Food Adventuring Around NYC
The Place: There’s not just one, two, or even three Egyptian seafood restaurants in Astoria where you can literally select your own fresh fish to be cooked just for you. There are, as far as I know, four places like this. And they are all worth a visit. IBN Hamido Seafood might be the most …
The Place: I had to leave Astoria and come back before I could discover the wonder of Al-Sham Sweets. After moving away from Astoria for over a decade, I felt like the prodigal son returned home. I’m now happily leading tours of the neighborhood for Nice Guy Tours. And in training for it, I learned …
THE SPOT: Traze is actually a bit difficult to find despite being just a few blocks from the 7 train in Long Island City. It does not have your typical storefront, but looks like it’s inside someone’s apartment. I don’t need much from a pizza spot and there is a small seating area and the …
NY’ers know to eat the world, you just have to hop aboard the international express, also known as the wild 7 Train… If you want to be hard core and travel the globe in Queens, join me for an epic international food tour through Jackson Heights and Elmhurst – we eat everything from Peruvian food …
THE PLACE: Most of the coffee shops along Steinway Street in Astoria have puffs of sweet hookah smoke wafting out of the doorway. Mokafé and a few other new Middle Eastern shops (including one up the street with a very similar name) focus more on the drinks and pastries than the flavored tobacco. My friend, …
The Place: Nestled on the other side of the elevated subway in Astoria, this corner coffee shop is a true oasis. The tables were all taken (and there was even a wait) when I stopped by on a weekday morning. Not sure if this is just a beloved local hangout (there were lots of meetings …
It’s been a while since I wrote about a product made in New York but used for home cooking rather than created at a restaurant. I discovered one of these wonderful locally made food provisions at Stand Alone Cheese in Jackson Heights, which is a great local cheese shop in the midst of the most …
THE PLACE: The third in a series of Hong-Kong style noodle shops opened in Chinatown a few months ago. Maxi’s Noodle has been on my list since their first location in Flushing debuted, but I find myself in Manhattan’s Chinatown much more often. When I came by, the crowd was sparse and I cozied up …
THE PLACE: Just off Bangladesh Street in Queens and amongst a sea of food carts advertising the same dishes and all claiming to be the “original”, Fuska House might be the one with the longest lines. It’s not technically the first of the carts selling a Bengali street snack called “fuska” but they have become …
THE PLACE: While wandering around scouting a brand new food tour, I discovered a little stand outside the famous Phil-Am Food Mart. This is a weekend pop-up that is not officially related to the Filipino market, but of course, is selling street food that would appeal to the market’s customers. And don’t worry, they absolutely …
THE PLACE: In a section of Long Island City that seems to be turning into a little Asia of sorts (thanks to lots of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese restaurants), Nai Brother sits on an unassuming corner. It’s one of two New York City locations of a Sichuan restaurant chain specializing in a unique dish. The …
I’m counting down the 10 best dishes I tasted in 2024… As I put together my list of the ten best dishes I tried in NYC, I realized just why I love this city. I didn’t purposely curated this list to be diverse in terms of neighborhood, cuisine, or price point. It just ended up …
What do you think of when you hear about an ice cream shop called Marvel? At first, I assumed this was a shop where you “marvel” at the amazing soft serve ice cream. Or maybe it’s a cheap ploy to get comic book fans here. But then it dawned on me, when pronounced with the …
The city is constantly changing. It’s one of the most exciting and also heartbreaking things about it. Long Island City is one of the neighborhoods that is always in flux. And it’s very obvious in the local beer scene. I used to give beer tours in this Queens community before COVID and it’s very different …
We have been very lucky to have spent some time in Greece and its surrounding islands. One place we have not visited in that part of the world is a country that many Americans don’t even realize is its own country. With lots of influence from both the Greeks and the Turks, Cyprus is very …
If only AbuQir was open back when I lived in Astoria, I would have given them all my money. I used to live in this residential part of Queens for many years and I frequented both seafood markets and Egyptian restaurants around this street, but at that time (as far as I know), no business …
I am a sucker for sampler plates. I used to love Pu Pu Platters as a kid. And if a brewery doesn’t have a flight option, I’m at a loss for what to do. So it was a no brainer for me to order the colorful Lucky Six Soup Dumplings at Shanghai You Garden, a …
I’m not used to ordering my food by color, but that is really what it came down to for me when choosing which aguachile to order. Of course, each color represents a different flavor, but we’ll get to that in a minute. Mariscos el Submarino opened in Jackson Heights during the pandemic and has been …
Neither Sam nor I have seen an episode of Game of Thrones, but we visited one of the many locales where that epic show was filmed. We explored the southern part of Croatia a few years ago and loved the history, sites, and incredible food. In fact, Sam got to sit on a throne on …
Zhu Ji Dumpling Stall has been hiding in Flushing for a long time, yet somehow I missed it until now. This is literally a stall just off Main Street where those in the know stop for some cheap and juicy dumplings. The set-up reminds me a bit of Fried Dumpling down an alley in Chinatown, …