Queens Food Fap

soft boiled eggs and toast and pink grapefruit

definitely. i'm out of town this weekend, but let's plan something.

I opened this expecting it to be about masturbating onto a swan :(

i hope you get over the crushing disappointment.

I'd be up for this if it were the weekend immediately after thanksgiving.

nice! as far as i know, that would work for me.

Ed, you'll be in town then? I'll be around that weekend as I have to work on the Friday (thank you NYC government). Some places I would like to try: Sriprapthai (Woodside), Donovan's Pub (Woodside), and Taverna Kyclades (Astoria)--but perhaps people know more undiscovered gems.

I'd probably be up for this

all of those places are good, although Sripraphai is kind of in a league of its own ... probably my favorite NY restaurant

couple other possibilities -- Pio Pio or Unidentified Flying Chicken in Jax Heights

i am totally up for sometime after the 19th!

http://www.queenessences.com.au/images/stories/products/vanilla_essence_range.jpg

I am up for this. (And I'll second dmr's Jackson Heights suggestions).

Pio Pio is probably the most fun, festive, cheap place for a group of people to go. Just be careful about when, it gets crowded. Went there recently on sunday at 3pm and there was a line out the door. And this is a BIG restaraunt. Friday and Saturday nights at Pio Pio or Sripraphai get really crowded.

Donovans is great, but pretty simple, not quite as exciting as the above two.

Pio Pio also has the best logo

http://nyc.metblogs.com/archives/images/2006/05/pio%20pio.jpg

but any of these places would be cool

I would have been up for this ALL SUMMER, but oh well.

i would fancy this

always up for queens food! there are so many great places (sripraphai, spicy mena, kebab cafe, etc) and new places i want to try out (burma cafe, some place in the flushing mall, indonesian place in elmhurst, etc etc) so i would be up for anything. i actually haven't tried out pio pio so that is intriguing, or donovan's famous burger.

I love donovan's, but it doesn't blow everyone away. It has to be medium-rare or it's pretty standard, and even then, for some people it's the perfect burger, for others, just a burger. I love it, I live around the corner and often go by myself for lunch, sit in the cozy pub and read the new yorker, but a lot of people find it disappointing. A trip to Pio Pio however is a non-stop party and you'd have to be quite the hater to not love it.

oh, damn. i misread ed's post, thinking he meant the weekend following thanksgiving weekend. i'll be out of town for the weekend of thanksgiving.

bell, i loved the burmese cafe and would be happy to go back anytime. pio pio has great chicken, but i think we found a place that does it even better (although colombian, not peruvian): pollo colorada (sp?) on greenpoint ave in sunnyside. they use a hardwood charcoal rotisserie, a really interesting spice rub, and have the most incredible yellow rice.

but do they sing that birthday song when it's somebody's birthday? I'd just suggest Pio Pio not just for the chicken but all the sides, how cheap it is, and generally how festive it is.

What I really want to do though is try Xtasis Megahamburger which is just down the street.

both branches of pio pio riko do the birthday song, too. it's fun. pollo colorada is a much smaller place. i wasn't suggesting it as an alternative party spot, just saying that i think it's worthwhile.

I will be back again at new years and couple of times in the early part of '08 and always up for food so if it is more convenient not the weekend of thanksgiving then go then and I will hit you up for NYE techno parties later in the year.

well, it seems like it's convenient for most people - just not me, sadly!

Xtasis Megahamburger

amazing

I found a menu!

http://www.allmenus.com/menus/114598

Next time I come to NYC, I'm looking you guys up so you can show me the best outerborough restaurants. I've only ever been to the obvious Queensy places (Jackson Diner, etc.)

that menu is slightly insane.

it's actually "Ztasis" which is even weirder

me too

Did someone say something about food? Because, umm, nom nom nom.

I think I might have been to Pio Pio, but it seems like the kind of thing I'd have a much clearer memory of if I had!

there are a couple other locations (including one in Manhattan now I think?) but I've only been to the one in jackson hts

oooh pio pio sounds AMAZING

The excellent Peruvian rotisserie birds at this branch of the Queens-based chicken chainlet are marinated for twelve hours in a mixture of cumin, garlic, Peruvian beer, and a few other key ingredients the owners prefer to keep a trade secret.

the nice thing is you don't really have to order, just count heads and say "I'll have X number of Matador Combos" and they'll pretty much back a dump truck's worth of food on the table. I think a Matador is a whole roast chicken, salcipapas, salad, and fried plantains.

Umm let's do this in about ... 20 minutes, okay?

Yeah, all you need is 1 or 2 Matador Combos and a small or large ceviche for the seafood lovers, some pitchers of sangria and that's it. A matador combo is 1 chicken, salchipapas, which is a plate of french fries and hot dogs basically, a large avacado salad, tostones, and rice n beans. All of that is 26 dollars.

I should mention it's kind of a schlep, I've never really walked there from a train, its like 4 long blocks from the 7 train and nowhere near the F/E/G/etc stop at 74th.

Hi Nabisco! How is Uncle George's by the way? I walked passed it today. I was expecting great things of Family Market (J-grocery) but it was so tiny. What are the best Woodside pubs, by the way? I bus pass Donovan's every day.

I recently learned that "pio pio" means "cheep cheep" as in this song for kids

Los pollitos dicen
pío, pío, pío
Cuando tienen hambre
Cuando tienen frío

i totally mangled the name of my new favorite chicken place! it's actually la pollera colorada.

