Chopsticks + Marrow, written by Joe DiStefano, covers food both inside and outside of Queens. He joins us here on QueensNYC each Thursday.
Sweet and cold, El Bohio’s shaved ice is a harbinger of even warmer days
Forget that groundhog. The real indicator of the arrival of warm weather is the ice cream man. Or in Corona, the shaved ice man, specifically the dude who sets up in the window in front of El Bohio Grocery. The other day after eating enough Thai food for an army I took a long walk up Roosevelt Avenue and was delighted to see that El Bohio’s shaved ice—or frio frio as Dominicans like to call it—was in full effect. (more…)
Chopsticks + Marrow, written by Joe DiStefano, covers food both inside and outside of Queens. He’ll be joining us here on QueensNYC each Thursday.
An ice cream parlor twist on an Italian classic
When I was a kid I loved ice cream sodas. As an adult I discovered the affogato, a very grown-up Italian treat that takes its name from the word for “drowned.” It’s a scoop of ice cream with a shot of espresso poured on top. One day I was in Eddie’s Sweet Shop, the quintessential Queens ice cream parlor and I noticed they had had an espresso machine.
Thanksgiving is only days away – we are pretty excited about the holiday foods that are coming up. So what are your favorites this time of year? Pumpkin pie in actual pie, cheesecake or ice cream form? Turkey and stuffing? Yams with marshmallows? Something else? We’d love to know. Leave us a comment here or via twitter at @queensnycity!
President Obama or President Romney ice cream – what would you put in them?
Malu in LIC is back at their creativity wheel again and have issued a challenge to other creative ice cream souls. From their Facebook page:
“Malu would like to create a Romney Ice Cream and an Obama Ice Cream, in hopes of making this election a little livelier. Tell us what you think should be in each (kindly note – we’re a kid friendly family business!). We’ll create both flavors and see what tub finishes first. Could this be the new straw poll or just a yummy way to make it through to Nov 6th?”
LIC has a new bus shelter
If you take the bus year-long you know how bus shelters really do block the wind. LIC got a new one in early October – LIC Partnership posted a picture of it on their Facebook page. Nice.
Festival grounds instead of a stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park? Welcome to 2008
Did you know there was a plan for Flushing Meadows Corona Park, one that was full of recommendations as to how to revitalize the park (the MLS folks believe they will be able to do that with the stadium; they have also reached out to the community, offering to upgrade the community soccer fields, and plan to be a good neighbor). This plan, called the ”Flushing Meadows Corona Park Strategic Framework Plan”, would have strived “to transform Flushing Meadows Corona Park from a fragmented, confusing, flat, uninspired, pavement-ridden open space into a grade-A greensward.” A few of the things that were recommended:
Demolish the Pool of Industry and create “festival grounds” as a gathering space.
Unearth the Flushing River and reroute it along the park’s east side so as “to create a continuous ribbon of water” connecting Meadow and Willow Lakes (which would both be restored).
Preserve the other historical remnants of the World’s Fairs, in particular the Unisphere and the New York State Pavilion, and “drastically improve access to, and circulation within, Flushing Meadows.”
No matter what, though, things are going to happen in the park, and the soccer stadium looks pretty much like a done deal (though you never know). Still, it’s fun to think about what might have been, and good to know that the park was getting some attention.
Serious Eats heads to M. Wells Dinette
The M. Wells Dinette is the newest restaurant darling of LIC, and the Serious Eats folks spent some time there recently. In their article, they give a nice summary of the M. Wells Diner history, then dive into the food. Their initial impression:
The menu is smaller, both in number of dishes and in terms of their size—not small by any means, but no megaburgers either. And it appears more focused and pared down. The mix of re-done French classics, Americana, and WTF dishes are all there, but they’re a little less aggressively odd. And where you could get foie gras on practically anything at M. Wells Diner, the menu on our visit didn’t have it at all (though the menu changes frequently, and rest assured there is foie gras elsewhere).
Over on Brownstoner, they’re chronicling a renovation in Astoria of a 1930s brick rowhouse, and it’s really interesting to see the progress. They post an update about every month or so. The latest one is about the facades that have been drawn up, with inspiration from Forest Hills Gardens (think Tudor style). Definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Malu, the excellent ice cream shop on Jackson Avenue in Long Island City (GMAP), has entered the Presidential election fray in their own way… with ice cream. They are holding a little contest on their Facebook page to come up with two different ice creams representative of the candidates in the November election. (more…)
Well, the temps are back up in the summery range today, and when it gets like this, ice cream is in order. Where do you like to eat ice cream? Are you a classic ice cream person, a gelato person, or do you fancy the Italian ices, like the Lemon Ice King of Corona? Let us know in the comments or via twitter at @queensnycity!
The countdown for Labor Day is on and we’ve got three weeks to wear white pants and flip flops and cut out of the office early on Friday afternoons. While New Yorkers everywhere mourn the disappearance of Water Taxi Beach at Hunter’s Point, we’ve still got the Rockaways for sand and surf. Anywhere around the borough you happen to be, you can find plenty of casual summer fare, perfect for hot days and nights, to keep that feeling of summer going right up to the end.
There’s been a lot of happy buzz about Motorboat & the Big Banana, located at the Rockaway Beach Club at the Boardwalk. A venture of Brooklyn’s Vinegar Hill House’s Jean Adamson and Lindsay Robinson, who came from Diner (also in Brooklyn), it’s a low-brow fry shack that serves up very high quality grub (and check out this video of their food). (more…)
