54-46, that's my number: the Queens thread

Queens needed a thread to itself, feel like this will mostly just be about food but hey

dan have you had breakfast at de mole? $5 plates!!! it's becoming hard to justify eating mexican anywhere else w/ de mole's prices

De Mole breakfast is the BEST deal. And they do killer fresh juices as well. For the record, I was the first person to write a yelp review of De Mole.

Yeah, we can talk about food, or we can talk about the fact that the entire borough has no bookstores except like three Barnes and Nobles and a few that only stock spanish religious texts.

that'll be true in the rest of the city within 10 years.

have you been to cafe marlene?

No, never even heard of it!

Sounds promising for the neighborhood, but I can do without burlesque shows.

It's a little silly looking, but that's Queens for you! You can go to hipster places in Williamsburg where the design is totally cool and the food sucks, or you can go to weird euro places in Queens where the food is good!

yeah it looks borderline cheeseball but apparently has good food...haven't actually been yet (tho a read a long online debate by queens people complaining about the coffee prices.) anyway seems like it could potentially be a nice addition to the hood, never really loved aubergine.

My girlfriend will be happy there's another place to write. Cafescape never cut it, neither did Aubergine. She'd occasionally take the 7 to Communitea or Sweetleaf in LIC.

yeah we end up at sweetleaf fairly regularly, it's kinda gigantic after the renovation, seems more like an hipster institution than a cute coffeeshop now.

speaking of long island city, I'm excited that the court square transfer is almost done. I'm sure it will only save like 3 seconds but it looks pretty.

I would have loved having the escalators when I took that station! The total climb up from the G to the elevated 7 platform is actually like 5-1/2 flights or something!! And invariably the stairs are totally clogged and everyone has to go at the pace of the slowest member of the pack. Suuucks.

And by "the escalators", I mean, the ones I saw on the proposal sketch that was posted in the station like 2.5 years ago, which is probably the last time I was there.

Still get emails from Court Square Wines & Spirits, though. I should go to a tasting sometime.

that transfer looks almost done. They were working on it for the 7 months that I commuted from Woodside to Gowanus. Mornings was ok. Take the 7, come down the stairs. Get some breakfast at Sage. Get on an empty G train to brooklyn. Coming home sucked. Take G train to Queens. Climb scares. Walk 2 blocks. Climb more stairs. Get on crowded rush-hour 7 train.

By the way Laurel, your pic on facebook of Schnitzi House inspired me. I had been planning to go to Olympic Pita (though I was confused because I had been to Famous Pita and thought thats where I was going) so I went on sunday and walked around a bit after and saw Schnitzi House. Whoa wtf, are we discussing brooklyn food?

it's gonna be done in march, the stairs and tunnel is all done but they can't open it til the escalators/elevators work

NO BROOKLYN ITT

anyone been to m. wells?

Walked right by Sage last night doing that transfer and was tempted but didn't go in. We may not have a bookstore but we do have an award-winning library system with sevensix-day service, lots of newbooks and nice librarians like Virginia Plain. Actually what is the deal with this bookstore in Astoria: http://www.seaburn.com/Bookstore_Index.htm?

I went in there once, I think they have a greek section. it's pretty old school bookstorey.

gf was gonna get her (greek) mom a (greek) book but then realized she would have to buy something completely random as she does not speak greek

i miss queens. i hung out there a lot when i had an astorian boyfriend.

what's the best indian food in jackson heights these days?

M Wells was GREAT but pricey and a bit limited for non-meat eaters. Went twice for brunch. They're opening for dinner now but it's way high-end. Expensive organ meat dishes and such. We won't be going anytime soon but it's a great addition to the area.

I've never been in Seaburn.

The indian food in jackson heights isn't all that great and is totally inconsistent. Get nepali food at Mustang Thakali Kitchen. Mehfil is pretty big with the Jackson Heights whiteys, but they have a great weekend buffet, better then the joints on 74th st. They have this sweet tomato chutney that kills me.

there was one called ashoka that i used to like; dunno if they're still around or any good anymore.

yelp said it closed.

less snobby than dan w/r/t indian...anything on 74th seems fine to me. we like dosa place. also end up at jackson diner a lot mostly cause of the cocktails.

Delhi Palace is pretty good.

ime jackson diner was never that great, not worth battling the long lines for.

