Need a new restaurant/neighborhood to explore...

[dimsumfan]

Okay, I'm going to be in Flushing for the long weekend (tennis, etc.) and looking for some good food destinations. I like having a restaurant as a goal, then going and exploring the surrounding neighborhood (especially if food stores). For example, last year I went to Kebab Cafe in Astoria, walked around the area, and made my way to the Noguchi museum. Made for a great afternoon!

I've been to Sripraphai, Burmese Cafe, and a bunch of the places in Flushing's Chinatown like Joe's Shanghai. Love all kinds of food - the more offbeat and hole-in-the-wall, the better. I've got Rego Park on my list this time. Love to use mass transit, but will have a car a couple of days, so I can go further afield. (Enjoyed DUMBO one afternoon last year.)

So:

1. Any suggestions of restaurants I should check out in any NYC-area neighborhoods? (Great if in Queens, but willing to travel.) Bonus if you can recommend nearby sites to see that aren't necessarily in the guidebooks.

2. Any early-hour breakfast suggestions of the ethnic variety? A lot of the better places in Flushing's Chinatown seem to open later than I'd like to eat (i.e, 8-9 am).

Thanks!

[kathryn]

Why leave Flushing, at all?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/dining/30flushing.html

[dimsumfan]

Thanks. I enjoyed reading that article when it came out! But looking for things just a little beyond Flushing.

Why leave Flushing, at all?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/dining/30flushing.html

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[bigbear]

..... I've got Rego Park on my list this time.

.....

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You can try Ben's Deli. I always have a pastrami sandwich. It's not quite Katz's, but it's so good.

On the wall, they have old photos of the area, including one of the large Howard Johnson's restaurant that was on Queens Blvd. I believe Jacques Pepin put in some time in that HJ kitchen. Pierre Franey might have also.

[Steve R.]

I'd second the recommendation that you dont dismiss going back to Flushing if you havent been to Spicy and Tasty, Little Pepper and Fu Run. Or the stalls in the remaining "Mall".

However, if you're dead set on something else, there are other places close to the tennis. Last week (after going to the Quals.), I went down Roosevelt Ave to the 70s. This put me past all the Latin American trucks, taco places, fruit stands, juice places, etc. that are mostly great. Then it got me to some of the Phillipines places, a couple of Indian/Pakistanian places and finally to the Sripraphai neighborhood.

Tonite I'm picking up my wife after tennis (she's not working & I am, damn it) and going to Seva, a nice, small Indian restaurant on 30th Ave (Astoria, but a ways from Ali's). Zabb Thai also has a branch around the corner and there are other Greek, Latin and even E.European places around.

I'd also recommend going to the small Italian enclave in Corona, where you can find both The Lemon King ices place, some small groceries and Parkside Restaurant, an old school red sauce place.

[alwang]

You could also try the Red Hook ballfields for some Central/South American street food. Not much else in terms of sightseeing in that area though.

[daisy17]

I'd also recommend going to the small Italian enclave in Corona, where you can find both The Lemon King ices place, some small groceries and Parkside Restaurant, an old school red sauce place.

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The Lemon Ice King of Corona is one of my all-time faves.