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World's Fare 24/7
One train. 24 countries. No passport required. Appetite essential.
Written by Joe DiStefano; Photographed by Daniel Krieger
For an adventurous eater, the #7 train is literally and figuratively transporting. With little more than a Metrocard, a couple of hours of free time and a substantial appetite, it’s possible to explore cuisines from the Czech Republic to the various regions of China—and many other places in between—in the course of the line’s seven miles. Consider this your guide to 24 spots to shop and eat along the #7 line that represent, coincidentally, 24 nations. And befitting Queens’ round-the-clock eating opportunities, several of these places are open late at night or 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Rarely has diversity tasted better, or been more accessible.
VERNON BOULEVARD/ JACKSON AVENUE
“It’s the only shop like this on the East Coast,” says Jaroslava Uhedik of Slovak-Czech Varieties (10-59 Jackson Ave., Long Island City, 718-752-2093, slovczechvar.com). Her store’s shelves are crammed with countless candies and snacks, including Ego brand chocolate-covered biscuits ($1.15). Try the “Nuts + Cereal” flavor, which tastes like a chocolate-covered Nutter Butter. There are also such homemade specialties as utopenci—pickled knockwurst known as “drowned man”—and logs of knedlik, a wheaten dumpling ($8.50).
Find a superb cup of much-lauded Stumptown brand coffee at nearby Sweetleaf (10-93 Jackson Ave., Long Island City, 917-832-6726, sweetleaflic.com) and listen to some vinyl in the café’s chill-out room. The rococo wallpaper might remind you of your grandmother’s den, but with Led Zeppelin or Judas Priest playing in the background.
COURT SQUARE
Late-night libations are the order of the day at Dutch Kills Bar (27-24 Jackson Ave., Long Island City, 718-383-2724, dutchkillsbar.com). Order the Syndicate—a complex cocktail based on such herbal Italian digestifs as Cynar and Campari. Or go off-menu. Tell the bartender your favorite poison and let him surprise you. Consider it a cocktail omakase.
Concocting a fine libation at Dutch Kills Bar.
40TH STREET/ QUEENS BOULEVARD
Soondubu, a hearty Korean comfort food made from curds of freshly made silken tofu, is the specialty at Natural Tofu (40-06 Queens Blvd., Sunnyside, 718-706-0899), and combination soondubu ($7.95) with beef, shrimp and clams is the best of the lot. Unless you’ve got a Teflon tongue, don’t order it very spicy; spicy will suffice.
One block away, Salt & Fat Restaurant (41-16 Queens Blvd., Sunnyside, 718-433-3702, saltandfatny.com) is a decidedly new type of eatery for Sunnyside. It serves New American small plates—which, for Daniel Yi, a Korean-American chef who honed his skills at Manhattan’s Monkey Bar, among other hot spots, means marvels like oxtail terrine ($8), a block of tender beef that miraculously channels both brownies and sticky toffee pudding.
Salt & Fat’s oxtail terrine.
46TH STREET/ QUEENS BOULEVARD
Turkish eatery Mangal Kebab House (46-20 Queens Blvd., Sunnyside, 718-706-0605) serves plenty of its namesake meats, but one of the standouts is its falafel. Even if you supersize it with a wedge of sesame-studded eskender bread, it’ll set you back all of six bucks.
Over at Massis International Foods (42-20 43rd Ave., Sunnyside, 718-729-3749), the awning reads “Gourmet Romanian Specialties,” but there are plenty of products from all over the Mediterranean. Homemade borek spanaka (two for $5) —flaky spiral-shaped feta and spinach pies—are wonderful, as are sweet tahinov hats, or Armenian Tahini bread ($6). The flaky disks are redolent of sesame and cinnamon, and perfect with a cup of strong coffee.
52ND STREET/ ROOSEVELT AVENUE
Thanks to Sik Gaek (49-11 Roosevelt Ave., Woodside, 718-205- 4555), there’s no need to venture to the far reaches of Flushing for a late-night Korean seafood and soju blowout, although there is a sister spot at 161-29 Crocheron Ave. Try the wriggling live octopus known as san nakji ($24.99), a mess of stirfried crabs ($29.99) or a ginormous pot of mixed seafood for $99.
