Grand CentralTerminal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b4XQUE_u8o

Here is a very recent video from Architectual  Digest exploring Grand Central Terminal

Astoria

There is a lot of geography covered  in this post.  It can be covered by foot- but it is a lot of walking.  Numbers 1-3 are near the Steinway Street subway stop on the M and R trains.  It is also near the 36 Street subway station  on the N and W lines.  Numbers  4, 5 ,6 are right near the 30th Avenue station on the M and R line.  Numbers 7-10 are near the waterfront.  There is a ferry stop a 5 minute walk north of Socrates Park that returns to Manhattan.  The Q103 goes up Vernon Boulevard and stops at 21 Street and Queensbridge for the F train.   Any Queens resident will tell you that MTA service is variable and one should check that the line is actually running and the station is open before beginning the trip. (Or not - the stations are not that far from each other so if one is closed the next one is probably only a few blocks away).

1. Museum of the Moving Image  -http://www.movingimage.us/  Astoria was the original home of the film industry in the United States.  The Museum of the Moving Image located next to the Kaufman Astoria Studios has several floors of exhibits dedicated to many different facets of the Image Industry.  The Muppets exhibit is always a big attraction.  Many exhibits are hands on and popular with all ages.

2.Astoria Kaufman Studios. http://www.kaufmanastoria.com/   Originally this studio was home to Paramount Studios.  The Marx Brothers made films here.

3. Brookyn Grange-  https://www.brooklyngrangefarm.com/markets/This is an urban rooftop farm- with killer views of the skyline.  I think the only way you can really get to see it is to visit the Farmer’s Market on Saturday.  Otherwise check the website

4.Euromarket:   30-42 31 Street This old world grocery store is filled with goodies.

5.Taiwan Union Christian Church-This street  ( 31 Street  between 30 Drive and 30 Avenue)  is a good example of what happens to a street when zoning and neighborhood preservation is  something that happens elsewhere.  Mixed in the street are houses from the Old Astoria Village as well as new apartment buildings.  The Taiwan Union Christian Church is in a building originally built for the Dutch Reform Congregation at the time of the Civil War.

6.Athens Square Park-  https://www.athenssquarepark.org/

Astoria was once known for its large Greek community.  This neighborhood park with its statues of Greek philosophers  and mini amphitheater is a celebration of the communities heritage.  

7.Queens Library at Astoria 14-01 Astoria Boulevard .  This branch is one of the few remaining Carnegie Libraries in New York City.  This building built in 1904 was built with money from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, which gave grants to build libraries all over the country.

8.Welling Court Mural Project:  Scattered around a series of mostly auto repair shops is a street mural display to rival anything Brooklyn has to offer.  https://wellingcourtmuralproject.com/

9.Noguchi Museum:  http://www.noguchi.org/museum/historyThe museum was designed and  founded by the artist Isamu Noguchi. Noguchi was an American artist of Japanese descent.  He was famous for his sculptures and set designs in the  mid 20^th century

10. Socrates Sculpture Garden:  http://socratessculpturepark.org/A combination city park and outdoor sculpture garden with spectacular views of Roosevelt Island and Manhattan

         

Skyscrapers of 42 Street- A Janes Walk

The first weekend of May is often  the Jane's Walk weekend.  Volunteers all around the city lead walks  sharing their special area of knowledge.

On Friday, May 4, 2018 I overcame my lethargy and headed to the plaza in front of the United Nations where Eric Nash led a group down 42 Street.  

The story of how the United Nations came to be located at its present site is long and complicated but this was a tour about architecture of skyscrapers.  (all information presented in this entry is directly received from the tour leader- Eric Nash.  I did not verify any of it and any mistakes are more likely due to my bad hearing than inaccuracies of Mr. Nash)

Eric Nash explained that the the United Nations, was the first slab office building constructed in New York City.  Buildings are not supported by their walls, but by their internal structure.  The Secretariat, the building that houses the the offices of the UN is covered with green glass. This building, our leader said, ushered in the age of glass and steel buildings.

We climbed the stairway next to the Isaiah Wall and we were in the full blooming, Tudor City Park.  Tudor City is complex of eleven buildings built in the 1920s.   Grand Central Terminal was built in 1913 and brought the business of the city to midtown.  Somebody had to staff the many offices now located near  42 Street and we were told the small apartments in Tudor City were meant to house secretaries.  They are small apartments with even smaller kitchens.

