Souk El Shater is one of my favorite Lebanese restaurants ever. In addition to that, it’s only a short walk from my apartment and extremely affordable. But more importantly, they make the best shawarma I’ve ever had. The first good sign about the shawarma here is that the spits are always running. The meat that’s […]
Momos are practically a way of life in Jackson Heights. There is a huge Himalayan community there—Tibetans, Nepalis, and Bhutanese—and, naturally, a similarly huge number of restaurants and food trucks selling momos, the ubiquitous Himalayan dumpling. Nepali Bhanchha Ghar, naturally, makes momos in the Nepali style, which for me usually means jhol, the yellow curry […]
Yunnan is a fascinating culinary place. It’s a province in southwest China that borders the provinces of Guizhou and Sichuan, known for their spicy food, Tibet, Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam. There are 25 different officially recognized ethnic groups and numerous languages spoken there. The cuisine of Yunnan, known as Dian cuisine is a fascinating fusion […]
As part of the annual New York City Open House last year, we got a tour of the Hindu Temple Society of North America, which is a very impressive building and the oldest Hindu temple in the US. But perhaps the most exciting part of the building is the Temple Canteen, which serves excellent (and […]
Leli’s Bakery and Pastry Shop is the only Maltese restaurant in New York City. Appropriately, they serve what might be the most popular Maltese dish: pastizzi. Pastizzi are savory pastries made with a variant of filo dough, laminated into many layers and stuffed (at least at Leli’s) with either ricotta, spinach, or curried peas. All […]
Sometimes my commute gets me back into Queens late at night without having had dinner. In those situations, Ittadi is totally vital: they serve amazing, filling Bengali food until 2am every night. Ittadi is counter-serve but they have a large seating area as well. I will generally go up to the counter and ask them […]
Queens has a wealth of South American food, but, as far as I can tell, only one Bolivian restaurant. Bolivian Llama Party’s specialty is a variety of empanada from Bolivia called a salteña. A salteña is to a standard empanada as a xiao long bao soup dumpling is to a standard dumpling: that is, filled […]
It’s easy to get mediocre Mexican food in New York, but Jackson Heights has it good. There’s a large population there from the central states of Puebla and Morelos, just south of CDMX and the State of Mexico. Tacos Morelos is a particularly good example of this food and, as a bonus, is open until […]
It’s practically a crime to live in Queens for a whole year without going to the monthly Indonesian Food Bazaar at St. James Parish House in Elmhurst. But that’s what I did. I’m so glad I’ve now remedied this error. We started by making several loops around the Bazaar to see what was on offer. […]
We stopped at Beijing Dumpling House for lunch on our way to JFK recently. Beijing Dumpling House is, as the name suggests, a Northern Chinese restaurant, although the chef is from Guangzhou. They make excellent dumplings (not a surprise) but also noodles and other Northern specialties. The dumplings we got were fried chicken and basil […]
