What happens when neighbors inspire neighbors to eat something new. Two weeks ago, we hosted our first Eat Something New in Queens challenge, and it was so incredible to see so many community members inspiring each other regarding what and where to eat. I didn’t announce it very far in advance, so I was a little concerned about how many people would sign up to participate, but we…
Eds. note: This article currently covers 120+ restaurants in Jackson Heights and Elmhurst. Last update: Jan. 2021. If you’re like us, preparing three meals a day gets pretty old by Friday, so every weekend we support local restaurants in Queens via takeout or delivery. For us it also injects a bit of normalcy into our week—Friday night has always been delivery night; Saturdays are for takeout. More than…
Perched on the edge of West Africa, Senegal has long gone quietly about its business while its neighbors get into all sorts of trouble. Quietly, of course, is a misleading word in the context of Dakar, the sultry capital city and dust-ridden domain of all-night music clubs, infamous traffic, relentless hustlers, and nonstop construction, where the dead silence of night is regularly punctured by soaring muezzin calls to…
This holiday season, here’s how to give the gift of food and simultaneously support a small New York City-based food business. It’s finally happening: 2020 is almost over. But first we have the holidays before us and, if you’re shopping for gifts, one simple fact to remember: There has never, ever been a better time to support a small business—restaurants and food shops included. Gift cards to your…
This article contains affiliate links. There are lots of choices these days for where and how you get your food. But it seems going to the grocery store is increasingly falling out of favor: Even before the pandemic took over our lives, studies showed that millions more Americans—roughly one-third of U.S. households—were shopping online for groceries. We have personally retained regular in-store grocery shopping along with a Sunday…
Sometimes a walk in the woods or an afternoon hunting for sea critters on a beach is just exactly what you need. Here are some of our favorite nature escapes within 30 to 60 minutes of central Queens, NYC. Last update: April 12, 2021. Starting last May, a few months into the pandemic, our family began to venture out of our Jackson Heights apartment to various parks in…
What to do, eat, and drink in pretty Greenwood Lake, just a little over an hour’s drive from New York City. Summer 2020 has been, among other things, the summer of local travel for many of us. We’ve explored parts of New York City, New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester, and Connecticut that we’ve never seen before, and rather than jet off to Europe for a big summer vacation,…
We’ve all heard about the struggles of restaurants, in New York City and elsewhere, but what about the ones we know and love in our own neighborhoods? It’s a question that’s weighed on me, as the few I’ve been in touch with personally in Jackson Heights have expressed many struggles over the course of the pandemic. A lot of the businesses here in our part of Queens…
Eds. note: This article currently covers 80 Black-owned eateries in Queens, NYC. It is by no means comprehensive. Please consult the spreadsheet referenced below for a more exhaustive list while we continue to add to this! Earlier this week, when thinking about what we can do specifically on this platform (beyond social media) to support racial equality and Black Lives Matter, we thought about local restaurants and were…
While we live for weekend takeout/delivery, most of the week I am cooking three meals a day for our family of four, like everyone else. We try to buy all the right groceries to get us through a week or more with no return visits to the store—and without wasting a thing. At the same time we want to cook a wide variety of foods that the whole…