A leaded window in the lobby of one of the Tudor City Buildings.

We continued westward.   Between Second and Third Avenue is the Daily News Building (It also says WPIX) Designed by Raymond Hood, the building was used for the Superman Movies and there is a giant globe floating in a pit in the marbled lined lobby..  Above the entrance to the main lobby is a frieze that captures New York in the 1930's. Carved into stone is a variety of New Yorkers dressed in the clothes of the era and prepared to perform the jobs of the trades of the era.  Behind them the skyscraper looms like a gothic cathedral with the sun shining behind it.

The next building could be called the Alcoa Building, or the Mobil Building, Located between Third Avenue and Lexington,  I found websites with both names.  It is covered in steel panels with patterns one website describes as "rusticated".  Once the facade might have been aluminum because that;s what Alcoa made.  Anyway it reminded me of the shoeboxes wrapped in tinfoil we stacked in the back of the classrooms in our model cities.

The Chanin Building was the next building. An example of the Art Deco style, the lobby of the building is filled with Art Deco details, dripping chandeliers, elaborated stylized metal mailboxes and geese that grace the doors of the elevators while their occupants ascend.  No photos inside the building, so you have to take my word for it or check it out yourself 

Across from the Chanin Building is the Chrysler Building.  It was the tallest building in the world for eleven months.  The outside of the building has all sorts of references to the automobile.  Look hard and you can see hubcaps and grills, fenders and radiator covers.  The gargoyles attached to the building are in the shape of hood ornaments.  Another member of the tour pointed out that the ceiling of the lobby was the world's largest oil painting.

And then the two hours for the scheduled tour was were up.  We had just reached Grand Central Terminal, but that is a story for a whole other day and nothing was mentioned about it.



More information here

Historic Downtown

I an often asked about walking around the Financial District.  This is what I recommend.
Begin at City Hall. Subway Stop:City Hall #4 or #5 train






1) The David Dinkins Municipal Building.:
A few years ago, I was standing in the Brooklyn Bridge Park listening to a tourist guide speaking to a  group in Spanish. He directed their attention to the "Palace" across the river and explained it was the Municipal Building. Construction on the forty story office building began in 1907 and it opened in 1914.  If you follow the signs in the subway to City Hall, you should come up right underneath the building. the arcade with Guastavino Vaulted ceiling roofs.

Manhattan Borough President's Office.- on the 19th Floor of the Municipal Building, the Manhattan Borough President's Office almost always has an art exhibit on display in the hallways.  I've seen some pretty interesting exhibits there, my favorite, a display of handmade quilts.  But the views available for free, no charge to visit the gallery, are magnificent.  Make sure to use the restrooms both men's and ladies' rooms have views overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge.  In the ladies' room you need to enter the last stall to be ensured of this view. (I have no idea about the men's room).

2) City Hall Park- across the street  a small oasis of green amid the canyons of stone and steel.
Information for History Buffs from http://www.nyfreedom.com/

The park, was the scene of the first bloodshed of the movement for American liberty, it was where Washington first had the Declaration of Independence read to his troops and it was also the site of one of the most notorious British prisons that claimed the lives of thousands of American soldiers.

Much more history on the website

3) City Hall- You can try to reserve a morning tour if that's the kind of thing you find interesting.

4)Tweed Court House
52 Chamber's Street

Just across from City Hall is the Tweed Courthouse.  Today it is the home of the Department of Education.  I have been inside the building for job-related meetings and interviews and it drips opulence. I am not sure if there are public tours but it has an interesting history.

"Boss" Tweed—was an American politician most notable for being the "boss" of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th century New York City and State.  

Here's how an opinion piece describes the construction of the Tweed Court House

From the New York Times:  Originally budgeted at about $300,000, it ended up costing taxpayers more than $13 million -- almost twice what it cost the United States to purchase Alaska at about the same time. Construction took 13 years and served as a master class in political graft. Favored contractors were hired, in exchange for kickbacks, to do incompetent work and then hired again to make ''repairs.'' The result was bills that were, in the words of Robert Roosevelt, a reformist member of the famous New York family, ''not merely monstrous, . . . [but] manifestly fabulous.'' Andrew Garvey, who became known as ''the prince of plasterers,'' charged nearly $2.9 million for a plastering job that should have cost $20,000. Each window cost about $8,000. More than $41,000 was spent on brooms. Some $350,000 was spent on carpeting. 

