Queens Food Fusion

Nutrition & Sumptuous Cuisine in Queens

March 6, 2013 / Food in Queens / Astoria / Queens Buzz. I attended a nutritious cooking class on February 27th featuring Rocco Sacramone, head Chef and Founder, of Trattoria L’incontro of Astoria; working in tandem with Effie Nerantzis, a Registered Dietician, from Mount Sinai Queens. The event was hosted by the United Community Civic Association at the Central Sushi Bar and Lounge in Astoria. And the program was sponsored by Mount Sinai Queens as part of their community health education outreach efforts, some of which we've covered in the past [see Queens healthcare section]. This particular program was intended to demonstrate how to prepare great tasting foods that are healthy and admission was free.

I knew going into this event that it had been fully booked. So I wasn’t surprised as I entered a banquet room, which was fully seated. Rocco and Effie were conversing off stage; while Shelly Felder, Sr Director of Marketing & Communications at Mount Sinai Queens, conversed with Rose Marie Poveromo, President of the United Community Civic Association. The show was about to begin.

Click here for our report, including recipes and slide show with photos of Chef Rocco Sacramone of Trattoria L’incontro preparing heart healthy foods.

Turkish Cooking Classes in Queens

Cooking Class Mixes Culture, Cuisine & Comedy In Cool Klatch

February 6, 2013 / Sunnyside / Food in Sunnyside / Queens Buzz.  I attended an evening cooking class offered by the Turkish Cultural Center in Queens. They offer one cooking class each month, wherein they teach Turkish cuisine. Seating is limited to about fifteen; and you don’t have to be a member or Turkish to attend. In fact almost all of the people in attendance were not Turkish, and there were a couple of males in attendance too.

My interest in Turkish cuisine has grown over the past few years, as Sunnyside and western Queens has become a small magnet for Turkish immigrants. Turks have a long history of culinary achievement and a number of them have opened grocery stores and restaurants which have become quite popular in their neighborhoods [see review of the Turkish Grill restaurant in Sunnyside].

Click here for our report with photos of Turkish cooking classes in Queens.

Rosario's Italian Food Store

Italian Food Stores Near Ditmars

Ditmars Astoria / Queens Buzz. I recently ventured into Rosario’s Italian food store, just underneath the NW subway terminal near Ditmars Blvd in Astoria. Rosario’s has a well-kept authentic Italian gourmet grocery store and delicatessen.

Click here to read the rest of the story about Rosario's Italian food store in Astoria Queens.

Fresh Pasta Made Daily In Queens NY

Cassinelli Food Products Company

This is a report about the Cassinelli Food Products company. It's one of the last old world Italian pasta making companies in Queens. The Cassinelli pasta company makes fresh pasta in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens daily.

Click here to read the full report about fresh pasta in Astoria Queens NY.

Queens Taste 2012

Sampling the Fare of Queens Restaurants & Food Entrepreneurs

May 1, 2012 / Flushing / Queens Restaurants / Food in Queens / Queens Buzz. I arrived at Queens Taste 2012 at Caesars on the fifth floor at Citifield about an hour after the event had begun. The feeding frenzy that generally occurs at the very beginning had passed, and most people had found tables and were pleasantly enjoying the fare and light dinner conversation, along with intermittent people-watching.

Borghese Red & White Wines of LI

I started into the food and beverage area surveying the vendors offerings this year and made my first landing at the Borghese Vineyards wine table. I met Ann Marie Borghese, who along with her husband, bought a farm in the 1970’s in Cutchogue, NY, which is located about in the middle of the northern fork of eastern Long Island.

Click here to view our report of Queens Taste 2012 [formerly Taste of the World].

Festival of Herbal Tonic Soup

Asian Cooking In Flushing Queens

February 11, 2012 / Food & Wine / Flushing / Queens Buzz. I attended an herbal tonic soup class arranged by Dr. Hsing-Lih Chou at Flushing Town Hall. Dr. Chou presents one Asian cooking class each year at the same location, featuring some aspect of traditional Asian home cooking. This year he introduced us to two Asian cooking aficionados: Madame Hwei-Yun Hsieh and Mr. Kelby Leow.

Ms. Hsieh was to treat us to a lesson on how to cook her famous Chinese Sesame Oil Ginger Chicken Soup, while Mr. Leow would introduce us to his famous Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup. Dr. Chou explained that he had selected these two soups in order to ‘balance’ each other, as one had a robust flavor and the other had a more subtle flavoring.

Click here to read more about how to cook Chinese and Korean herbal chicken soups - Asian cooking in Flushing Queens.

Farmers Markets In Forest Hills

Queens Green Markets / Farmers Markets are open through November / December 2008. This article includes maps showing the location of each neighborhood green market and details which ones are closing and when.

Cliick here to view a very short story about the farmers market in Forest Hills.