I like junky indian ok...but a lot of those places are pretty dire. The good food's all in Iselin, Edison, Hicksville, Jersey City etc.

edison otm

I'm one of those awful people who likes anything if it's spicy enough and jackson diner vindaloo is pretty spicy

another queens favorite of mine (and some ilxors from FAPs past can attest) was taverna kyclades on ditmars. yum grilled octopus!

http://www.tavernakyclades.com/

Holla! My library system actually sort of sucks, but thanks for the shout-out.

Seaburn is either going out of business or renovating. It's a used book store that never has/had anything good in it.

Is Aubergine closed now?

I had a horrible experience at M Wells. I went alone and they made me sit at the "community" table.

Ate at Delhi Palace in Jackson Heights the other day--it's a solid, though unremarkable choice.

Anyone have any good Filipino or other food recs near the Woodside library?

31-45

For the record, I was the first person to write a yelp review of De Mole.

i hope this goes on your tombstone dan

nah aubergine's still open

our favorite place near the library is probably quaint

wayyyy better burgers than donovan's

i just googled the street where my astoria guy lived and it's gentrified so much!

35-14, i believe? all those buildings look the same.

I don't know. On a good day I'll take Donovan's over anybody else. And I have had them at Quaint. I wish they had a larger and more varied menu. Other then that it's a great place. I've been to dinner a few times and always get the roast chicken with gratin potatoes.

Good filipino? I don't know. Payag has gotten mixed reviews. Went once, didn't know what to order, was underwhelmed. Have had breakfast at Engelines, it was good but mostly avoid the places due to low vegetarian friendliness.

Best places around Woodside library...Donovan's obviously, Rico Pan has great cheap empenadas and arepas and other treats. La Flor of course, for breakfast/lunch/brunch. Dinner is good too but more pricey. Rumphool across the street from Donovan's is really good Thai. Not as good as Srip or Chao, but better then anything in Brooklyn!

Cuckoo's Nest for Irish pub grub.

35-14 what? Astoria is a good place to visit to get a meal, but not somewhere I'd want to live. Very euro-trashy! Favorite greek is way up in Ditmars at the very end of queens just across from Astoria park and under the Hellgate bridge...Agnanti Mezze.

roommate always used to suggest fiesta grill for filipino, we never went but it's supposed to be cheap. sorta far from the library though.

ditmars.

yeah astoria feels way more euro-white than gentrified-white

though there are more $$$ restaurants

We love Arepas Cafe in Astoria as well. Same basic thing as Caracas but less hipsters and crowds and instead 1 delicious spicy mystery sauce, they have 2 slightly less mysterious delicious sauces.

The only real sign of gentrification, if you read gentrification as affluent white hipsters instead of affluent white euros (or even affluent white midtown office worker types) is Sparrow and maybe that bar that has deep fried pickles, what's it called?

But Astoria has always had certain amounts of gentrification going on, but always from a different angle. Like there's Astoria "hipsters" who all think they're too cool for sceney Williamsburg (actually just jealous!) and you have people from Long Island who work in midtown that figure Astoria is a good compromise. I'm sorry, I can be such an Astoria hater. But my girlfriend and I always play this game about labeling people as "hipsters" or "queens hipsters", which isn't to say a "queens hipster" is just a hipster who lives in queens. It's a totally different breed. For instance we have more in common with your classic brooklyn hipster then with "queens hipsters". Of course we lived in Brooklyn first.

So sad. We are just talking about food. I love Taverna Cyklades--a little more for the atmosphere than the food. It's on Ditmars around 34th St. I like the place near the park for atmosphere, not so much for food.

Best thing to happen to Astoria this year--the reopening of the Moving Image.

I co-started this thread. I can rant about white people if I want!

We'll try Taverna Cyklades. We had a decent meal at Philoxenia 2 years ago.

Astoria is a good place to visit to get a meal, but not somewhere I'd want to live. Very euro-trashy!

This is so lolsy. And true.

Astoria is a huge place though. I would say only the 30th avenue area could properly be called euro trashy (and that more so on the weekends). The ditmars area is almost sedate and suburban and the broadway area has more of a mix of Spanish and of course the Steinway area is Egyptian.

give me some examples of a "queens hipster."

signed,
brooklyn hipster for most of my life

Went to Ayada Thai recently, best Thai food I've had in the city.

I really do want to find out what's listed on the section of the Rumphool take-out menu that's only in Thai, though. Every time I look at it, it's like it's mocking me

I really do want to find out what's listed on the section of the Rumphool take-out menu that's only in Thai, though. Every time I look at it, it's like it's mocking me

find someone on the internet to translate it! l.a. has a restaurant called jitlada that became a big sensation when a diner made a translation project out of the "thai" (non-gringo) menu and shared it with the world.

https://gothamist.com/news/council-clears-path-to-replace-whitestone-lanes-with-housing

per this article from feb 8, no construction schedule yet

The Bowlero near the BQE is still in business but that doesn’t have nearly the charm or history

It was still an AMF or whatever and still had some charm the first time I went but that was quickly erased.