Exit City Hall Park on the  South End. 5)  Walk past the Woolworth Building, for 17 years it was the tallest building in the world.  Today you can only enter the building with a paid tour.   Continue South on Broadway to St. Paul's Chapel.

6)St. Paul's Chapel

There are two church buildings with steeples on Broadway.  Both buildings are part of the Parish of Trinity Church , Wall Street.  Although the St. Paul's website states that George Washington worshiped there after his inauguration, today the St. Paul's building is only used as a museum.
From www.nyfreedom.com

Washington came here for a special service after his inauguration on April 30, 1789. He continued to attend services at the chapel during the two years that New York served as the capital of the United States.
During the Revolutionary War, British Generals Cornwallis and Howe attended services here.
An oil painting of the Great Seal of the United States, the first rendition of the seal, hangs over Washington's pew.
The ornamental design over the alter was the work of Pierre L'Enfant, a French veteran of the revolution who designed Washington, D.C.
Royal Arms of George III are on display on the gallery of the church.
In front, there is a monument to General Richard Montgomery, a revolutionary hero who died in the Battle of Quebec. He is buried beneath the East Porch.

Walk east past the churchyard and cross Church Street and you are in the World Trade Center Complex.

7)The Oculus is Santiago Calatrava's 4 billion dollar transportation center.  There are those that think the birdlike structure on the precipice of flight is a more fitting memorial to the 9-11 victims with its uplifting momentum, then the falling down waters of the Memorial Pools.
More information about the Oculus here https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-best-part-of-calatravas-oculus

8) 9/11 Memorial-The Memorial Pools
On the footprint of the fallen towers, two pools surrounded by plaques with the victims names memorialize the tragedy.
More information here:  https://www.911memorial.org/about-memorial

Walk back east on Cedar Street.  When you cross Trinity Street you are in Zuccotti Park.  Now it is surrounded by food trucks but for several weeks in 2011 it was its own village as the Occupy Wall Street Movement appeared, thrived and was demolished in the span of a month.

Walk through 9) Zuccotti Park and turn south (right) on Broadway.  Look down as you walk on Broadway and you will see metal plaques embedded in the sidewalk. Once the Canyon of Heroes regularly hosted ticker tape parades for all sorts of heroes,  Once Wall Street offices generated actual ticker tape.  Today the rare parade is reserved for championship NY sport teams- though the last parade held was in 2015 when the US Ladies National Soccer team won the World Cup.
list of parades

10)Trinity Church:  The other steepled church on Broadway.  This building is an actual house of worship.  And of course there is Alexander Hamilton's Grave in the churchyard.


From the website: www,nyfreedom.com
The church was chartered by King William III in 1697 and received a large grant of real estate west of Broadway. Much early patriotic activity in New York occurred near the church, especially in the Coffee House on Wall Street. Parishioners were leaving church as an express rider from Boston arrived to tell that war had broken out with the battles of Lexington and Concord.

Trinity burned in the fire of 1776. The British seized the non-Anglican churches in the city and used them as prisons and barracks. That doesn't mean they paid particular respect to the ruins of Trinity. They fenced off the churchyard and hung lanterns in the trees, using it as something of a pleasure garden. The burning of Trinity left St. Paul's chapel further north as the center of religious life in the city during the remainder of the war, and as New York served as the capital of the new nation.

Hamilton was a brilliant aide to Washington during the war. He came to prominence in the new Republic as the youngest of the 55 framers of the U.S. Constitution. He was the first secretary of the Treasury and founded the country's first central bank. Hamilton was mortally wounded in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr.

In the church yard, in addition to Hamilton's grave, there is a memorial to the unknown martyrs of the revolution buried on the grounds. There is another Society of the Cincinnati memorial for the 16 officers of the Continental Army and Navy buried in the cemeteries maintained by the church. There is also a memorial to the thousands of Americans who died in prison ships in New York harbor.

When the British evacuated the city on Nov. 25, 1783, the Americans marched into New York and stood at parade rest on Broadway near Trinity Church as a salute of 13 guns was fired marking the end of the war.

more, including illustrations, on the website above.

Turn east and head down Wall Street.
11) New York Stock Exchange
There is a gigantic American Flag in front of the Exchange, that and a lot of police is mostly what you get to see of the Stock Exchange.  Visitors are no longer allowed for security reasons and most of the financial trading is done digitally these days.