Viva La Comida - 82nd Street - Jackson Heights

82nd Street Partnership Hosts Festival At Dunningham Triangle

September 24, 2012 / Jackson Heights / Food in Queens / Queens Buzz. On Friday evening the 82nd Street Partnership hosted Viva La Comida at Dunningham Triangle on 82nd Street at Baxter in Jackson Heights. The event was a fun, quirky preamble to the Hispanic Month activities that officially began on Sunday with the Hispanic Day Parade [click for Hispanic Day Parade report & photos].

I arrived while it was still light out. City Councilman Danny Dromm, Seth Taylor and City Councilmember Julissa Ferreras were standing for photos sandwiched between two men who’s names I will try to obtain and post at a later date. A performance by the youngsters from the Mestizo Art Center followed, much to the delight of the warm and enthusiastic crowd.

I made my way over to the food trucks where I tasted some delicacies and met interesting people … click here to read the rest of our report on Viva La Comida festival hosted by the 82nd Street Partnership in Jackson Heights. The photo to your left was taken from the inside of the Solber Pupusa food truck at the Viva La Comida festival on 82nd Street in Jackson Heights.

Mardi Gras Sweeps Jackson Heights

Will There Be Mardi Gras Parade For Jackson Heights?

March 7, 2011 / Jackson Heights / Queens Buzz. On Saturday night, the weekend before the Catholic celebration of Ash Wednesday, Jackson Heights celebrated Mardi Gras.

We attended our first real Mardi Gras celebration in Queens, which included sampling the bayou gumbo, real muffalattos, kings cake and Louisianna style hurricanes [a powerful drink that packs a punch].

Following a gathering of the krewe, we took to the streets wearing masks and carrying beads, off to wish our neighbors well. The photo to your left is of the krewe heading down 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights on Saturday night.

Click here to view the rest of our report about the Mardi Gras in Jackson Heights, including photos and slide show.

Wine Stores In Jackson Heights

Table Wine - Jackson Heights

Jackson Heights Neighborhood / Food & Wine / Queens Buzz. A fairly new wine store opened in Jackson Heights this past year called Table Wine. It appears to be a nice addition to the neighborhood as it’s a boutique wine store run by a husband and wife team from Queens. Ernesto, one of the owners, invited me to join them for a wine tasting one Sunday evening in March to meet a French vintner of some of the wines Table Wine sells.

Click here to read the rest of the story about wine stores and wine tastings in Jackson Heights & Elmhurst.

Jamaican Jerk Festival 2012

Afro Caribbean Cultural Event In Queens

July 22, 2012 / Jamaica Neighborhood / Ethnic Food in Queens / Queens Buzz. It was a warm, dry, sunny Sunday, as I made my way into Roy Wilkins Park in Jamaica. Today was the 2nd annual Jamaican Jerk Festival, that I’d been waiting in anticipation for over the past few weeks. The Jamaican Jerk Festival is a combination reggae concert and food festival.

I entered through the gates of Roy Wilkins Park in the southern Jamaica neightborhood of Queens, as a slight breeze willowed its way through the trees and crowd. There were retail vendor tents to my left, with displays of vibrantly colored clothing and fashion jewelry Afro Caribbean style. Caps, hats, dresses, shirts and scarves hung loosely in little white tents, as shoppers and merchants mingled and did business.

Click here to read our report and view photos of the Jamaican Jerk Festival 2012.

Dutch Cuisine Past & Present

King Manor Presents Delicious Dutch Foods & Recipes

October / Jamaica Neighborhood / Food & Wine / Queens Buzz. In tandem with the NY Open House and the Historic House Festival weekend, King Manor selected an historic food theme that would have pleased New Amsterdam Mayor Peter Stuyvesant.

There were two sections to this historic presentation. The first was a reenactment of colonial Dutch cooking by Diane G. Fish, who is a living historian with a specialty in Civil War reenactments. To the delight of all there, including myself, she’s also an avid foodie who’s well acquainted with Dutch cuisine. And the second section was a lecture and presentation by a renowned historian and food writer, Peter G. Rose. Peter took us back to the Dutch kitchens in the Netherlands of the 1700’s and traced the migration of Dutch foods into the colonial world.

Many of the things she would discuss, we had the opportunity to sample prior to the lecture … click here to read the rest of our report on Dutch cuisine & recipes in Queens New York.

Taste of LIC 2012

Chocolate Factory Produces Another Winner

June 5, 2012 / Long Island City LIC / Restaurants in LIC / Queens Buzz. The Chocolate Factory of LIC has been putting on avante garde theatrical productions in LIC since 2004, and organizing the Taste of LIC since 2005. I’ve attended a couple of them, and the Taste of LIC seems to provide the right blend of scene, scenery and 'tasty' nibbles and drinks .. to keep ‘em coming back.