WOODSIDE - 61ST STREET/ROOSEVELT AVENUE
Engeline’s Restaurant and Bakeshop (58-28 Roosevelt Ave., Woodside, 718-898-7878) lies on the farthest reaches of Woodside’s Little Manila. Indulge in such porktastic Filipino specialties as crispy pata ($9.50), an entire fried foreleg whose crunchy skin encases succulent meat, and chicharon bulaklak ($7), deep-fried ruffle fat. Save room for one of the many desserts, like a macapuno tart ($1.25) a buttery, eggy confection shot through with bits of young coconut.
69TH STREET/ ROOSEVELT AVENUE
Old-school Cuban eatery El Sitio (68-28 Roosevelt Ave., Woodside, 718-424-2369) has been around for more than half a century. Its deceptively slim Cubano ($4.40) oozes cheese and pork fat, while the sandwich de media noche, the Cubano’s swarthier sibling, is served on an eggy sweet loaf that’s a decidedly unkosher cousin to challah.
Shopping for Indian produce at Patel Brothers.
74TH STREET - BROADWAY/ ROOSEVELT AVENUE
Just outside the Roosevelt Avenue station—or “La Roosie” to the locals—are dueling taco carts offering tasty, cheap fare. Even better is Taqueria Coatzingo (76- 05 Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights, 718-424-1977). On weekends there is a special of barbacoa de chivo, or slow-roasted young goat, as a taco ($2) or a platter with consommé ($13.50). Open until 2 am weekdays and 4 am weekends, Coatzingo is perfect for a latenight antojito. At 6 am, when the neighboring bakery Panaderia Coatzingo (76-11 Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights, 718-429-4160) opens, you can score a freshly baked cinnamon concha for the subway ride home.
Between the superb Patel Brothers supermarket (37-27 74th St., Jackson Heights, 718-898-9243, patelbros.com) and stores specializing in Indian bridal jewelry, saris and Bollywood music, 74th Street has long been considered the heart of Little India. These days, with a dozen restaurants serving Tibetan and Nepalese fare, it’s fast becoming Little Tibet. Momo, the crescent-shaped beef dumplings that are Tibet’s national dish, abound. The best can be had at Phayul Restaurant (37- 65 74th St., Jackson Heights, 718-424-1869), where the juicy momo ($4.99) hew to tradition, but the chef serves what he calls Tibetan- Chinese. Thus drope khatsa, ribbons of beef tripe in a fiery chili sauce ($8), come studded with Sichuan peppercorns.
For a late-night kebab fix, check out the Pakistani-run Kababish (70-64 Broadway, Jackson Heights, 718-565-5131), where a super-soft gola kebab—ground beef marinated with papaya, seasoned with garlic, ginger and cardamom and fried in butter—is $5.99. And if you’ve got a cerebellum craving, try a plate of goat brain masala for $19.99.
Back on Roosevelt Avenue, find Zabb Elee (71-28 Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights, 718-426-7992), the “first choice for Thai food in New York City,” of Zak Pelaccio, the chef behind Manhattan’s Fatty Crab and Brooklyn’s Fatty ‘Cue. Zabb Elee serves fare from Thailand’s Northeastern Isaan region, which borders Cambodia. Num tok koy ($9), the region’s answer to beef tartar, is a refreshing mélange of meat, coated with toasted rice powder and tossed with onions, minced kaffir lime leaves and chilies.
82ND STREET — JACKSON HEIGHTS/ ROOSEVELT AVENUE
Amid stores with names like Soccer Fanatic and Brown Pride, El Pequeño Coffee Shop (86-10 Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights, 718-205-7128) serves cuy, or spit-roasted guinea pig ($45.75). Resembling a miniature roast pig and tasting like a cross between pork and rabbit, it can be ordered by calling ahead. For less adventurous eaters, hornado con mote ($11.49), or roast pork with hominy corn, will satisfy an appetite.