Melody lanes in sunset park looks hella charming, but the fuck am i going to Sunset park

it's in the wrong borough for starters

i have been to Sunset Park once, it took forever on the subway. I've made it to Philly in less time on mass transit. or that's what it felt like.

I did my bachelor party at melody lanes. It has a really old school bar that’s popular. I was already in queens but all the guests were in Brooklyn. It was the post college DJ dudes vs the college indie rockers. We went to dinosaur bbq in gowanus first and it was really disappointing.

Should’ve done Whitestone and little pepper instead.

Or Legend of Taste (is that still there?). I never made it, but still remember a friend describing it in the manner of recent convert to a religion.

omg legend of taste rules
too out of the way to hit regularly to spot after fort totten excursions

*but is my go-to spot

I have to go soon.

i have been to Sunset Park once, it took forever on the subway. I've made it to Philly in less time on mass transit. or that's what it felt like.

― A street taco cart named Des'ree (Deflatormouse), Tuesday, February 27, 2024 5:00 PM (yesterday)

you can just take the commuter van from flushing

flushing is a solid hour from me on the subway lol

little spice looks amaaaaaazing too, dan when is your guidebook coming out srsly

north of the expressway is tough for pedestrians tho, not that bay terrace isn't

was thinking of doing a fort totten day next week actually

Little Pepper requires a car, or bus.

i went to little pepper after the pete wells review came out. thought it was OK. it's definitely got that 'home-cooked' feel to it. the sichuan restaurants in flushing are comparable. so don't feel too bad if you can't get up to college point.

I have eaten at Little Pepper more than any other Chinese restaurant. Their tripe and tongue in chili sauce is all-time.

Uncle Zhou was maybe my favorite restaurant. Their knife shaved noodles were amazing. Rabbit or Chicken in Big Tray (rabbit or chicken that had been hacked into little pieces (bones and all) and wok fried with a mega ton of dried chili pepper and peppercorn). They closed pre-pandemic and I just found out they had moved to TX.

https://sunnysidepost.com/its-confirmed-shake-shack-is-coming-to-sunnyside-this-year

ugh, shake shack moving into the void left by the deeply missed Mangal Kebab.

Shake Shack sucks is a hill I will die on. I would rather eat McDonalds.

https://www.thecity.nyc/2024/03/06/fbi-new-world-mall-eric-adams/

scandalous!

https://i.imgur.com/9mczvu2.jpeg

closed on our co-op today. officially a queens resident for life!

Congrats!

Welcome!

lol, that’s what I said in 2013 when we bought ours. Gateway to the suburbs.

In seriousness though, congrats!

Thanks to this thread, I took my visiting nephew to Sripraphai a couple of weeks ago! It was fine. I couldn't remember what the recommended dishes were but my taste is not that adventurous. The funny part is that a week later, one of my very culinarily advanced co-workers was being secretive about her supposed secret best Thai spot in Queens...which was guess where lol. Thanks, ilx!

ha, best kept secret Sripraphai.

I haven't been in years but I was underwhelmed when I went, whereas I thought Ayada was great.

Nothing there is bad and a few things are great, some standards I like there, but not quite blow your mind like some of the newer places. Def far from a secret.

Kid is going to single-handedly put Woodhaven on the map. He just posted:

TLDR: FREE jazz concert on Sun Oct 19th - Mariel Bildsten Sextet - a Tribute to Cutty Cutshall - Oak Ridge 1 Forest Parkway Woodhaven, NY - doors 2:30pm, show at 3pm. RSVP here:
--
To my friends - I want to share something that I've been working on for a while. . .I'm not performing, but I'm producing a concert series in my Queens neighborhood Woodhaven. There's not a lot of live music in this neighborhood, and there aren't really any venues. But in Forest Park there's a historic old clubhouse called Oak Ridge that and they asked me to collaborate with them on music events. I helped them apply for a grant from the Flushing Town Hall and got help from State Senator Joe Addabbo to put together a concert series (more shows to be announced). You might be aware of the Queens Jazz Trail Map but if not, it's a hand drawn map by Tony Millionaire that features many of the huge jazz names that have made Queens their home over the years. I was looking at the newest version of the map and noticed one musician from Woodhaven: trombonist Cutty Cutshall. OK - never heard of him. . .and turns out most people, even jazz aficionados hadn't heard of him either. But he played with lots of famous people - Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Eddie Condon, etc. I thought it might be a great hook to learn more about this musician and figure out a way to do a tribute concert. He died on tour in 1968 - which is rough. With some help from the Director of Research Collections at the Louis Armstrong Museum, we found out a little bit about Cutty. There are lots of recordings he appears on. . .and thankfully he was a great musician and by a few accounts, sounded like a really nice person. But who would I get to do the tribute? My old friend Phil Ballman suggested trombonist Mariel Bildsten. I reached out and she was very excited about this idea and put together an amazing band that includes Kelly Green on piano. Anyway - I just wanted to explain the deal, why this will be a fun concert for the community and the work it took to get it done. Come out to hang, share the event - it's a community kind of scene. All are welcome.