But let me dally no longer as I take you with me on a journey to about a dozen food and beverage tables where I sampled some of each of their wares. Click here to read the rest of our report and view the photos of the treats provided by LIC restaurants & wine stores at the Taste of LIC 2012.

Click here to read our report and view photos of the Taste of LIC 2012.

Queens Eats For Local Food Co-op

November 18, 2010 / Long Island City LIC / Queens Buzz. Wednesday night hundreds of foodies, environmentalists and the local intrepid converged at the Foundry on 13th Street in LIC where the Queens Harvest Coop hosted Queens Eats, a fundraiser. Guests were treated to hors d'oeuvres, or what one chef once described to me as grazing food. In addition to the food, there was wine and a generous number of raffle prizes; the proceeds of which will go toward starting a natural food co-operative in Long Island City sometime in 2011.

The photo to your right is looking up toward the second floor / skylight at the Foundry LIC, with the moon and neighboring vine laden brick wall in the background.

Click this link to view a slide show and obtain a bit more info about the Queens Eats / Queens Harvest Co-op event. Salud.

Taste of Sunnyside

Food, Fun & Fanfare at Taste of Sunnyside 2012

October 15, 2012 / Sunnyside / Sunnyside Restaurants / Queens Buzz. It was a rainy evening as I headed down to the third annual Taste of Sunnyside at the Sunnyside Community Service Center on 39th Street.  I looked forward to seeing what new restaurants and people I would encounter - as the restaurants that participate in the Taste of Sunnyside change from year to year.

The main hall seemed less crowded than last year, due in part because the large sit down tables had been moved out to make more space. This had the effect of allowing people more room to mingle; but you pretty much had to stay on your feet throughout most of the event. The crowd that had gathered was ethnically diverse, somewhat youthful and hungry.

Click here to view our report on the Taste of Sunnyside Restaurants.

American Meat - Unfinished Film

Documentary About Current State Of Food & Farming

Film Making in Queens / Sunnyside Neighborhood / Food & Wine / Queens Buzz. I managed to obtain an invitation to a screening of American Meat, which is an unfinished documentary film, at Cafe Marlene in Sunnyside. The screening was sponsored by Queens Harvest Co-op, which is an organization working to build an organic food cooperative in Queens.

The film is a rather eye opening look into how the economics of food / meat production in this country have taken us down an unsustainable path. A path which not only has significant health implications, but possibly even more dire consequences. The film provides an intelligent, behind-the-scenes look at how economics have been driving: 1) food production methods, 2) the composition of what's in the meat being sold at the grocery store, and 3) what we're feeding our children and ourselves.

The film was envisioned and began production in the spring of 2007 and the producers are hoping to finish it in 2011. Click here to view our preview of the unfinished documentary film entitled American Meat independent film at Cafe Marlene in Sunnyside and hosted by Queens Harvest Co-op.

Farmers Market In Sunnyside Queens

The Farmers' Market in Sunnyside opened in April 2008 for the Spring, Summer and Fall seasons. At the market they sell freshly caught fish and other seafood, fresh produce and meat, and baked goods.

Click here to view the Sunnyside Farmers Market story.

Queens Farmers Markets

June 5, 2013  Check HOURS, MAPS, ITEMS / SELECTION of the 13 BEST Farmers Markets / Green Markets in Queens, w/ savvy shoppers' tips. This report includes the Astoria Farmers Market, Sunnyside Farmers Market, Jackson Heights Green Market, LIC Long Island City Green Market, Flushing Farmers Market, Corona Farmers Market, Jamaica Farmers Market, and in between.

Click here for dates, times, locations of the Queens Farmers Markets.

Street Fairs 2013 - In Queens NY

Queens Street Fairs

Updated June 7, 2013 / Queens Buzz.  This report contains the dates and maps of most of the Queens Street Fairs and Festivals in the neighborhoods of Astoria, Long Island City LIC, Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, Corona, Flushing, Forest Hills, Jamaica NY and more.

Click here to view our report, including links to maps, of Queens Street Fairs & Festivals 2013.

Queens CSA's

Community Supported Agriculture In Queens

Queens Neighborhoods / March 22, 2010 / Queens Buzz. Spring is here and the planting season will soon be upon us. Living in the city we're less attuned to mother nature's cadence than the farmers we rely upon who produce our food supply. But the planting / growing seasons will soon begin and hence the local CSA [Community Supported Agriculture] groups are in the process of selling shares.

Unbeknownst to many of Queens denizens there are a number of CSA's which are currently in the process of signing up members to participate in this years harvest. Essentially the way CSA's work, is to enroll participants for weekly fresh food deliveries for about five months, in exchange for a flat fee and [in some cases] for a few hours of volunteer work. But there's a bit more to the story than that, including different food options, share options, community events and CSA history. Click this link to learn more about CSA's in Queens and where and how to participate in one - including links to CSA websites.