Creamy and nutty dou fu fa from Soy Bean Flower Chen.

The Real Cheap Eats Winter Edition hit the frigid streets of our fair city earlier this week. The 22 entries span a dozen cuisines with plenty of ways to warm up from Yemeni beef stew in the Bronx to Nigerian goat pepper soup in East New York. Queens is well represented too with entries on pizza, fried Thai catfish, Thai noodles, and pan-fried Shanghai buns from a spot better known for its soup dumplings.

Best of all every item in the winter edition is under $10. My own entry wins the cheapo prize hands down. Flushing's Soy Bean Flower Chen signature soft tofu—dou fu fa—with sweet syrup can be had for less than the cost of subway fare to Flushing. Stay warm, well fed, and within your budgets this winter kids!

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Juicy cevapi at a Rego Park pizzeria. 

The other day I stopped by my local pizzeria, Tony's, to say hello to the owner Eros "Tony" Music. I was just about to order a slice when I saw a section of the menu called "Balkan dishes." In addition to cheese, meat, and spinach bureks, I spied cevapi. The delicious little kebabs are more commonly found in restaurants in Ridgewood and Astoria. "Have these always been on the menu?" I asked. "Since the beginning, I make them just like we do back home in Montenegro," Eros said.

Nothing beats grilled cevapi with a shmear of creamy kaymak.

Thinking they'd be the pinky-sized specimens found elsewhere I ordered 10 ($12.50). Not only were they larger than any other cevapi I'd ever seen before, they were exquisite. Made from ground beef and veal and little more than salt and pepper they were juicy and grilled to perfection. The man from Montenegro knows his way around meat.

That scoop of what looks to be mashed potatoes is kaymak, a rich Balkan clotted cream. Tony's is less sharp than others I've had and bears a slight resemblance to ricotta. Eros looked somewhat offended when I questioned the bona fides of his kaymak. "We make it here just like the cevapi," he said. The cool rich cheese is excellent smeared on the warm miniature kebabs. As it melts, butter fat commingles with the juices from the kebabs. The only thing missing was a bit of ajvar, a piquant and garlicky red pepper relish.

An order of 10 cevapi easily feeds two people. If you're traveling solo opt for five for $7.50. Either way count yourself lucky to enjoy a bit of the Balkans in Rego Park.  

Tony's Pizzeria,91-14 63rd Dr., Rego Park, 718-459-1117

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This week Seven Questions turns its attention to Action Bronson, surely the most food-obsessed rapper I've ever come across. And he's got mad hometown pride for Flushing. And to think I thought I was the one who was putting Flushing, Queens on the map.

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Burgermeister Adam Kuban at the now defunct joe's Best Burger in Flushing.

Today marks the debut of Seven Questions, wherein various borough luminaries disclose their darkest secrets (not really, they’ll talk about Queens and its food). Most often the subjects will be culinary types, but not always. Adam Kuban, the masterind behind the blogs Slice and A Hamburger Today kicks things off.

1) Last time I checked you were a Brooklyn boy. When and why did you move to Queens?
I got married. I was renting in Park Slope. My wife owned (and still does) in Astoria. I hate the term "no-brainer," but that's what it was. Been here a little more than a year now and love it. With a few exceptions, Park Slope has a surplus of overpriced mediocre restaurants that serve ultimately forgettable meals. In the sense that you might as well have gone somewhere really good and paid maybe $10 extra a person for a satisfying meal. Astoria has a lot of best-in-city places worthy of traveling to—and the mediocre, just-fill-my-belly places are cheaper than the Slope.

 2) What are your favorite things to eat in Queens?
Most of my picks are Astoria-based, since I live there and am ultimately pretty lazy when it comes to traveling. BZ Grill's pork gyro, OMG. That's one of the best-in-city places in Astoria. Rosario's Italian Deli [also in Astoria] for the pizza. A hidden gem. His sandwiches are also really good. Vesta on 21st Street, also Astoria. For dim sum, we've been going to whatever name Perfect Team Corporation changed to—in Flushing.

3) What are your top picks for burgers in Queens?
Burger Garage in LIC. I think they're doing something comparable to Shake Shack, which is my favorite burger in the city, hands down. Sweet Afton in Astoria and Donovan's Pub in Woodside are also good.

4) How about pizza? Who's tops?
Oh, you're gonna make me pick one? I suppose Nick's in Forest Hills. Outside the ones I go to near home, it's the one pizzeria in Queens I find myself at time and again.

5) OK, Adam, I'll let you pick another. My second favorite pizza in Queens is the square pie from Rizzo's—but you HAVE to eat it there. It suffers on delivery. Rizzo's is so adamant about eating the pizza in the pizzeria that they have a special deal—if it's your first time, they say they'll give you a free pizza if you eat in.

6) What do you make of the Voice blogger Lauren Shockey's assertion that parts of Queens are starting to look like parts of Brooklyn?
Oh, really? I don't think I saw that piece. I assume she's talking about LIC? Well, I think Queens has its own charm, and I'd hate to see it start looking or feeling like parts of Brooklyn, which really just have the same vibe as hipster neighborhoods in any given city of a certain size.

 7) Do you miss anything about Brooklyn?
Not really.

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