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

After I had given my notice at my last job the department head and I were talking about next things to do in life and I was talking about wine and he was talking about retiring. He did retire, but then went back to Skadden Arps. And now he's at Google! Which is one way to go I guess. We used to share an elevator bank with Sirius radio which was crazy who you would end up being in an elevator with.

I've been seeing a wait for 28 minutes (always 28 minutes) in the evening a lot for the N, W going into Queens.

fwiw iirc part of the new Amazon campus was going to be incubator space iirc fwiw

that was probably just because the location they were taking over from Paxall is ALREADY renting small studios and workspaces out.

yerac have you been to Irving Bottle? My friends opened it in bushwick and I did all the branding/design/signage/wine label for house brand etc.

I remember seeing the signage you did on fb. It looks great! No, I don't get into brooklyn that often now. I am kind of annoyed that I lived in ewilliamsburg for like 12 years and now all of a sudden things like Brooklyn Steel opens up directly behind my old house.

I don't know from wine but my daughter's best friend's father works at Astoria Park Wine & Spirits and we went and played in kiddie pools in the backyard.

irving bottle is a nice store! i used to live right by it but am a ridgewood dweller now

cool. yeah I don't know anything about wine but i've bought some really pretty things there that also happen to taste good.

astoria has the weirdest selection of wine stores, i think half of them are fronts. One that opened near me is barely stocked and the person working was saying the owner just wanted to open a store in general and duplicates the wine selection from a friend's shop near Ditmars.

But maybe that was also a way to get around NY's weird law about a person can only hold one liquor license in all of the state and must live a certain distance by the site. Which is why you have family members holding the other licenses and there is The Bottle Shoppe and Bottle Shoppe in wburg.

Yeah Irving Bottle looks super nice. It's such a hassle to get places nowadays though. I kind of wish I still had my car here.

Nice to see this thread actually having some activity. FWIW I know nothing about Astoria wine shops. I'm in Forest Hills and usually go to Empire on Queens Blvd because it's walkable from me and has a relatively large selection.

I don't think I have ever been to Forest Hills proper, but I used to go to that Trader Joes there maybe every other week when I lived on Maspeth in ewilliamsburg. I just found out that there is a Rosa's Pizza that opened in astoria too.

We just noticed that.

Before the amazon announcement today, I was looking at apt listings in Sunnyside and Jackson Heights because I still prefer those areas to astoria and there were a couple that touted the Amazon HQ2 in the description.lol.

I wonder what the realtors will list now? I know, proximity to the 7 line and a quick, seamless 15 minute commute into Manhattan (ha ha).

As others have pointed out, all the very worst people of nyc are the main ones upset that there will be no amazon.

Anyone going to see Franklin Bruno tomorrow at E77?

Maybe you are going to see him tonight at Laura Cantrell’s gig at Sid Gold’s Request Room.

sounds like a fun set!

http://www.grubstreet.com/bestofnewyork/absolute-best-restaurants-in-rego-park-and-forest-hills.html

Was surprised to realize I've tried less than half these places and didn't even know a few of them existed. Can confirm that Nick's Pizza, Net Cost, and Xin Taste are all v good. Knish Nosh too I guess, I just never really feel like eating a knish.

nick's pizza + eddie's sweet shop is a devastating combo

I'm kind of down on Eddie's Sweet Shop tbh. Ice cream is too sweet and service is too slow so that it arrives melting.

yeah the quality of the treats is lacking but like barrington levy says the vibes is right

jahn's in jackson heights is also a quality vibes ice cream shop

Brian Charette to hit in forty minutes at the JH Jazz Festival.

Sounds great

Including guitar player, with whom I have been unfamiliar up until now

Matt Chertkoff. Believe he is playing the 8PM show at the Queensboro as well.

Been having fun at the Jackson Heights Jazz Festival this week and hope to have some more today on the last day.

1. Finally made it to Terraza 7 last weekend for a 3pm kids show by Sonia De La Santos, who Opal is a big fan of. Some of her band are regulars there. What a cool place for sure. A bit nervous having 2 year olds dancing up there on the mezzanine though.

2. Went back to Forest Park for the first time in many many years. First time with Opal. Was great, have no idea why we've been neglecting it. Didn't even realize there was a parking lot over by the carousel. Opal loved the carousel and the train ride and she said "you know what would be a good idea? If I got one of those balloons". We had to disagree with that. Then played in the playground and fountain area by the skate park. Will definitely be taking more advantage of that and make it part of the rotation.

i'm told the forest school on mondays at forest park is a good time for toddlers/kids. haven't taken mine yet as my "work from home" day is friday.

had a great time at the queens county farm museum recently, kiddo loved feeding the goats and running around. also it's 5 minutes from the strip of amazing indian places on hillside ave in floral park. highly recommended. and free!

yeah we've done the farm. Also big fans of the petting zoo that's part of the Queens Zoo in flushing meadows.

yes! paired of course with a trip to lemon ice king of corona.

all good toddler outings culminate in destination food. college point target -> little pepper. jacob riis -> roll n roaster. etc.

TS: roads vs aves

1. Finally made it to Terraza 7 last weekend for a 3pm kids show by Sonia De La Santos, who Opal is a big fan of. Some of her band are regulars there. What a cool place for sure. A bit nervous having 2 year olds dancing up there on the mezzanine though.

also meant to mention, been looking at pools. There's a tiny kids pool in Windmuller park across the street from my house, a real hidden gem, if tiny. But twice now my wife has taken Opal to Fisher Pool in East Elmhurst, a huge kids pool and wading pool that was just redone. A real gem.

In fact just was reminded that Cumbia River Band will be playing a free show in Travers Park next Sunday evening, I think.

I think opal would freak out to see Sonia de los Santos and not here her okay her favorites.

Makes sense.

Dan glad you enjoyed forest park, it’s an underloved place in multiple senses. Have had nice times with the kids at that carousel. You should also check out overlook which is a different section of forest park. You can walk from there to some decent eateries in Kew Gardens.

As far as pools, Astoria Park was nice when we went a couple years ago. There’s a coop down the street from us called Birchwood that has a decent outdoor pool and you used to be able to buy day passes but now you have to buy a membership.

Queens county farm museum is great too as is queens zoo. Btw the farmers market at the qc farm is really really good although small and I think they run it at least a few days a week. Adam what part of queens are you in again.

K (7.5) always says she hates Brooklyn and loves queens, which sort of tickles me.

i am in ridgewood, right off fresh pond rd. i used to live right on fresh pond which i do not recommend. you're in forest hills right? we can meet up in middle village in some terrifying trump bar on metropolitan

got some ridiculously good asparagus at that farmers market!

Nowadays on a weekend day might be a nice spot for a queens ilxor meetup -- I've taken the kids there before.

https://youtu.be/kdZXKI2Bmu8

Jimmy Van Bramer stepping down from Queens Borough Pres race due to family matters, I think his mother's health?

poisoned by the deranged john brown smokehouse amazon fan dude

oh man, i didn't know that guys story. I eat there all the time!

just got off the phone with Costa Constantinides. Is he the guy now that Jimmy's out?