Rediscovered Mexican breakfast pastry!

J and I traveled to Mexico City back in 2009 and discovered these amazing pastries that we had never seen before called pan dulce.  Basically it is a sweet bread with a sprinkling of sugar on top and it's delicious!  We had it several times while there and since we've been back, I've had cravings for it occasionally, but never expected to fulfill them until my next trip to Mexico.

Lo and behold, half a block from our apartment is a Mexican bakery (Temascales Deli & Bakery, 25-22 30th Ave) and what do you think I found in the window display??  You guessed it!  Pan dulce!  The bakery has tons of delicious tortillas, pastries, and other mexican delicacies that I'm sure we'll be sampling over the coming year.  They also have a full-service restaurant that we're dying to try so I'm sure you'll be hearing about this place again on a future food update!

But in the meantime, I'd just like to thank Astoria for fulfilling all of my random food cravings!

Green thumbs of Astoria

J and I stumbled upon a really nice community garden called Two Coves Community Garden when walking on 30th Ave west of our apartment the other day.  The garden was filled with individual plots and a well-cared for community garden section.  There was an abundance of different plants that ran the gamut from veggies, herbs trees and flowers.  I'd say the most commonly seen items were zucchinis (flowers in bloom), tomatoes, peppers (both hot and regular ones), marigolds, and squashes (including some large pumpkins that would make great jack 'o lanterns later this month!).  It turns out that the garden has been around since 1998, but has recently been revitalized to its current state with over 200 members and a wait list of 1-2 years.  Learn more about this great green space here!

I hope to attend an upcoming "guest community gardener" day so I can help out and get a green thumb too!  For now, taking a tour and showing you these pictures will have to do!

The entrance to the community member part of the garden

Zucchini flowers

Food update #5

It's been some time since my last food update, but nevertheless we've been checking out some great places around the neighborhood.  Here are a few that I wanted to share:

SugarFreak (36-18 30th Ave): Very fun atmosphere and delicious Louisiana style food.  This small restaurant with very kitchy and eclectic decorations is always packed and for good reason!  We had some delicious and unique cocktails and spicy shelled peanuts to start with at the bar while we waited for our table.  For dinner, we had, in traditional Louisiana fashion, jambalaya and blackened catfish.  Both were made to perfection and we can't wait to come back and try out their brunch and the rest of the dinner menu!

Linn (29-13 Broadway): Amazing sushi in an eclectic restaurant setting.  The setting is very modern with all white walls, tables and chairs further accented by a wall screen displaying soundless movies (when we were there it was a surfing related video).  We opted for a sushi dinner, but there was a full japanese menu that sounded great as well!  The sushi was high quality and very delicious!  We will be back!

Mt. Olympus Bagels (33-15 30th Ave): We're always in need of a good bagel joint and this place seems to fit the bill.  The bagels are very doughy and large and they have a smattering of cream cheese varieties to choose from.  It appeared to be a Greek-run establishment and most of the clientele (also Greek) seemed to be regulars as they didn't even need to place an order to get the bagel & coffee they desired.

Il Bambino (34-08 31st Ave): All I can say is wow!  Paninis have been brought to a whole new level at this restaurant with its plethora of cheeses, meats, and spreads--all brought together in unique combinations.  The atmosphere can't be beat and there is even a cute garden patio (unfortunately it was drizzling when we went so we opted for indoor seating).  It took a long time for J and I to make our decisions on what paninis to try, but I don't think you can go wrong.  We opted for a "pass the hash" panini (garlic roasted potatoes, chorizo, truffle aioli, scrambled eggs, and parmesan) and a "sweet ass" panini (prioscutto, fig spread, taleggio cheese). Both were delicious and we have many more paninis to try in the future!

That's it for this time.  Stay tuned for the next round-up of recent eats!

Guess it's a good thing fall is coming...

One of the main restaurants that J and I go to get our frappes has been shut down by the health department... and upon further investigation, I discovered that they were shut down last November as well for violations that added up to 128 points!  This time around it's only 61, but 4 of the 5 are critical (in red)...

Sanitary Violations

1) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.

2) Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding.

3) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility's food and/or non-food areas.

4) Insufficient or no refrigerated or hot holding equipment to keep potentially hazardous foods at required temperatures.

5) Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to attracting vermin to the premises and/or allowing vermin to exist.

I'll be honest, the violations don't seem that out-of-the-ordinary for NYC (at least the pest related ones), but I guess it was worse than others!

All I can say is good thing fall is on its way since I don't know how much more time we'd have to sit at this outdoor cafe and drink a cold beverage.  Luckily one of our other main frappe locations not only has outdoor seating with heat lamps when it gets cooler out, but also an A rating from the health department so I can rest assured that my frappe season isn't quite over yet :)

The latest addition to my morning walk to the subway

Ladies selling tamales!

This past week there has been a new addition to the street corner on my two block walk to the subway in the mornings.  A folding table with two ladies selling authentic tamales and coffee out of a big thermos.  J had a chance to try them and found them quite delicious and very spicy!  I'll have to take a turn soon too :)

The lines to buy them are quite impressive too!  So much so that they're drawing competition and a second table was set up across the street from the original tamale stand.  Picture to follow soon.

Love this neighborhood!