Fearless Girl statue was moved here

12) Federal Hall
This is the site where George Washington took his oath of presidency.  Thus, the large statue, where many feel need to pose for a picture. Lots of history on its official site, as well as links to other National Park Sites in the city.https://www.nps.gov/feha/index.htm
A short detour inside is worth the time.  For one thing this makes an easy bathroom stop and check out the mural of early New Amsterdam across from the bathrooms.

Turn around and retrace your steps to return to Broadway.
Continue South on Broadway.

13) Charging Bull 
At the foot of Broadway, right across from Bowling Green Park is the statue of the Charging Bulll.  Feel free to line up to take pictures or rub any part you want.

14) Bowling Green
When the Dutch first colonized Manhattan - it was originally named New Amsterdam, the lower tip was where they settled.  The Bowling Green was the community meeting place, it was where business was conducted (there was no town hall), and where the community had it recreation- hence the name Bowling Green.  You can look on the NYfreedom.com website's for its role in the English Colony the succeed the Dutch.

15) Museum of the American Indian
The only Smithsonian Museum in New York City, has a few interesting exhibits about Native Americans.  The building itself was once the Alexander Hamilton Custom House, and I find the rotunda with ceiling murals as interesting as the Native American exhibits.  It is free and also has bathrooms.
https://www.nyc-arts.org/organizations/289/national-museum-of-the-american-indian-smithsonian-institution

16) Castle Clinton- Battery Park-
Castle Clinton, the fort where you get tickets to the Statue of Liberty is located in the park.  There is a  Sea Glass Carousel which, I believe solely exists to vacuum cash out of tourist's pockets is also there as are lots of lovely views of NY Harbor.

Walk out of the park.  Go east on State Street which quickly becomes Water Street and make a left on Broad Street.


17) Fraunces Tavern and Stone Street
54 Pearl Street (Fraunces Tavern)
On this site George Washington said farewell to his troops in 1783.  What is pretty well accepted as fact is that Samuel Fraunces opened a tavern on the site in 1760 and it played a part in the Revolutionary War.  Today there is an operating restaurant and a museum which are not exactly the same building George Washington used for refreshments.  I haven't availed myself to either but you can always take a quick look inside.

Around the tavern on the north side of Pearl Street you can find artifacts of the old city embedded in the sidewalk if you feel like looking for them.

Walk one more block north on Broad Street and you arrive on  18)Stone Street.  Its a cute old fashion tourist street filled with expensive restaurants.

Walk west on Stone Street to Whitehall Street.  Then walk south on Whitehall Street to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.

19) Whitehall Terminal Staten Island Ferry
Tired?  Stop walking. Go into the ferry terminal and get in line.  There may be many people.  That's okay, many people fit on the ferry.  When you get on rush over to the right side of the ferry and don't sit down.  Stand by the rail.  You will get the best views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  If you sit someone will stand in front of you and block the views.  Then enjoy the ride.  They do make you get off on the Staten Island side.  Then you have a choice of running around and trying to make the next ferry to Manhattan or you can leave the terminal and walk around Staten Island for a bit.  I long ago resolved never to run for the next whatever, bus, train, or ferry so unless the weather is absolutely awful I would choose the latter. When you go back, don't worry about seeing the Statue of Liberty again, she didn't change,  Walk around the boat and enjoy all the different views.

Hungry?

The Financial District is filled with all sorts of restaurants-most aim to feed the  thousands of weekday workers in the area.  Many are fine dining for those with large expense accounts, many more are salad bars or coffee shops for those without.  I generally grab something in the one I am standing in front of when I get hungry.  Sometimes I take a wrap and eat it in Battery City Park or on the ferry.  There's always Chinatown at the end of the day- for a cheap sit down meal.

The Dead Rabbit- very popular with tourist crowd

30 Water Street, New York, NY 10004(646) 422-7906
Eataly 

101 Liberty St
Fl 3
New York, NY 10006

b/t Trinity Pl & Greenwich St 
Zeytuna-I have a friend with a long list of things he cannot eat, this is the place for him- so many choices definitely something for everyone.59 Maiden Ln

New York, NY 10038

Phone number(212) 742-2436

Restaurants I've never tried but really want to

Honestly- the point of this post is to keep a running record of places I’ve read about and want to try without having to remember the site I read originally.

