Even though winter’s barely a week old, many folks in the city have come down with a doozy of a cold, perhaps due to the sharp temperature drop that marked the end of an otherwise moderate fall. Our nasty respiratory bug is finally on its way out, largely because we’ve been treating it with a variety of potent soups available in Queens. Whether you're sick as a dog or just in need of a warm......

On a stretch of Northern Boulevard in Flushing that's home to some of the city's best Korean fried chicken joints sits Ga Si Ri, one of the city's top Korean BBQ spots. Unless you read Korean, you'd probably never know that it's a BBQ restaurant. We happened upon this place a while back while passing by with a friend; drawn in by the rustic exterior – complete with thatched roof and clusters of fake yams......

Years ago before the nearby Flushing Mall opened, Prince Street near 38 Ave. was well known for the "octopus guy", a friendly gent who grilled up skewers of baby octopus, among other things. When he vanished, we barely frequented that block. The other restaurants just never held much appeal; instead we stuck to Little Pepper, a nearby bastion of fiery Sichuan flavor. Largely because of the crowds and the huge posters of its specials......

It could be argued that all pizza is by definition "ethnic," but we think some pizzeria fare is especially deserving of this designation. Ethnic Pizza Patrol strives to find unique cultural interpretations of this classic New York City food. Expect piping hot tips about New York City pizzerias that feature an ethnic twist on pizza as we know it; combine a pizzeria with another concept, i.e. a taco joint; or manage to do all of......

Over ten years after his death, Fox Searchlight studios are looking for the someone who can fill Notorious B.I.G.'s big shoes in a movie about the rapper. This past Saturday the nationwide search focused in on New York, where a few dozen look-a-likes lined up for their shot to play Biggie on the big screen. The requirements and a message from the producer are on the casting site, obviously one must meet the appearance test......

Summer may be almost over in the city, but we're still clinging on to that summery feeling when the temp sneaks up past 70 degrees. On those days we find solace in the psychedelically colored iced desserts at Queens' Mie Jakarta. This joint's name means Jakarta noodles, and its noodles are indeed quite tasty. However, when our internal barometer goes haywire due to summer flashbacks we want only one thing here: a cooling, sweet icy,......

At the Ethnic Market highlights international specialty foods and ingredients that you're very unlikely to find at your local Gristedes. It would seem to be nothing less than dereliction of duty for an Italian-American food writer to have never been to the Italian food mecca that is Arthur Avenue, but it does on occasion happen. This oversight is even more glaring given that said food writer is half Calabrese and had never set foot in......

At the end of a row of newspaper boxes lining a street in Corona Plaza is an orange number offering a free publication titled, "This Is What I Eat." The eight-page newspaper is also being given out at a nearby Associated Supermarket. The design screams supermarket circular, but "This Is What I Eat" is actually a public art project created by Stephanie Diamond. Diamond asked the residents of New York City's most diverse nabe about......

As much as Gothamist tries to be on the bleeding edge of the food scene in Queens, sometimes only an old favorite will do. Which is exactly what happened the other day when we found ourselves standing in front On the Grill craving chicken shwarma. This three-year old Israeli spot serves up some of the city's best shwarma, and it had been months since we'd had eaten any. So we were jonesing for some of......

A Korean restaurant is not something one would expect to find on the border of Forest Hills and Rego Park. If anything the neighborhood is better known for the plethora of Central Asian kebab joints. Nor is Korean chow something you'd expect to find at an old-school spot like the #1 Coffee Shop. Years ago local legend Robbie Richter, pitmaster of Hill Country, worked the flat top one day when the grill man was out......

As the name implies, Terraza Cafe Art is a rather Bohemian hang complete with an eclectic decor we like to call Colombian folkloric hippie. Handmade baskets line the top of the bar; a Buddhist icon adorns one wall; and numerous Christian religious statues are scattered about. Add a soundtrack with everything from the Doors and Joe Cocker to Kid Rock, The Cure and Colombian music and a video projector that plays everything from Droopy Dawg......

Will Manhattan's clubs be moving to the 10013? With the group that opened Cain on 27th Street having opened Gold Bar at 389 Broome Street in February; and uber-promoter Danny A having opened the VIP-only Upstairs on Spring Street and Broadway, The Observer is reporting on a move of "clubland" to Chinatown. Following the flock is former model Emma Cleary who purchased Double Happiness at 173 Mott Street. The lounge will open as a "hip......

Today's new and narrow NY Times Metro section features a battle over pizza propriety. The Times reports Papa John's Pizza is opening right next door to Johnny's Pizza, a 39-year-old Sunset Park institution. John Miniaci Jr. whose father started the pizza parlor in 1968 is none too happy about this development and not just because Papa John's is a blight upon the very word pizza: Miniaci's father died just a month ago. In fact John......

Call it yum cha, dim sum or just plain good. But if you plan on eating it in Manhattan after say 1 p.m. or hate crowds, call it off all together. Like many savvy eaters we often hop on the 7 train to avoid the weekend crush at Manhattan dim sum parlors that feature every method of crowd management save for hostesses waving orange batons like culinary air traffic controllers. With excellent dumplings as well......

Roosevelt Avenue in the high 50s is better known for its Irish bars, particularly Donovan's Pub and its legendary cheeseburger, than it is for Filipino fare. That's not to say that Woodside doesn't have any Filipino restaurants, it's just that most of them are confined to Little Manila, a strip of Roosevelt between 69th and 71st streets. Now all that's changed thanks to Engeline's Restaurant & Bakeshop, which opened just down the block from Donovan's......