A look at the Queens Library

I recently had the pleasure of going to the Queens Library for the first time and I've quickly been converted from the New York Public Library.  I was surprised to learn upon moving to Astoria that the Queens Library system is independent of the New York Public Library system.  Apparently the latter only covers Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island (Brooklyn has its own library system).  The reasoning behind this I've learned is that the Queens and Brooklyn libraries existed prior to the consolidation of the five boroughs and chose to remain autonomous after the conversion.  The Queens Library (which has 62 locations in the borough) is the second largest library system in the country (first place, not surprisingly, going to the New York Public Library system) and holds a whopping 6.6 million items.

I was very impressed when I walked into the Broadway Branch the other day to pick up a book for my next book club ("Summer without Men" by Siri Hustvedt).  The library was of course packed with people of all different ages, races and nationalities -- to be expected in Astoria -- but what was startling was the modernity of the library.  Queens Library, it turns out, is one of a few libraries in the country that uses a check-out system that includes Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and is the world's first library system to have a truly full-service self-checkout kiosk.

RFID is an amazing technology whereby micro-thin radio transmitters are placed into every library item and when a user places their books (yes, plural, up to 16 books at once) on the check-out pad, the system automatically picks up the transmitters and checks the books out to the user.  It's a pretty crazy concept when you see your books pop up on the screen after placing them on what seems like a regular mouse pad and I was quite impressed.

In addition, the Queens Library has all of the benefits of online accounts that the New York Public Library has (putting books on hold, getting notifications, etc.) so, all in all, I think the Queens Library may have the New York Public Library beat!

UN recommended Astoria dining spots

As all New Yorkers know too well, mid-September marks the opening session of the UN and midtown east Manhattan becomes a nightmare for a few weeks (security, traffic, you name it).  In honor of the event, the New York Post decided to talk to a few UN missions of smaller countries to see where they recommend dining to get their local cuisine.  Not surprisingly, Astoria was mentioned a couple times!

Astoria recommendations include:

• "Cyprus: Ask Tasoula Manaridis, director of Cyprus Tourism, for a dining recommendation, and she’ll point you to Zenon Taverna, a Greek and Cypriot restaurant (34-10 31st Ave.). Manaridis especially recommends the Cypriot meze — small dishes served by the dozen (Zenon offers a 16-course meze menu for $19.95 per person.) Stand-outs include spice- and pork-laden sausages, not to mention grilled halloumi cheese."
• "Bhutan: Call the Bhutan mission to the UN and the officer who picks up will tell you that there are zero authentic Bhutanese eateries in NYC. But, he goes on, there is a sushi spot where you can order off-the-menu Bhutanese cuisine if you call ahead. New Sushi Q (25-03 30th Ave) will whip up spicy, chewy phaksha sikam (dry-cured pork sauteed with chilies) and a specialty called emadatse (mushrooms and green chilies in whey)."

J and I haven't eaten at either place yet, but I assure you it's now on the top of our list!  Stay tuned for an update.  To read the full article, click here.

Astoria vs. Panajachel

The electricity setup in Astoria is not totally unlike developing countries.  Case in point:

Taken in Astoria, Queens:


Taken in Panajachel, Guatemala:














In fact, one might argue that Panajachel's electrical wiring may have a bit of a better layout out than the jumbled knot of wires seen throughout Astoria!

Public health measures in Astoria

The MPH in me loves seeing signs like this one (spotted next to Henry Thoreau Elementary School on 30th Ave):

Sign reads "No idling: Asthma Free School Zone"

Astoria grocery stores big fear

Grocery stores in Astoria apparently have a real fear of grocery cart theft.  Not quite sure why I've seen almost all grocery stores with this security measure here, but no where else in NYC... Go figure!

US Open taking place in Queens!

Okay so technically the US Open takes place in Flushing, Queens and my blog is about Astoria, but I get to digress because I just went to my first match this week and had such a great time that I wanted to share.  And hey, it's still Queens at least!

Anyway, we actually didn't think that we'd be able to go as the weather forecast had an 80% chance of rain on Monday night, but we lucked out and had a great time!  Not only did we watch the very heated match between Caroline Wozniacki (ranked 1) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (15) who were neck in neck the whole time (Wozniacki won), but also got to see some mixed doubles in the side courts.  All in all a great event and definitely makes me want to pick up a racket and play tennis!

30th Avenue preparing itself for a big street fair!

The 30th Avenue Street Festival will take place today (9/5) from 12-6 and run on 30th Avenue from 29th to 41st street.  Looking forward to walking around and checking out the stands (and hoping that it doesn't get rained out)!

New train tracks arrive!

Guess it was time to replace some of the train tracks on the subway line (N/Q) that runs through Astoria!  The MTA has been closing our subway station during the weekday and on some weekend days all summer long and I think we're finally finding out what they're up to!  New train tracks:

New tracks being lowered onto the elevated train

New tracks awaiting delivery to the train track via a big crane

Quite crazy to see them bringing in totally new tracks with a crane!  Hopefully after this weekend they'll be done with this project and I look forward to a smooth ride on the new tracks :)

The best burek in town!

Last night we tried a Balkan restaurant (Djerdan Burke, 34-04 31st Ave) that boasts that it has the best burek in town.  And it does (sample size=1)! Neither of us had eaten a burek before, but it's delicious!  Somewhat similar to spanikopita and burekas, this dish has a thin flaky philo dough shell and can be filled with several different items (cheese, spinach, meats).  According to an article that was framed on their wall, in Sarajavo restaurants specializing in bureks are analogous to pizza places in New York.  Who knew!

We opted for a cheese burek and coupled it with a yummy beef goulash dish that was perfectly spiced.  Definitely will be coming back here to try other bureks and Bosnian specialties!