To finish off the meal, opt for the brown sugar crystal jelly or milk mochi. Don’t skip the serve-yourself bar of sauces and sides where you can create your own dipping sauces from a dozen options like sesame oil, soy sauce, and cilantro. There are over 100 options that can be added to your broths, like sliced lamb, fish balls, shrimp paste, pea shoots, and lotus root. Inside, close to a koi pond and water wheel, you can take your pick of up to three of the seven broths on offer-ideal for balancing the Sichuan chile broth with milder ones like tomato or chicken and herb. To cut your wait time short, get here at least 15 minutes before the restaurant opens. The hot pot here features beef tallow and heaps of Sichuan peppers, with spice levels catering to Sichuan palates. This is Chongqing Lao Zao, a restaurant that specializes in hot pot, which is said to have originated in Chongqing. Step out of downtown Flushing’s heavily packed commercial district and into a stunningly decorated Chinese village scene, circa the 18th century. For dinner, Sichuan hot pot or Korean barbecue in Flushing and Murray Hill Head to the Indian spice sections at Patel Brothers or Apna Bazar and get your hands on black cardamom pods, mustard seeds, ghee, and all kinds of dal (split black lentils, pigeon peas, chickpeas) to take back to your kitchen. Also order the namesake cangrejo: gigantic snow crab legs splayed out in your choice of garlic or coconut sauce with chunks of potato and plantain.įollow the Urdu or Bengali and you’ll encounter gigantic watermelons, spiky jackfruits, and bumpy bittermelons carted onto the sidewalks from the many grocery stores that feed the neighborhood. The dish comes with a plate of white rice and tostones-green plantains, smashed flat and fried crisp. The stew is bubbling hot and loaded with mussels, squid, shrimp, and fish in a thick, creamy yellow broth. The dish that’s spotted at almost every table is the cazuela de mariscos. Its owner, Mario Montaño, is a Buenaventura native and Queens resident and serves Pacific-Colombian seafood dishes in a casual family-style setting. Mister Cangrejo, which opened in 2017, specializes in the cuisine of the port city of Buenaventura and the broader western Pacific coastline. The immigrant community here swelled during the Colombian Civil War in 1948 and brought bakeries and rotisserie chicken joints to the neighborhood. The stretch of Queens spanning Northern Boulevard from 79th to 84th Street is known as Little Colombia. For lunch, Colombian seafood stew or award-winning Nepalese momos in Jackson Heights Plop down beneath it and chill as the water taxi makes its route down the East River to Brooklyn. You’ll eventually reach the huge landmark Pepsi-Cola sign, a vestige of industrial 1940s Long Island City. This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.Īfter a taco or two, walk north along the waterfront promenade, taking in views of the Manhattan skyline. Immediately to its west, above Brooklyn, the East River separates it from the Bronx and Manhattan. Making up the easternmost part of the city, it sits on a massive island that it shares with Brooklyn in the southwest. Queens is the geographically largest of New York’s five boroughs. To get the most out of a visit to Queens, it’s helpful to situate yourself in each of its neighborhoods. This guide is not exhaustive by any means, but it is a great way to start getting to know one of New York’s most delicious and layered boroughs. And still it’s hard to keep up with the sheer breadth of restaurants opening and developing around me. I grew up and still live here, and I’ve been reporting on Queens’ food scene for years. Whether in Little Egypt, Little Guyana, Little Manila, or Little Colombia, the restaurants in Queens’ cultural enclaves serve as pillars of community. Despite the challenges facing many small business owners in Queens right now, these local legends-some have been thrumming along for over 20 years-continue to cater to their communities.
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