Our Reimagined Dining Scene Thrives in Astoria—For Now!

The pop-up restaurants leaning into the avenues and side streets of New York City have been bright spots in this dark time of the coronavirus pandemic, often brimming with so much greenery that we are happy at least florists are doing a brisk business. They are jerry-rigged, built of recycled boards, painted in haste, festooned with party lights, and contain little knots of humans, un-distanced, clustered around each table remind me of New York. Remember, New York? How we’d unthinkingly brush up against each other in the subway, crowd eight around one restaurant table for four. It hurts, doesn’t it? Remembering New York.

That’s why we must be faithful to this new, reimagined, hopefully temporary, New York. To the pop-up restaurants that may not even last through the nippy weather of fall, to the wait for one of the scant tables in the 25% capacity seating inside, to the long line for apples and eggs, snaking around the block at your local Farmer’s Market, to the many parks showing us that nature was never on lockdown. We saw a Northern flicker in Prospect Park. Using iNaturalist, the Chef has become an amateur naturalist, with a specialty in weeds…knotweed, pokeberry, purple loosestrife, and prickly sowthistle.

But I’m losing the thread, which leads to Astoria, where we went one warm September weekend to meet my friend, Johanna, from my Scandinavia House Knitting Group, which has been my lifeline, via Zoom, during these dark months. We met at Astoria Bier and Cheese (Broadway), bypassing the pop-up tented seating in front for the sweet hidden garden in back. We started with a big soft pretzel and luscious housemade orange bier cheese ($7). I never know what’s in beer cheese; it reminds me of a hipster version of my mom’s 60’s staple, Velveeta, but it’s yummy. And a pickle plate, too with lip-puckering tomatoes and peppers in the mix.

Amply and imaginatively filled, AB&C’s sandwiches are a true NYC Snack Attack. I had a grilled cheese, “Mary Had a Little Lamb” ($10). The sweet berry jam and the raisins in the sturdy oat/pecan/raisin bread were a wonderful complement to the tang of the young Manchego, goat cheddar and chėvre. The Chef’s “Broadway Goddess,” ($10.00) another vegetarian option, was packed with an unlikely but perfect combo of melted gruyere, spicy pickle chips, red onion, tomato, arugula and honey mustard. Pickles make every sandwich better (more on which in a coming post)! Johanna, alas, was disappointed with her “Ham and Brie Pretzelwich” ($10). I mean, c’mon, you can’t call a sandwich a “pretzelwich” but be out of pretzel bread! Still Johanna was a good sport and tucked into her Ciabatta clad city ham, brie fermier, mustard and cornichon with gusto. And of course we had “bier,” too. The Chef’s quaff: a Von Trapp pilsner.

Note: I couldn’t leave AB&C without visiting Kim Jong-il and you shouldn’t either. In the bathroom there is a wall sized painting of the late dictator milking a cow by Caryn Cast, AB&C’s resident artist who does their humorous chalkboards. When I saw her Instagram handle on that mural I became an ardent follower, even buying her wonderful “Fuck Kale” print to put at the entry to our kitchen!

 After our repast, we had fun tootling around Astoria. Being largely confined to Morningside Heights, which is a shadow of itself without the throngs of Columbia and Barnard students, it was great to see Astoria’s vibrancy. Years ago, I only thought of Astoria as the place to go for Greek food. Yet, now this nabe boasts restaurants from as many nations as are represented in its something-for-everyone Euro Market.  There’s Moroccan food at Merzouka (where I can find my beloved m’smen bread), tons of Egyptian hookah bars and Egyptian clay pot cookery at Mombar and Balkan bureks at Djerdan. Pete Wells gave one star to Freakin Rican, a Puerto Rican venue famous for its bacaolitos, mofungo and pernil. Johanna gave her own star to Bund, which specializes in “Shanghainese” dumplings and noodles. Not only are the restaurants so varied, but they also have put more oomph into their pop-ups than in our neighborhood or the Upper West Side.

As I write this, I know the time for these pop-up restaurants is limited. Some restaurants on the Upper West Side, like Café du Soleil*, have put in “Space Bubbles,” like large see-through tents for diners.*  Predictably, the lovable curmudgeons and yentas who populate the comments section of the West Side Rag —with handles like ishkibbible, matzohmama or crankypants—are already complaining about them taking up too much space, being possibly unsanitary or like “being inside a condom.” Others beg to differ, saying, “C’mon. These restaurants have to make a living!” For now, I’m in awe of their spirit and ingenuity. If you can dine out safely and warmly, you’ll be helping New York become the New York we remember.

*Every Thursday Cafe du Soleil has an amazing special: three course dinners for two with a bottle of house wine (we had a great Côte-du-Rhone) for only $79!!

Astoria Bier & Cheese (Broadway)
3414 Broadway, Astoria
(718) 545-5588

Astoria Bier & Cheese (Ditmars)
35-11 Ditmars Blvd., Astoria
(718) 255-6982

Feast for a Song and (Lion) Dance in Indonesian Elmhurst

It’s the end of February and thank goodness. Cold, bleak, February is the “hump month” of winter. All the more reason to find occasions for joy during it, as we did when, once again, we embarked on an ethnic snack journey to celebrate my sister Carol’s birthday--this time to Indonesian Elmhurst.

Read More