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

Yeah, that's it. Looks like Lety has another bakery in Woodside since end of last year.
(xp)
Heard rumor that empty space on 37th where a restaurant was is going to be- guess what?- a ScottishIrish gastropub.

This may not be canonical but I only like black & whites if the white aide is lemon-flavored. None of that nondescript white sugar frosting.

*white side

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black and whites just not very good when it comes down to it

also egg creams

Agreed. For black and whites the flavor to bulk and effort to eat ratio is unsatisfactory. For egg creams the thing is so ethereal, is consumed so quickly, that you hardly have time to taste it. Perhaps according to the Goldilocks formulation there is a third related treat that is just right.

Band is back from break. Guy just played what sounded like a highlife inflected quote from "Four."

good egg creams are GREAT. I've never had one I liked that I didn't make though.

(thank you sodastream)

Pretty good version of that old chestnut "Guantanamera."

Have I ever told you about my irrational dislike of the song Guantanamera?

It's not a bad song or anything, it's just sort of the Freebird of latin music.

Yeah, exactly. That and "El Condor Pasa."

Anyone here been to LIC Market? I've heard good things, although the menu seems less interesting than I would perhaps like. Maybe someone can recommend a better date night dinner within a few subway stops of FH? (want to stay close because it will be our first night using a non-relative babysitter).

I really like it for brunch

but pastries are like my favorite food and they give you really good mini-pastries w/ your brunch

I think the good date-y places are probably all in astoria

Is Vesta near a train?

Kebab Cafe in Astoria is a great date spot, if you don't mind it feeling like a 3 person date w/ the chef.

I had the BEST food from a place I'd say is maybe the worst date night dinner location. Gola Kabab from Kababish. Meat minced so finely that they have to wrap it in twine so it doesn't fall of the skewer. I had to remove the string before eating. I don't know how they serve it on a sandwich.

haha I was gonna suggest vesta

it's really far from the N and REALLY far from the R

what about Salt & Fat in Sunnyside -- anyone?

that is the closest restaurant to my apt but I don't go because I keep kosher

brooklyn types seem to like it and its generally busy

It's pretty great. Especially for Queens. Maybe it wouldn't seem so hip or special in Brooklyn or Lower East Side!

La Flor can be pretty decent for dinner, but they often have live music, very misguided.

should i move here? i'm going to move to nyc this year if it kills me; it's been a lifelong aspiration and now is the right time. i have more friends in brooklyn, but i think it's more expensive.

I like la flor a lot but it doesn't feel so date-y to me

if you like foreign food and relatively affordable rent you should live in queens

if you want to date hot young ppl and go to hip concerts and be poor you should live in brooklyn

Brooklyn is way more expensive, but Queens isn't for eveyone.

La Flor is suprisingly charming at night.

their service is reliably awful

thanks. i've liked astoria well enough when i visited there and will consider queens. happy to hear they have a thriving food culture because much of my discretionary income goes to restaurants.

i'm tossing around the idea of moving back to NYC. is there a part of queens that's cheap (1,100/month max rent, less the better), good for a single 30 yo into the usual ILX type shit, and is easily accessible to Penn Station?

to Treeship: I think if you're in your 20s and single and you can afford "Brooklyn" (meaning a part of Brooklyn that is palatable to 20-something post-college single types), move to Brooklyn. Only a cranky contrairian like iatee would profess to actually prefer Queens. But if BK is too beaucoup, there are plenty of likeable neighborhoods in Queens. Also there's Ridgewood, which is in Queens but is increasingly an extension of Bushwick as far as people like you are concerned.

Spectrum: when you say 1100 max rent, are you talking about a room in an apartment, or an apartment?

I've said it before, but I prefer Sunnyside/Woodside/Jackson Heights to Astoria.

Everything's expensive these days. Queens is cheaper but you're still gonna struggle to find anything less than 1200. You can find 2 bedroom apts for less than 1800, but studios and 1 bedrooms don't come cheap anywhere.

Hard to beat Woodside for convenience to Penn Station. Take the LIRR, 10 minutes door to door.

cranky!!

either or, I'd prefer to live alone honestly, but I'd consider a roommate

thanks Hurting. i don't know what my budget is going to be yet but it will be tight. ridgewood sounds interesting, i've loved the time i've spent in bushwick and wouldn't mind living in cycling distance from there.

you could probably find a studio in western queens for 1100 if you weren't picky and were on top of your cl game

there are hip young folk who prefer queens, but it takes a certain type. Usually cranky contrarians actually.

Ridgewood will still make you a pioneer, but easy access to that boomtown that is Bushwick can pay off.

Anyone been to Bunker Vietnamese on Metropolitan in Ridgewood just past Bushwick? Good stuff.

You can bike from Sunnyside/Woodside to Greenpoint or even Bushwick, though it's a pretty sketchy bike ride.

I liked Woodside when I was checking out places during my first run in the city. You're right about the price, Queens isn't as cheap as I'd thought it'd be ... though plenty of studios in "Upper Ditmars" Astoria.

yeah nobody should bike from sunnyside to greenpoitn or even walk really

I mean I do sometimes but nobody should do it

1100 is pretty tight for a studio anywhere decent, but I do see some listings at that price in Jackson Heights right now

astoria has a pretty huge range of prices because there are parts of astoria more than half a mile from a subway

Upper Ditmars is far but it's actually the only part of Astoria I would live in! It's nice up there near Astoria Park. A bit further away from the euro zone party time craziness that is much of Astoria.

iatee, wtf is up with Williamsburger opening up in Blissville (LIC/Sunnyside border on Greenpoint Ave)?

And I don't totally hate astoria. just can't imagine living there. Queens Kickshaw is killing it though.

no idea w/ the blissville thing, tho I do think blissville could turn into a cool neighborhood one day

You know like 95% of the toxic spill from Newtown Creek leaked south into greenpoint and barely affected the northern bank.

that's interesting I thought LIC was pretty toxic too. but yeah, old buildings, isolated but not too isolated from the city, cool skyline views, cheap rent, close to brooklyn....

(blissvile not LIC, LIC sucks)