I admit it.  There is no way I can try a small fraction of Queens Restaurants.  I like to think I’m adventurous and will just jump into a place, order away and remember where and what I ate. That’s not me. The following are places I want to try.  As I do I will move them to another post –with personal reflections. In this post any text is copied directly from the original website.

Cienega Las Tlayudas de Oaxaca

·        NYT Critic’s Pick

10432 Corona Avenue

(106th Street)

Corona

347-353-2366

La Esquina del Camarón Mexicano

·        NYT Critic’s Pick

80-02 Roosevelt Avenue

(80th Street)

Jackson Heights

347-885-2946

The following restaurants come from https://ny.eater.com/maps/best-cheap-eats-nyc

Alnour

39-04 64th St, Queens, NY 11377

Once known as Cedars Meat House, this Astoria Lebanese mainstay combines a butcher shop, grocery store, and kebabery with counter seating. Choose from among a shawarma or two; kebabs of chicken, beef kufta, or the ground-lamb Aleppo; and lamb chops or ribeye steaks, all flame grilled. The usual bread dips and fried veggies are also provided, in addition to stews and soups. Don’t miss the pungent garlic sauce called toum.

New York Pão De Queijo

Buzzy destination serving traditional Brazilian entrees plus burgers with inventive toppings.

Address: 31-90 30th St, Astoria, NY 11106

This delightful Brazilian snackery in Astoria excels at bouncy little baked cheese balls and oblong fritters called coxinhas. But the real raison d’etre for this cozy little place are the burgers, Brazilian style. One of my favorite burgers here is the X Calabresa — a good-sized patty with two types of white cheese, lettuce, tomato, corn, potato sticks, an egg, and a slice of smoked sausage. The thing will set you back only $8.50, and you won’t miss the french fries. By the way, ask for specials; sometimes there’s only black beans and rice, sometimes an entire feijoada.

Shanghai You Garden

Fabled dumpling maker Zhou Jianhua left Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao not long ago and went to Shanghai You Garden, which is now the best place in town to get Shanghai soup dumplings, also known as xiaolongbao or XLB for short. The skins here are imperially thin, the soup dense and oily, and the filling of the best one featuring pork and savory shreds of crabmeat. The premises are ultramodern, and other Shanghai dishes fill out the menu.

Shanghai You Garden

135-33 40 Rd, Flushing, NY 11354

Fabled dumpling maker Zhou Jianhua left Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao not long ago and went to Shanghai You Garden, which is now the best place in town to get Shanghai soup dumplings, also known as xiaolongbao or XLB for short. The skins here are imperially thin, the soup dense and oily, and the filling of the best one featuring pork and savory shreds of crabmeat. The premises are ultramodern, and other Shanghai dishes fill out the menu.

13 La Duena Mexican Deli 2

Address: 103-22 Northern Blvd, Corona, NY 11368

The high quality of the food at this Mexican deli in Corona is apparent the minute you spy the orderly displays of cheese empanadas, meat-stuffed flautas, and chicharrones preparados, or fried cracker platforms used as vegetarian pig skins. Heaped with queso, guacamole, crema, and salsa, they make excellent street snacks. Other specialties include picaditas, sopes, and tlacoyos. Weekends, there’s goat barbacoa.

14 Hyderabadi Biryani & Chat

 44-27 Kissena Blvd, Queens, NY 11355

In its unique culinary traditions, the southern Indian city of Hyderabad — which has become a high-tech hub — has more in common with northern India. This is reflected in its signature dish, biryani, a spectacular rice cook up. The biryani is available in 12 varieties — including one vegetarian and one vegan. Rather than sitting on the steam table and drying out, it is assembled to order with freshly cooked morsels of meat and vegetables. The rice is kept exceedingly fluffy, delicately flavored with ginger, garlic, and cardamom. Other don’t-miss regional dishes include Kerala pepper chicken — which is so spicy it will burn your mouth, as will “bullet naan,” shot with fresh jalapeños.

