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

court square transfer opens tomorrow!

hooray!

transfer btwn what and what?

As much as people love 5 pointz, this area really could support a lot more residents now w/ a pretty nifty station.

xp G and 7

useful for brooklyn people going to mets games!

oh and 7 w/ E and M too, that's less important tho

I like the Korean cellophane noodles fried in seaweed (haven't had it at the place above though).

I also like kimbap/gimbap ("Korean sushi").

Aren't kites sold in toy stores?

I checked the big toys r us on northern blvd and various small ones in queens and bk. they only had dinky kid kites. I think I just have to buy online.

oh yeah, that G>7 Court Sq transfer's not new, I just hadda walk outside for a block for the last two years.

Did you eat at Sage along the way?

no, I do not eat en route to the ballgame

Now the transfer is underground and you don't need to reswipe. For the 7 months that I worked part time in brooklyn, taking the G home from gowanus, walking up the stairs, crossing jackson, then walking up to the 7, often in shitty weather, was a real pain in the ass. It recently had gotten to be more of a pain as they (smartly) put up those barriers on the island so you couldn't cross the street unless you were at one of the lights.

xp

yeah I mean this really does just cut time out of the obnoxious transfer. not having to walk the opposite direction -> wait for the street light -> climb stairs -> swipe in again is nice. maybe saves 5 mins, which adds up for people doing the commute. it's mostly psychological.

always wondered why they haven't tried something like this for queens plaza and qb plaza. they're a little further apart, but it'd be super useful.

the barriers are nice looking and the color green is always good in queens but there's generally more foot traffic on the street than car traffic, so I'm not sure if it made sense

ha I guess that last part potentially won't be true anymore thanks to the transfer. anyway, as I said before this is one of the most convenient transit spots in the borough so hopefully the area turns into something bigger.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/06/15/residents-happy-about-decision-to-scrap-queens-plaza-landscaping-design/

yeah I really didn't understand this design concept

I mean maybe it looked neat on someone's computer?

been wondering about that for weeks. Whole area is a mess, but they changed the traffic there so now getting on the bridge while coming down from Northern Blvd doesn't require a massive merge, which is a huge improvement.

They totally need to do this for QB Plaza & Queens Plaza. Or at least put up helpful guiding signs.

Has anyone been to Claret in Sunnyside? Is it an ok place?

I've been drinking with coworkers at Terraza in Jackson Heights lately. Kind of an interesting bar.

omg we had such bad service there that we left the only $0 tip I can remember leaving in the last 5 years.

the waiter was wearing sunglasses, had an attitude and spent 30 mins chatting with other people before he came to our table.

what they really should do w/ QB and queens plaza is connect them. I've never read a good reason why it couldn't happen and it'd be super useful.

OMG. Looks like it's going to be an interesting night. Is there a better place to go in S'side?

They should totally connect them, and just rename the whole thing Queensboro Junction or something.

there's nothing w/ the same vibe but getting drunk on de mole sangria is more fun / better food for your money.

get the mac n cheese, even tho we hate the place now, that was delicious.

Oh, that sounds like a lot more fun. Thanks for the suggestion!

Stopped in Terraza the other day after not having been in a long time. They've really opened up such space as they have and made the best use of it. And they have some great Latin Jazz players appearing there these days.

Donovan's Pub

Donovan’s, the famous Irish pub and restaurant that has occupied the corner of Roosevelt Avenue and 58th Street since 1966, was closed by the New York City Health Department yesterday.

The owner(s) could not be reached for comment. Donovan’s racked up a score of 66 violation points, when 27 or below is considered to be the passing grade.

!!!

we went to fort totten today out of boredom / mostly just the result of getting on random buses. it's very pretty...would be a great place to play sports if it weren't so out of the way.

Yeah I saw that about donovans. Too bad. I posted on the thread.

http://www.streetfilms.org/queens-plaza-protected-cycletrack-is-open-for-business/

not bad

Pretty much every time I go into Terraza they are playing that bagpipe bedizened Alpha Blondy cover of "Wish You Were Here" on the big TV.

