Old school hobby shop

Astoria shops offer the full array of stores -- from modern and hip boutiques and organic markets to shops that literally take you back in time as they probably haven't changed in at least 40 years.  Rudy's Hobby & Art Store (35-16 30th Ave) is one of these time capsule shops and is definitely worth a visit! From hundreds of model train sets and parts to kits for building wooden planes, ships, and cars, this store has all the old school hobbies you would want and more (including the standard art supplies and puzzle sets)!  Streaming along the ceiling you'll also find completed model airplanes, which really adds to the atmosphere of the shop.  I can only hope that shops like this one will stick around even as Astoria continues to transform as a neighborhood.

Food Update #7

My parents came to visit last month and we got to try out some new restaurants that I wanted to share with you all as all were delicious and worth checking out!

Zenon Taverna (34-10 31st Ave): This is a wonderful Greek/Cypriot restaurant, which a really nice ambiance and delicious food!  You'll find all of the staple greek dishes and some unique additions from the Cypriot side. J and my mom got the mezedes platter, which was a sampling of  8 cold dishes and 8 hot dishes.  It was SO much food and all very delicious.  My dad and I each got soups (I of course got the greek lemon chicken soup (they call it kotopoulo me rizi at this restaurant) and split a huge kebab platter with many different types of meats/seafood/veggies).  We also of course got some delicious saganaki (fried cheese) that they actually lit on fire at the table, which is unusal in New York!  All in all, a really great place to get Greek/Cypriot food and a place we're sure to eat at again!

Sanfords (30-13 Broadway): This diner is an institution in Astoria as it opened as a coffee shop back in 1922 and has been around ever since!  Today the menu offers more inventive twists to the standard brunch menu and everything was well-made and tasty.  The menu is huge (you can order off the breakfast or brunch menu during brunch times).  One caveat is that it is a small restaurant so the line can be quite long.  We luckily got a table within 15 or 20 minutes, but the hostess informed us that it is often over 1 hour and they're packed between 4am to 6pm.  So plan accordingly but do check out this place!

Tournesol (50-12 Vernon Blvd, LIC): While this is actually located in Long Island City, it is still nearby and such a great french bistro that I had to share!  The ambiance is very intimate and inviting and the food was delicious.  Each dish was prepared perfectly and the atmosphere made for a great dining choice.  Be sure to check this place out if you're in LIC!

Those are the food updates for this roundup, but hopefully I've whet your appetite for the next food update!

Christmas Day Tradition

As tradition goes, Christmas Day for me consists of a movie and chinese food.  This year things didn't go quite as planned as the movie we trekked into Manhattan to see was sold out when we got there ("The Artist" at the Paris Theater).  But we turned around and came back to Astoria to at least follow-through on the dinner portion of the tradition.  We decided to watch a movie at home (to at least keep with some of the movie tradition) so we ordered delivery from a nearby chinese restaurant.  It was our first venture into chinese food in the neighborhood (usually we make the trek to Flushing, Queens which has a huge china town), but I'm happy to report that we now have our chinese go-to place in Astoria!

Fatima's Halal Kitchen Authentic Chinese Cuisine (25-25 Broadway): You can't go wrong with this restaurant -- all of the favorites and more are found on this huge menu.  Plus the meat was very tender and very high quality (which unfortunately isn't always the case with chinese restaurants in nyc).  We had the kung pao chicken and garlic shrimp, both were delicious and very well priced.  We will definitely be back for more from Fatima's, perhaps next time going there for dine-in.

And as for the movie half of the tradition, we watched "A Serious Man," which is a very dark comedy by the Coen brothers (we liked it and thought it was very well-made and interesting).  We'll catch "The Artist" in the coming weeks as well!

Burger madness

Burger joints are, apparently, a popular choice for restaurateurs opening up new places in Astoria.  While I thought we had to be nearing saturation on burger centric restaurants (we have at least four within 5 blocks of our apartment and that excludes all fast food chains), I learned today that a Five Guys Burger & Fries is planning to open in the coming months in Astoria.  While I definitely welcome the restaurant (very tasty burgers) and enjoy all of the other Astoria burger restaurants that I've tried thus far, I do have to stop and wonder... why so many burger joints?!

Christmas decorations, Astorians gets decked for the holidays

While many businesses and apartments get into the Christmas spirit with decorations, I don't think I've seen this many lights on a single building (more than half the balconies are decked out) since moving to New York.  This just happens to be across the street from my apartment so I've watched over the past month as more and more balconies become fully decorated in lights.  We'll see if they have a timely removal after the holidays are over!

My menorah candle lights may not be competing with this quite yet, but by the 8th night it may be a different story!

The corner bakery

I'll get to the post in a second, but first, an apology to my readers for my long lapse in writing.  While I wanted to write posts, life got in the way for the past month (vacation, holidays, etc.).  I'm back though and looking forward to sharing many more observations and experiences from the melting pot!  Here is the first:

One of the many gems of Astoria is the plethora of small bakeries scattered throughout the neighborhood.   Of course, each one caters to their country or origin so we have bakeries that specialize in Italian, Greek, and Turkish delicacies, to name a few.  The one on the corner of our block (Il Fornaio), boasts wonderful homemade pastries and breads (all baked each morning on premise) and while the store itself is very small, the two benches outside are always filled with locals hanging out (sometimes for hours on end).  It's a great local spot and each day when I pass it reminds me how great it is to be an Astorian!