18 Brazil Aroma

 75-13 Roosevelt Ave, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

There have long been inexpensive Brazilian cafes in Astoria peddling pao de queijo, elaborately dressed Cariocan burgers, and big Saturday servings of feijoada, the national dish of black beans and pig parts. Now, one has scampered over to Jackson Heights. Brazil Aroma seeks to partly emulate the great churrascarias of Newark’s Ironbound. The buffet clocks in at $5.99 per pound, and it’s easy to fill yourself up for six bucks or so. But you’ll also be distracted by the window at the end of the room — therein find a guy working a charcoal oven with a dozen spits, on which skewers of meat are pinned. This selection costs $7.99, and the skirt steak, pork sausage, and chicken legs are terrific.

 

19 Papa's Kitchen

65-40 Woodside Ave, Woodside, NY 11377

The eponymous Papa, father to the brother-and-sister co-owners, hails from Bicol, a region 250 miles southeast of Manila. The boxy dining room offers just a handful of tables,and the karaoke is continuous. Once a customer stops singing, another picks up the cordless mic and plows onward. A highlight of a recent meal included a wonderful sinigang: a tart fish soup floating a pompano and Napa cabbage in a tamarind-laced broth. Other enjoyable dishes included crispy pata (a pair of whole pork shanks roasted to perfect crispness) and the national dish of chicken adobo. There are a surprising number of vegetable-focused dishes, though vegetarians beware: these often contain fish or fermented-shrimp paste.

Happy Stony Noodle

 83-47 Dongan Ave, Queens, NY 11373 Elmhurst

Part of a Taiwanese restaurant boom that’s been sweeping Gotham, Happy Stony Noodle specializes in snacks and whole-meal noodle soups (mainly featuring beef), and other main course dishes, all in a rollicking atmosphere that has nothing to do with “stony,” alas. (The seeming adjective actually refers to the owner’s English nickname.) In the snack category find squid balls, popcorn chicken, oyster pancakes, and the cryptic “pork roll”; while full meal soups include #52 — flat wheat noodles with beef and tendon, which is my favorite. Standards like fly heads and three-cup chicken are also available.

27 Knish Nosh Knishes & Franks

Since 1952, Rego Park’s Knish Nosh has been enfolding tasty fillings in spongy dough and baking the heck out of them. The primary result is the Jewish snack called the knish, which was probably brought here by Polish immigrants around 1900. Knish Nosh makes them in the traditional round format — not for the pillow knishes associated with Coney Island — with a choice of eight fillings. These include cabbage, kasha, potato, and the undefined “meat.” The innovation here is simply making them much bigger than usual. Also available are several varieties of pastry-wrapped hot dogs, including the dazzling foot-long.

32 Spicy Lanka

159-23 Hillside Avenue, Jamaica, NY 11432

You might not think of downtown Jamaica as a hotbed of Sri Lankan cuisine (a designation reserved for Staten Island), but there is at least one formidable Ceylonese restaurant along Hillside Avenue’s amazing restaurant row. The premises is dark enough for a date, and the food is halal. Highlights include kothu roti, a pyramid fashioned from torn-up shreds of flatbread tossed with vegetables and egg, chicken, mutton, shrimp, or kingfish. Other recommendations include godhamba roti (a buttery wadded flatbread), and chicken biryani, which comes embedded with boiled eggs and sided by an excellent piece of fried chicken. The humongous entrees easily feed two.

33 El Comal

 148-60 Hillside Avenue, Jamaica, NY 11435

The city’s foremost Salvadoran pupuseria makes them from scratch — walk in the front door and you’ll hear the “thwap, thwap, thwap” of the pupusas being hand-patted. Pick various combinations of beans, cheese, chicharron de puerco, and loroco flowers (which taste something like pickled oregano), and you’ll have yourself quite a snack or a meal, especially if you slit the things and spoon in the cortado (pickled cabbage) and squirt in the hot sauce. All sorts of other Salvadoran set meals are also available.

Eating My Way down the 7 Line

Where I eat when I wander.. I take a long walk home from work often. That is the great part about being semi-retired and done at noon. And I eliminate any weight loss benefit by testing out eateries along the way. There are so many wonderful places to eat along the #7 subway line, that even I can’t possible attempt to try all of them. Here is the shortest of lists of a variety of places I love.
1.Stop Inn 
60-22 Roosevelt Ave
Woodside, NY 11377 Woodside
 Subway Stop: 61street Woodside

 I am including this restaurant because from time to time someone asks me to recommend a traditional American restaurant. I am not sure I know what exactly is a traditional American restaurant, but I bring those requesting one, here. It’s a diner like I remember diners- booths, eggs and hamburgers, friendly staff and checkered curtains hanging in the window. The reviews complain that the menu is pricey and they are a bit pricier than the ethnic restaurants but the portions are huge. Often you can order Yankee Pot Roast- so if you are looking for an example of traditional American food-that's about as traditional as I can think of.

