores -- one is a pizzeria -- serving pizza (standard ones, specialty pizzas and white pizzas), salads,whilles (not even sure what that is), rolls and hot dishes like ziti, lasagna etc. We did not eat there, but my son did and said it was fine but nothing special. The other half (enter by a second door at the corner) is a sit down white tablecloth restaurant. They have a sushi chef and also offer a variety of fish and pasta along with brick oven pizzas and some soups, salads and appetizers. We got the bruschetta which was too hard, the ravioli, which was fine, nothing special, and the eggplant rolatini which was very good. Service was good. We got there early for dinner (around 5:30) and it was fairly empty but it was filling up by the time we left. I would try it again if I wanted dairy pasta or fish.
Finally we noticed some new restaurants on Main Street around 71 st Road (the Max & Mina block) -- a shwarma place selling shwarma for something like $5.55 -- seemed dark inside. Then there seems to be a donut place opening next to it. Not sure if it is already opened during the day or not.
Kissena farms going kosher?????????????
A friend of mine asked the workers at Brach's about the rumor regarding Gourmet Glatt moving to the Kissena Farms property. She confirmed the rumor.
Inexpensive Kosher Pizza Pies fresh not frozen?
I'm familiar with most of the Manhattan and Queens places, though none of the other areas you mention. I would think that Rosa's Pizza in the Empire State Building is the best Kosher Pizza. Try them
Kosher Wedding NYC/Long Island/Westchester
Keep in mind these prices do not include service charges, taxes and other fixed fees. We found that can bring a $70 fee quote to $100.
Bat Mitzvah - Long Island and Israel
For a simpler affair you may want to talk to Crown Royale Caterers (Myron Gurell) at Rockwood Park Jewish Center. We used Myron at another location and found him to be reasonable and good to work with. In general, while shopping for wedding venues, we found that places that did not have exclusive caterers were actually more expensive but perhaps it is different for what you are looking for.
Sukkahs in Manhattan?
On Broadway around 35th there is three- one in front of Kosher Delight, one in front of Jerusalem 2 restaurant (actually both are on trucks parked in the street) and a smaller one in front of Mr. Broadway. I think you can only bring in food from the respective restaurants to use their sukkah , though I was told that is not the case for the one in front of Jerusalem two.
Kosher Wedding NYC/Long Island/Westchester
We just booked Crest Hollow for my son's wedding next May. They were the most reasonable (for a nice venue) that we found. They do have an in house glatt kosher caterer who can give you all of the information you need on his credentials.
Other halls that my son and his fiance looked in Long Island included Great Neck Synagogue, Sephardic Temple, Shelter Rock Jewish Center, Leonards. All were more expensive. You can google any of these places and find out their info. Or you can contact some of the Glatt Kosher Caterers such as Prestige or New Star and they can tell you where they cater.
One question that comes up immediately is the size of the wedding. Marina Del Ray is beautiful (although more expensive than Crest Hollow) but they told us they wouldn't do a wedding with less than 300 (or maybe 350) people.
Long Island/Queens restaurants with Sukkah
Chosen Gardens in Forest Hills, Queens has one. Soon of the restaurants on Main Street in Kew Garden Hills. There are also synagogues with Sukkah's about a block from Main Street.
Another NYC Hot Dog question
Mendy's on 34th near Madison also has good hotdogs, and right now you can get up to 3 for 99 cents each.
"Great Kosher Restaurants" magazine listings - Please weigh in!
I have been to Turquoise twice and had good experiences with both the food and the service. NoiDue is supposed to be good but it gets crowded and has long waits for tables in the evening.