I've only been inside Donovans and Sean Ogs (my father got off the train on the way back from the US Open and randomly picked it. Some of the pubs are pretty serious with the football jersey wearing irish immigrants, while some seem more "ye olde pub" with the traditional music and whatnot. The bar at Donovans is pretty small, but the seating areas are soooo cozy, it is a really nice place to eat. My new goal is to have something other than a hamburger there, like a Shephards Pie or something.

Uncle George's is good but not great. Its primary advantages are its relative cheapness and the fact that it's open 24 hours.

I only went there once ... didn't really get why it was so well known. not that good. I guess it's the 24-hour thing.

Woodside pubs -- other than Donovan's I like Saints & Sinners ok.

I think it also has a reputation for being slightly friendlier to non-Greeks than the other Broadway places.

by the way VPlain there's an astoria bar I forgot to mention on the other thread. Fatty's Cafe. the food's nothing special but they make great mojitos.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/eG4e2HP01nxMPfZDgCUV_w

we were psyched about that place, it's a nice effort, but yeah, the food wasn't so great. Not bad though.

they have a nice outdoor space though. and did i mention the mojitos

I haven't been but my roommate says that it is her favorite place in the area . . . but her reasoning: "because it's not Greek." I def want to try it. Could anyone give me a rec for dining near Target? How is the Geogia Peach?

Georgia Peach is supposed to be as good as diners go in queens, but get on Broadway into elmhurst from there and go to Nasura Thai, in a strip mall with vietnamese, malaysian, chinese etc. Haven't been to them yet(other than Nasura), but it's a pretty intense selection of food!

Since this is sort of doubling as an all-purpose Queens food thread, this was in the Voice this week. I've ordered delivery from Poodam's before (it was very good, but the menu wasn't particularly exciting) and didn't know about the Isaan selections.

some extremely spicy thai food would be sooo good right now. i'm starting to get a cold and i don't know of a better way to destroy it.

is it just me or did that article not give the actual address of that place??

oh wait, it's on the side. apparently im blind.

It's the storefront on Broadway/44th where Thai Chili used to be.

Maybe you need GLASSES, bell

I just ate at Kebab Cafe--it was very festive. I forgot to bring the address for the Thai place near Target.

oh i used to live right by thai chili. i remember they had these delicious veg dumplings that were deep fried little cubes of dough, but everything else was pretty meh.

Shall we revisit this? I've yet to go Flushing, and there are still lots of places I haven't tried yet. I'm sorry to say that I've eaten twice at Sriprapthai and I seem to be in the minority of not liking it. It's far too spicy for me. Jaiya Thai used to be my favorite Thai--that could get spicy, but you could actually taste the food under the spices. More Queens recommendations please, especially in Flushing.

Little Pepper is the place I always go to in Flushing. Something as simple as a plate of green beans can be awesome. It can be terribly spicy though. The infamous schezuan peppercorns aren't really the problem, they're more odd and wonderful than spicy, but there's plenty of chili oil to go around.

I can highly recommend Sentosa, which is Malaysia, try the pineapple fried rice and the roast chicken.

anyone been to the strip mall in elmhurst? We've had 2 good and one mediocre meal at Nusara Thai and are curious about the two vietnamese places there, Pho Bang and Pho Bac I think? And the Penang, the chinese place and Taste Good around the corner.

m, if you want to do dim sum in flushing then i'd be up for that. also have been wanting to try sentosa in its "new" location ever since it moved from manhattan years ago.

I'd love to do dim sum in Flushing. Where is Sentosa? I need to start eating at that strip mall (and other restaurants) in Elmhurst, since I practically work in Elmhurst. The only place I've eaten in Elmhurst so far was a forgettable Thai restaurant near the Elmhurst library. Is Tangra Masala nasty?

i wish i could remember the name of the place i got dim sum in flushing last year on chinese new year. it was a huuuuuge banquet hall with several rooms, across from a vegetarian restaurant...does that sound familiar to anyone?

someone pls to take me to a+ indian or thai in queens.

the only place I've been to in Flushing is Spicy & Tasty .... which it was

Sentosa is right next to Spicy and Tasty. I prefer Little Pepper to Spicy and Tasty. Less crowded, a bit more dingy but more down to earth and friendly, or at least as friendly as people who don't speak english can be to people who don't speak chinese.

Tangra Masala is over in Sunnyside, and Tangra Wok is in Rego Park I think. Is there a Tangra Masala in Elmhurst as well? I went to Sunnyside one last night, it's fun. Not mind-blowing food but good stuff.

I haven't had great indian in Jackson Heights yet, except the Samosa Chat at the place next to Jackson Diner. Been meaning to try Kebab King and Deshi Biryani.

I think the place next to Jackson Diner is Delhi Palace. I think the place in Elmhurst is called Tangra Masala--it's on the corner of Queens Boulevard and Grand Avenue. Then there's another Indian-style Chinese across the street. It's called Chopsticks maybe?

The samosa chat place isn't Delhi Palace, it's just a small counter, maybe it's attached but I think it has a different name. Indian Chinese is taking over queens, there's also Chili Chicken and Nan King in Jackson Heights.

bell: ocean jewels, gala manor, and gum fung are/were the biggest places, i think. apparently gum fung closed, renovated, and is now open as jade restaurant.

Piopiopiopio?

Cuando tienen hambre, cuando tienen frio.

Nixtamal is closing ;;

oh no, that's terrible

I wonder why, I can't imagine corona rents are that terrible

yeah I was thinking too, I mean property prices strike me as a little high when I've looked but I really haven't seen evidence of gentrification per se, and that space is tiny and probably not good for much other than a takeout place/pizzeria.