Usually followed by Calexico cover of John Cale's "The Ballad of Cable Hogue."

been meaning to go

has anyone tried that newish diner under the 61st st station? curious if it's better than stop inn.

also amazed how quickly that nathan's popped up.

Current favorite place for ceviche? I haven't had in ages!

Quickly? They were working on that for ages! More interested in trying "pudgie's" chicken. Less interested in the Crown Fried Chicken with dollar slices and burgers and halal chicken that opened up in the old Woodside Delicatessen space.

I guess I just didn't notice? we don't go to woodside as much as we should. we noticed that fried chicken place too. also a Chinese Indian place, I think it was, near food dynasty?

There's a chinese indian place opening around the corner from roosevelt. Excited for the delivery option. Also a chinese indian "fusion" place opening in sunnyside, as posted on the Sunnyside Post.

The only place we eat in Queens now is Chao Thai, which is just destroying Srip and all other contenders.

where is that? there's also a Thai noodle place that just opened up on q blvd

http://sunnysidepost.com/2011/07/17/indianchinese-restaurant-to-open/

So after 5+ years in the area, we finally went to Natural Tofu. I don't know why we waited so long, it was pretty great. I had the Tofu with kimchee and beef and it was great. GF had the "vegetarian" and it was filled with american broccoli and cauliflower and had little taste. I told her next time she should just get the kimchee one and ask them to hold the beef.

I went to Chao Thai with a group of friends last week - all the flavors were excellent but the meat itself seemed fairly mediocre as compared to, say, Ayada. However, we went specifically to get a bunch of dishes made as spicy as possible, and the shaved mango salad with softshell crab almost killed everyone. Def would go back.

Also, this is a block away from Chao Thai and I need to get to it v v soon:
http://theeatenpath.com/2011/07/21/uncle-zhou-restaurant-hand-pulled-noodles-henan-cuisine-83-29-broadway-elmhurst-queens-ny/

Yeah, I've never been there. It used to be up the block near the indonesian restaurants but now it's around the corner in the spot that used to be Oz.

Chao's heat has seriously killed me, but I've liked the meat. Once I saw everyone getting some grilled pork on a stick thing and ordered it and it was mindblowing. Recently went with friends and ordered the pork sate and it wasn't the same thing and wasn't super great. It's the regular grilled pork on a stick app that kills.
GF is vegetarian so we get the mock duck basil which is super spicy with green beans. I also love the sour sausage fried rice.

We just had a few really bad experiences at Srip, reminding us never to go on weekends. Really watered down flavors. Not just a question of spice.

We haven't been blown away by Ayada and generally prefer Srip or Chao. Been meaning to try Ploy Thai, which I'd read was good but New York or someone just did a review that mentioned a dish that sounds amazing.

our bad exps with srip are generally regarding the amount of time we have to wait for our food to come

we were there last night and it was fine, tho

why don't these places deliver????

I like the atmosphere at Chao Thai, but the food's a little spicy for me.

I ate with two vegetarians at Happy Buddha in Flushing the other day ... their pretend meat was good.

We should all go out for drinks at Terraza sometime.

You were not there last night. THEY'RE CLOSED ON WEDNESDAY'S!

Srip does great takeout though. I think they generally assume you're a pro so they don't dumb it down too much. And they pack it wonderfully, keeping various elements separate so you can combine them when you get home.

I was trying to remember if it was yesterday or the day before but I couldn't remember what I had for dinner yesterday so I figured it must have been yesterday.

gf always refused to do srip takeout. I like eating at home *much much* more than she does. if it were up to me I'd pretty much never eat at a restaurant.

also I am good for drinks at terr whenever

well not this weekend but most of the time

I thought the Da Mole suggestion above was for margaritas, so I went last night and was upset that they weren't on the menu . . . but I see it was for sangria after all . . . so I guess I can't be mad. I wasn't too impressed with Da Mole anyway. I looked at two apartments in Sunnyside yesterday . . . but I'm not sure I'm ready to leave Astoria. Is Queens Boulevard a real demarcation line, like, it is significantly different to live in the north or the south part of Sunnyside? Most of the places I'm seeing are just south of QB, but I guess north has more cachet?