2.Three Aunties Thai Market
64-04 39th Ave
Woodside, NY 11377 Woodside
Subway Stop: 61 Street Woodside

SriPraPha is a well-known, well reviewed Thai Restaurant. I haven't eaten there in years. No fault of theirs- just so many more Thai restaurants opened close to home. But across the street is a little Thai grocery with a small eating counter next to its front window. I ordered two chicken curry puffs. Each cost $1.50. Really, really delicious and there were all sorts of Muay Thai Boxing supplies to look at while I ate.

3.Rajbhog- Indian 
72-27 37th Avenue
Jackson Heights, NY 11372
Subway stop- 74th Street Broadway on the 7 –the same station is called Roosevelt on the E,F and M,R trains

The door has a poster that states that the food available is vegetarian, vegan, Jain and kosher The small store has all sorts of interesting and eye catching sweets. I ordered Samosa Chaat-Chickpea curry with yogurt onions and tangy sauces for $6.99. It was really good and way too much for just me. Next time I will definitely try one of the sweets 

4. Lhasa Fast Food Tibetan 
37-50 74th St Ste 3750
Jackson Heights, NY 11372
Subway Stop: 74 Street

I did not stumble onto this place. That would have been impossible. I went looking for it one day based on an article I read somewhere. Now it has some fame and even Anthony Bourdain featured it on a May 2017, Parts Unknown program. It is always described as being in back of a cell phone store. Though that is only partially correct, Queens is filled with store fronts that have mini-malls, a succession of counters selling electronics, jewelry and the likes, things that don’t require racks and racks of space so several enterprises can share one location. So look for the address then walk in and wander around. If you look non-Tibetan and lost- someone will immediately direct you to the restaurant. What I like best is the hot buttered tea—but check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efeZYOLu1TY for more information.

5. Arepa Lady Colombian 

77-17 37th Ave
Jackson Heights, NY 11372

Jackson Heights  (They moved.  This is the current location)

It seems like everyone knows the story of Arepa Lady. Maria Cano, a Colombian immigrant was an attorney in Colombia, but unable to practice in the US she opened a food truck that sold Arepas, a Colombian pancake made with corn flour and stuffed with all kinds of things. The business became very successful and currently has a location in Brooklyn as well.  Besides ordering Arepas, I like the appetizer variety plate, make sure to have one of the fruit drinks as well.

6. 969 NYC Coffee Japanese 
37-65 80th Street
Jackson Heights,, NY 11372
 Subway Stop: 82 Street

 One of the reviews in Yelp said something like “Holy moly, a real Japanese Restaurant run by a real Japanese person.” Again this is a really small shop with limited seating. I stopped in one cold day in February and the owner/ counterman had just returned from vacation in Japan, which he was really happy to tell me about. I ordered Onigiri- white rice- usually stuffed with fish. Maybe an authentic foodie would know that. I am not an authentic foody. The owner very carefully explained it to me. Because it was February, the Onigiri’s were shaped as hearts. I brought one home for my valentine. It was great.

7. La Nueva Bakery- Uruguayan
86-10 37th Avenue
Jackson Heights NY
Subway stop: 90th Street Elmhurst Ave
 I read about this one in a New York Times article about Latin, New York. I mentioned wanting to look for it to a co-worker who waxed poetic about the pastries there for the next ten minutes. It must have many different types of wonderful pastries, I insist on purchasing the alfijores, the caramel filled shortbread cookies I developed a passion for on vacation in Argentina. The bakery is Uruguayan but close enough.

 8. Rincon Criollo Cuban 
40-09 Junction Blvd Corona,
 NY 11368 North Corona
Subway Stop: Junction Boulevard
I went to Cuba on a cruise ship. It is an easy way to get a very shallow taste of Cuba. However, I spent more time eating Cuban Food in Corona than I did in Havana. If I didn’t enjoy the food, which I very much do, I would still go to look at the photos of old Cuba that line the walls. If it looks like those photos are from the family albums of the staff and customers – it’s because they are. Also, the walls are decorated with the wood map shaped cutouts of the countries from where the customers originated, Queens and the world in a storefront.