Located on a stretch of Metropolitan Avenue in Forest Hills better known for antique stores and Eddie's Sweet Shop, a turn-of-the-century soda fountain, is Ran, a small storefront that offers some of the best sushi in Queens. Gothamist isn't sure if the name comes from the Kurosawa flick whose title has been translated to mean chaos or wretchedness, but there's nothing wretched or chaotic here. It's all about impeccably fresh fish expertly prepared. Last week,......

At the Ethnic Market highlights international specialty foods and ingredients that you're very unlikely to find at your local Gristedes One of our favorite things to do at Asian markets is try out unusual snacks. Many of these goodies combine salty, sweet and often fishy flavors. And some, such as salted plums are made from preserved fruit. Our latest find in this vein is Buah Pala Bersalut Gula, or sugar-coated nutmeg. We found ours at......

Like many New Yorkers we're huge fans of the cornucopia of Central American and Mexican fare available at the Red Hook ballfields. But we're do you go when you don't feel like trekking to Red Hook? For us Elmhurst and Jackson Heights often fit the bill, particularly because of the specials at the nabe's taquerias. Gothamist is always psyched to see barbacoa de chivo on the specials board. This sumptuous slow-cooked goat meat is typically......

Ah, summer in New York: hot-dog contests, fireworks, the beach, and, don't forget, a stolid steamy blanket of humidity that greets all who dare to step outside their freon fortresses. But summer in the city needn't be all about sweating through the wet-dog daze. As soon the mercury rises many turn to salads for solace, but let's face it, mixed greens are neither filling nor cooling enough when its hot and humid. To Gothamist sweltering......

Korean fried chicken has been on the radar of Manhattan foodies for quite some time, thanks to Koreatown's Bon Chon. But nowhere else in our fair city has this highly cravable treat spread its wings so rapidly as in Flushing, particularly around Northern Boulevard in the 150s and 160s. The number of restaurants in the nabe serving this delicacy invites comparison to the growth of Starbucks, but in a better, less evil way. There are......

Blimpies, Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins, and Starbucks. All these chains have popped up in Greenpoint along Manhattan Avenue since last year. Today, Manhattan Ave. gets an Original Soup Man (aka the Soup Nazi). Gothamist stopped in to sample the wares and went with a bowl of the lobster bisque. We didn't even have to ask for bread, as the franchises seem to give you bread and a choice of fruit for free (sorry, George Costanza).......

Rego Park and Forest Hills have been home to Uzbeki immigrants for so long that many residents and outsiders now refer to the area by the collective name Rego Parkistan. By our count there are at least a half dozen kosher kebab joints between the Boulevard of Death and 108 Street. All of these spots feature flat swordlike skewers upon which have been impaled meat, fish and the occasional vegetable, as well as such "national......

An adventurous appetite for ethnically authentic and delicious victuals in our fair city's outer boroughs often yields both delights and disasters. This is a tale of a delight, three to be precise. Gothamist found the sugary jewels you see before you at Laziza, an oasis of a Middle Eastern bakery set amidst the myriad hookah lounges that line Steinway Street in Astoria. Like many an old-school pastry shop, the display case runs the length of......

At the Ethnic Market highlights international specialty foods and ingredients that you're very unlikely to find at your local Gristedes One of the great things about Rego Park apart from all the Central Asian kebab joints and it being the home of graffitti legend Cost is all the treats at the Russian delis scattered throughout the neighborhood. Which brings us to the subject of today's find at the ethnic market: korzhiki. Think of these round......

After a not unpleasant hike that involved a walk in the hazy heat from Rego Park to Flushing and a 20-minute bus ride to College Point, Gothamist arrived at Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries the other day. As expected, the dreaded mantra of the D.C.-based burgermeisters hung above the counter in the cheery red-and-white dining room. It read: "We Cook All Our Meat WELL-DONE." When asked why on earth anyone would cook a......

We’re pissed. After setting the date on our schedule for an excursion out to the Red Hook Ball fields this Saturday to sample some of the famous Mexican stalls, word comes from Porkchop Express that the opening has been postponed until May 5th. Apparently from the official Food Vendors Committee of Red Hook Park: ...administrative issues beyond our control have forced us to push this date to May 5th. We are very excited to......

Last week, Clinton Hill Blog founder Robin Lester posted her findings of a trip taken to the Greenpoint Beer Works, a large brick industrial tucked away on Brooklyn’s Waverly Avenue between Fulton and Atlantic. She and another blog reader met up with operations director and brewer Kelly Taylor, who revealed that in addition to filling Greenpoint’s regular daily work order for Heartland Brewery, he has also been developing his own small batch beer, Kelso......

Generally speaking, Gothamist isn’t moved by most of Greenpoint’s many Polish restaurants. Perhaps owing to some early scarring experiences at a fading Borsht Belt resort, we’re seldom inspired to board the G Train and make the long haul north for a plate of boiled cabbage. Still, Krolewskie Jadlo, or “King’s Feast” piqued our interest. Chef Krzysztof Drzewiecki (formerly a chef at Nobu as his website repeatedly portends) traded maki for herring to open “a restaurant......

Despite a recent triumph for Carroll Gardens, an area that once hosted one of the city’s most concentrated Italian communities, there are few remaining vestiges of the neighborhood that was. Among them is Sam’s Restaurant, a quintessential red sauce joint and pizza destination helmed by Louie Migliaccio, the self-named “Son of Sam.” Though the place isn’t exactly bustling, it is without the sense of doom that lingers over so many neighborhood relics that feel......

There’s no home in the Hamptons for poor, old Gothamist. No bungalow on Fire Island, not even a shack on the Jersey Shore. No, Gothamist prefers (and by “prefers” we mean “has no other option than”) to summer in Coney, in Brighton or Rockaway or waiting on line at Shake Shack. And though we spend the balance of most summers huddled around our puttering air conditioner, we’re feeling a touch nostalgic for those balmy......