Over on 37th Avenue, find La Nueva Bakery (86-10 37th Ave., Jackson Heights, 718- 507-4785) a bustling spot with dozens of breads and desserts from Colombia and Uruguay. Snack on such Uruguayan treats as dulce de leche-filled churros, the buttery twists known as hornitos or the biscuits known as manitos (little hands), all 75 cents apiece. Cheese-enriched Colombian breads like pan de bono and pan de queso will set you back a buck.
Kababish has got your 4 am gola kebab craving covered.
90TH STREET - ELMHURST AVENUE/ ROOSEVELT AVENUE
At the Argentine Pizza La Cancha (90-11 Elmhurst Ave., Jackson Heights, 718-651-7452), you can get a taste of Buenos Aires by layering a slice of grainy faina ($2.50), made from chickpea flour, on top of a wedge of fugazetta ($3.25), a focaccia-like pie topped with onions and mozzarella. For dessert, try the biscotti at Buzzanca’s Bakery & Café (37-49 90th St., Jackson Heights, 718-429-4323), an Italian bakery that’s been here for more than 20 years.
JUNCTION BOULEVARD/ROOSEVELT AVENUE
There’s a reason they call the cart on the corner of Roosevelt Avenue and Warren Street La Esquina del Sabor, or the corner of flavor. In true 24/7 fashion, Ecuador’s finest pork dishes are available around the clock. Stop by in the afternoon to ogle the crispy pig’s head and the grandmotherly gal in charge will offer you a nugget of pork gratis. By 10:30 pm that head is gone, but you can still score a plate of fritada, delicious hunks of pork that have been boiled and then deep-fried. Ten bucks buys a plate of pork with potatoes, fat starchy kernels of mote corn and crunchy toasted maiz cancha.
Morcilla and hominy corn at La Esquina del Sabor.
FLUSHING - MAIN STREET/ ROOSEVELT AVENUE
Flushing is home to several renowned food courts, including the warren-like Golden Shopping Mall (41-28 Main St., Flushing), which both Chinese food expert and cookbook author Fuchsia Dunlop and Travel Channel host Anthony Bourdain have described as “just like being in China.”
The neighborhood’s newest food court is Mei Shi Guang Chang, or “beautiful food court” (40-21 Main St., Flushing). It’s an especially apt name for the sleek Western-style outfit in the basement of the New World Mall. Among the 30 or so stalls is No. 25, Dongbei Yanbian Feng Wei, or “Northeast Yanbian Local Flavor.” Yanbian is a Korean Autonomous Prefecture and the food here reflects it: Korea’s cold noodle soup naengmyun is refreshing and delicious. Called liang mian ($5.99) here, it’s a tangle of slippery brown arrowroot noodles in icy beef broth topped with a quartet of proteins—slices of chewy beef, sausages, corkscrew-shaped fish cake and half a hard-boiled egg—and watermelon chunks, cucumber slivers and apple slices. Other highlights at the food court include the surprisingly good Peruvian chicken at No. 18, Main Street Burger Shack, and fluffy shaved ice confections at Snopo, No. 14.
Curry Leaves (135-31 40th Rd., Flushing, 718-762-9313) is the closest thing Flushing’s Chinatown has to a Southeast Asian night market. From 4 to 11 am, the Malaysian restaurant transforms into a counter-service spot serving hawker fare. Although oodles of stir-fried noodles line the steam table, soup is the real star. Ask for a bowl and you’ll be offered a choice of three broths (chicken, curry laksa or seafood) and flat, rice or yellow noodles. Combined with various fish cakes, vegetables, shrimp, wontons and other add-ins, the possibilities seem endless. A bowl of coconut-milk enriched, chili-spiked curry laksa loaded up with fish cakes, wontons, pork skin and eggplant stuffed with shrimp paste will set you back $6.
Find a hearty bowl of late-night curry laksa in Flushing.
Joe DiStefano pens the World’s Fare blog.
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