We checked out Topos, the new (used) bookstore on Woodward & Putnam that just opened this week. Lovely little spot! The cafe will open in January, and they hope to serve locally made pastries along with coffee. Cosmo, a friendly co-owner with a dry sense of humor, told us they may add a kids’ nook in the future (in the space that’s currently their office/storage area). He also shared some of his favorite restaurants in the hood: Hetman, the Polish deli with a fresh and excellent prepared-foods bar, and all the Ecuadorian spots—like Super Pollo, just down the street (we love their green sauce!).
Category Archives: Restaurants
Skate Sandwich at Ltauha
Has everyone been to Ltauha yet? Good. We got busy and unfortunately Ridgefood Ltauha Week™ was cut short, though we did pop in for a quick lunch the other day. SKATE SANDWICH: Discuss.
I’ve seen skate on menus a lot at various restaurants over the years, but I’ve never actually eaten it. What is skate, anyway? It’s similar to stingray: flat and thin and mild-tasting, with a dense, meaty, crab-like texture. At Ltauha, the skate wings are fried in a light beer-batter-esque coating, topped with lettuce, tomato, and tartar sauce, and snuggled between a lovely brioche bun. I’m more of a flaky-fish type of person (think fish and chips or catfish), so I’m not sure that the skate sandwich will be part of my regular Ltauha repertoire, but it’s an elegant and attractive sandwich for sure.
What’s your favorite dish at Ltauha so far? Let us know in the comments!
Ltauha Restaurant: An Instant Classic
Cheeseburger and fries at Ltauha Restaurant
I love all the humble, lesser-known (to some) food spots in Ridgewood that are this blog’s primary focus—places like Cracovia Deli, Parrot Coffee, all the pork stores and food carts, Fancy Fruit, Stanley’s Pierogi. I could go on, and of course there’s lots more favorites that we still need to write about. And yet, sometimes a new restaurant comes along and you just know that it’s destined to be a neighborhood institution—part of the food-fabric of our Ridgewood lives.
Ltauha is Ridgewood’s very first “New American” restaurant. It’s the kind of place we take for granted in other neighborhoods, where we can get modern comfort foods prepared with classic French techniques, quality ingredients, and thoughtful plating. Sometimes these places are fancy and expensive, but they don’t have to be. Continue reading
An Exclusive Look Inside Cream
A few months ago we got a sneak peek inside Cream, the ’90s-looking Latin sexyspot on Myrtle that never actually opened. Well, tonight at “Cream Restaurant,” the Myrtle Avenue BID will be co-hosting the second public workshop to review a preliminary design for the adjacent 71st Avenue Plaza, so we thought now would be a good time to show you what we saw behind those smooth, mysterious double doors. Continue reading
Announcing the Ridgefood Grocery Shopping Tour! 8/31/2013
Hello, loyal reader! We here at Ridgefood have been digitally leading you around Queens’s most accessible polslavomexidoreanese neighborhood for a while, but now it’s time for us to give you the opportunity to follow us around in person!
That’s right: We’re giving a tour.
And not just any tour, but a RIDGEFOOD GROCERY SHOPPING TOUR. Have you always wanted to go into that Arab bodega and buy the groceries in the back, but you’re not sure how to use them? Do you need a step-by-step introduction to the glorious wonder that is Parrot Coffee? Do you know which fruit stand sells pristine Halal meat in the back? Are you confused about which Polish drink syrup to buy? Do you want to walk around the ‘hood, talk history and recipes, and eat sausage sticks from Morscher’s with the ladies of your neighborhood food blog on a sunny summer day?
THEN THIS TOUR IS FOR YOU. Continue reading
Everything We Ate at the Taste of Ridgewood
Last week we attended the Taste of Ridgewood, the first-ever food fest benefiting the Ridgewood YMCA‘s Strong Kids Campaign. We ate, we drank, we chatted with local Ridgefolk. Here’s our photo recap:
Clockwise from top left: Vietnamese iced coffee over crushed ice, coconut tapioca pudding, and a summer roll from Bunker (we forgot peanut sauce – oops); vegetable samosa and cilantro dipping sauce from Nepalese Indian; and foufou & okra (foufou are like dumplings) and grilled fish & attieke (fermented cassava that resembles couscous) from Bed-Stuy’s Abidjan. Continue reading
100-Day Check-In at Ridgewood’s Nepalese Indian Restaurant
Vibrant shrimp biriyani at Nepalese Indian
Nepalese Indian, the matter-of-factly named restaurant on Seneca just off the Myrtle Ave strip, has been open for 100 days. Congrats on this milestone, neighbors! We stopped by for an early-bird dinner to see how they’re doing — and, naturally, to check up on the issues (good and bad) that we originally reported.
Issue #1: Availability of Menu Items
We said: “Our first choice, lobster tikka masala, wasn’t available”
After 100 days: The lobster tikka masala still wasn’t available during our recent visit — sad, because it sounds delicious.
Taste of Ridgewood: Your Unofficial Guide
Happy Spring! The Ridgewood YMCA gave us the final list of 20 restaurants participating in the Taste of Ridgewood on April 11th. Cuisines represented include West African, Indian, American, Bosnian, Vietnamese, American, Fitness, Tex-Mex, Nepalese, Pastries, Japanese, and German! We think … Continue reading
Taste of Ridgewood to Benefit YMCA’s Strong Kids Campaign
There’s just one day left to RSVP for the Taste of Ridgewood, a food-fest fundraiser for the Ridgewood Y’s Strong Kids Campaign. The complete list of participating restaurants hasn’t been revealed yet, but so far they’ve confirmed: California Pizza Kitchen, a pizza … Continue reading
First Bite: Bunker Vietnamese
I love the smell of nuoc mam in the morning: Summer rolls and peanut sauce at Bunker Vietnamese
The Ridgefood team recently visited Bunker, the ‘wood’s first Vietnamese (!!!) restaurant. Nestled among bus barns and junkyards on Metropolitan, Bunker is a really chill spot with indie-surfer vibes, run by brothers and Queens natives Jimmy and Jacky Tu.
Bunker adds delectable but comfortable twists like bacon and havarti to classic Vietnamese banh mi, and they use hormone- and antibiotic-free chicken in their old family recipes.
(Continue for pics.. plus updated with MORE pics of food we ordered for delivery!)