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

ah that makes a lot of sense

There's a WSJ article on restaurants on 31st Avenue, Astoria.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703899704576204751138215070.html

I don't think any of these are worth going out of your way for especially; did you try the Mexican place yet Dan?

Phagwah Parade is this Sunday in Richmond Hill.

Going to Pachanga Patterson for my birthday tomorrow night.

Sweet afton is okay. Had some good drinks iirc

I went once. It was super crowded. I had a cocktail that was just ok, and fried pickles that were great.

Sweet Afton is super crowded on the weeekends. It's okay on weeknights, but there's still something kind of off about it. The pickle martini and the fried prickles and anything they do involving pickles works though.

Of that group, Il Bambino is the most low-key place, but I only go there because I live around the corner probably.

wanted to go to the parade but gotta work :/

So...Panchagna Patterson...

Pretty good. Definitely good for the neighborhood and good for queens, but I wouldn't say it's a destination restaurant. They bill it as the family dinners mexican cooks make at then end of a shift or whatever, which sounds exciting, but it seemed to be just slightly fusiony good to great mexican food, not a huge stretch. The food was good, but in the end, I don't think it was better then say, Nixtamal, where they get their tortillas, so you have to ask is it worth it? More expensive, and the place was packed...it was comfortable in the back but up front looked like a nightmare. I had a pretty exciting cocktail with some chocolate infused tequila or something.

we just came back from bliss, which we had never been to before and hadn't planned on going to (before we remembered that quaint is closed on tuesdays) anddddd will not return to

chocolate infused tequila sounds really good, how much are their cocktails?

Thanks for the report on Panchagna. I had a feeling it might be a little . . . "precious"?

My coworkers who live in the neighborhood and are Guyanese and went to Phagwah had a great time. They said there were a lot of "white people" (their words) there too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/dining/23phagwah.html

I hate '# of white people as judge of authenticity/goodness'

http://gothamist.com/2011/03/23/queensboro_bridge_could_be_koch_bri.php

Our man Jimmy Van Bramer is fighting it

he seems like a decent guy actually

Totally. I've barely ever noticed who my council member has been while living in NY, but this guy is fighting the good fight and getting out there for sure.

Biting my tongue r.e. JVB.

So we should guess why you don't approve?

I want to hear queens library gossip!

also can you hack the queens library computers and get rid of my $9 of fees

His politics are in the right place.

x-post: I could do that, but as long as it's under $15 you can still check out stuff, so you can just carry that balance.

hmmm that is good to know. I was worried about the fines getting bigger if I didn't pay it off quickly. I dunno how it even got to $9, I was just a few days late w/ 2 DVDs...

DVDs are $3 everyday they are late, is why. Fines don't accrue after you've turned something in--only when its still checked out.

damn I had figured it'd be closer to book late fees.

Ed Koch bridge official

http://gothamist.com/2011/03/24/census_says_nyc_population_barely_b.php

I would guess this has something to do w/ the fact that there's a decent amount of not-entirely-legal immigration in queens? I haven't read anything else or looked at the data but according to that graph the core astoria area lost more people than any other hood in nyc over the last 10 years.

including the other sections of astoria would suggest min 15,000-20,000 people left according to that graph??? could that really have happened unnoticed?

annual boarding stats at the astoria-ditmars station

2000: 4,534,284
2001: 4,684,867
2002: 4,774,750
2003: 4,662,751
2004: 4,706,455
2005: 4,794,029
2006: 4,941,924

2009: 5,033,498

Bloomie's not happy about the census results.

In other news, "cult coffee" comes to Astoria:

http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2011/03/queens_kickshaw.html

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/27/new.york.census.challenge/

officially challenging it

a lot of results in big cities outside of nyc are also borderline-absurd

dan (et al) have you been to the ganesh temple canteen? it's near southern spice in that part of flushing.

I had friends in town and one of them wanted to go (partly cause bourdain visited in his outer boroughs episode)

it's good, cheap and very home-style.

we took a wrong turn on the walk there and were in this residential/industrial/warehouse-y area (everything south of roosevelt and east of main street.) I'd never been in before - converted garages w/ asian small businesses selling nothing but fedders-esque housing materials. (lots of places selling *nothing* but chrome porch stuff etc.) it's a bizarre little world.

er west of main street*

oh also 'salt and fat' opened up about 30 seconds from me and every time I walk by it's very busy. also very...brooklyn.

I try to keep lolkosher so I probably shouldn't have even stepped foot in a place that seems so dedicated to the bacon fad. gf does not keep lolkosher, also wasn't impressed w/ the bacon popcorn and small portions.

Haven't been to any of those temples. There's one or two right here that aren't as well known that apparently serve food similarly.

Funny/typical white person in queens story. Went to Mustang Thakali Kitchen in JH a few months back and had an amazing meal, including this really spicy beef jerky dish I kept thinking about. Went back recently and ordered the same thing and it was great, but something was missing. It was definitely less spicy. I'm not a spice-hound, actually pretty wimpy, but certain dishes really ask for it and it becomes a big part of the pleasure. We also got the usual veggie momos and the 3 condiments they bring which are awesome, but one of them was missing and replaced with some kind of ketchup.

When the bill came, under my dish it actually had typed up "no spicy" so I called someone over to ask about that. She said, in the nicest way possible "sometimes when people...from other areas...come, they don't want the spice". I was nice but gave her a bit of a hard time about it.

Went to Sigiri in the the east village the other day, the Sri Lankan place, at least they specifically told me it was going to be spicy and asked how I wanted it!

haha

my indian-from-indian friend lost a spice duel to sripraphai the other day

from-india

http://secondavenuesagas.com/2011/05/02/queens-commuters-growing-impatient-over-court-sq-transfer/

so the station is done and now it's just legal issues? annoying

(had to do the outside transfer a handful of times this week)

Have you heard El Shater got priced out of Sunnyside? And the Bliss guide sold "basmati table" to a local owner of multiple indian restaurants who offers "indian food for the american palette"

Go Sunnyside!

actually update was el shater dude's brother is gonna take over and redo it, sounds sorta promising actually.

also bliss and basmati table weren't good, so...

still commercial rent prices seem like they're going crazy high

went to cannelle for the first time in a while this sunday and it was as if it was magnolia bakery or something, line was just crazy.

Exciting news in Woodside! The empty space on the corner of Roosevelt Ave and 61st st under the 7 and LIRR train is set to become a Nathans!

And a few blocks away, in what used to be the dusty old "Woodside Delicatessen" we're getting a Crown Fried Chicken and Lite Ice Cream place.

Who needs M. Wells?

whatever happened to that pub The Porter House formerly The Curragower? it was right at the subway entrance on Roosevelt

Dan - which side? the corner next to the elevator or the spot that was an h&r block?

also a new hamburger spot is opening up across from the meat market on woodside ave. woodside is getting its share of 'American food' eh?

The h&r block is what's becoming the Nathan's. As well as Pudgie's Chicken, whatever that is.

The hamburger spot opening up across from Otomanelli's Meat Market is going to be Ottomanelli's Hamburger Restaurant, which may actually be good.

I don't know about any pubs called the Porter House or Curragower in the 5 or so years I've lived there.

that's a good spot for it

it'd be nice if something opened up in the elevator spot too tho

we went to claret for the first time last night and had to wait foreverrr to get served by the snooty gay jamaican (?) server wearing huge sunglasses.

not going back. why are all the brooklyn-esque places in queens so bad?