that's so cool. i love forest park. i had to miss oneida at the bandshell last week and i'll be out of town for this but everyone else should go!

Wasn't paying attention and missed that show but think I was doing something else anyway

we went to the first time I think they did it at the bandshell but haven't been able to since. was a blast. went over to the carousel with Barry London's kid or whatever after.

was a lovely afternoon, ice cream vendors doing good business with kids in the crowd (and adults). Nick Hallett and Editrix played as well.

nick went to Oberlin with me and Bobby and Jane from Oneida. Can't get away from Oberlin.

went to the louis armstrong museum recently, saw the tony millionaire map, good stuff all around!

Ned S*blette, Postmambo Studies musicologist and author and tour guide w/ 1 of his 2026 tours. He doesn't use a website and likes to keep off of social media

Five intense days and nights of Latin jazz, bomba, vodou, merengue, ndombolo, and much more -- Postmambo founder Ned Sublette’s personal picks in his adopted hometown, a powerhouse of African-descended cultures and the world’s most dynamic music city. With a mix of private and public performances, we’ll move through the city’s barrios to celebrate New York City's cosmopolitan essence and immigration in general. We’ll hear presentations by historians of this magnificent city, enjoy the city’s wide variety of popular food – tacos, tapas, roti, yassa, mofongo, and more -- and most of all, enjoy the intense music of Afro-New York's multiple communities.

Ned says: This Seminar kicks off on my 75th birthday, which is also my 50th anniversary to the day of moving to New York City on July 8, 1976. Please join me in celebrating the world’s greatest music city with the best multi-day party I can throw. I can’t give you artist names yet – it’s too early -- but trust me on this.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUNt2T2jdd9

thought that might be a link to the two queens things filling my feeds.

1. food influencer goes to Plaka in Jackson Heights and everybody wants to save mom and pop greek restaurant. It's pretty good, but a weird location. Nice to have a parking lot but if you're driving around western queens looking for greek food, you're gonna end up in Astoria. We went back to Agnanti on sunday for the first time in a while and it was amazing. Plaka does deliver to Woodside though.

2. NYC council member Julie Won announced running for congress in NY-7. She's up against state assembly member Claire Valdez, who is endorsed by Mamdani and DSA. I don't see how she can win. PLUS, her husband inexplicably was Eric Adams campaign manager...NOT a good look. But the view from the ground...Julie Won is fantastic. We're big fans. Maybe it's the nature of city vs state, or the fact that Valdez is based in Ridgewood while Won is in Sunnyside, but Won's been feet on the ground in western queens doing good.

would much rather have julie won as the city council member, hopefully she can stay in office when she inevitably loses the primary

Misread that as "Julie Chen won" at first.

https://qns.com/2026/02/fairview-residents-heat-outage/

we live in a co-op of similar vintage. scary!

Ugh

a colleague lives in that building and says the article is misrepresenting the situation, that Z has been an ongoing source of conflict. (though the whole situation there sounds a mess, beyond the hvac issue)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1IWV_ctBH8

https://qns.com/2026/04/maspeth-man-charged-murder-arson-flushing-fire/

i walked past this scene a few hours after it happened, still completely surrounded by fire trucks and cops. so incredibly sad

Queens Library system is closed today because of annual training, which fact made me think of ILX0r Virginia Plain who used to work there back in the day.

I believe she worked at my local branch?

New playground just opened up near my house, across the street from the controversial Sunnyside Gardens (Private) Park.

Best queens meal of late? Trinciti Roti Shop in South Ozone Park.

Which branch is that?

Woodside, where Skillman and Roosevelt meet.

Oh yeah, I know exactly where that is. up a little hill, or incline at least.