TURKEY and stuffing and cranberry, oh my! Turkey and stuffing and cranberry, oh my! Turkey and stuffing and cranberry, oh man I could use something else! Is exactly what you will be saying come the middle of next weekend. How about soul food? But where, soul food is not available in LIC? Au contraire mon frere, because now it is!
Arob’s Homestyle is open for business and ready to serve you up. ‘Hmm, I haven’t seen anything resembling this storefront on the streets of LIC?’ That is because Arob’s is currently a pop-up doing delivery only.
Furthermore it is only available on weekends, as the founder Aaron Frager, also has a day job as the Director of Recruitment for Big Brothers, Big Sisters. Yet Aaron’s passion is cooking, which he’s been doing for over a decade including several stints in the food industry. That passion emanated from his upbringing in an Afro-Caribbean family, and his grandmother’s traditional southern cooking.
Which eventually led to his cooking for friends -> small pop-ups -> the formation of a catering company -> and finally after a few years of feedback he and his partner Kieran Yuen went for it this summer and now serve the public at large out of a ghost kitchen in LIC.
If he succeeds, Aaron hopes to open a full storefront location and would also like to continue serving the less fortunate with a community kitchen providing nutritious and affordable food. In the meantime, he’s ready to deliver your half-time spread right now.
//SOME big local doings and some not-so-big local doings took place this week. We’ll quickly dispense with the latter, namely the article press release announcing the near completion of Gotham Point. Nothing here to see, even if it is 57-stories tall and 1132 units. Unless you look behind the vacuous quotes and dig into the data. Specifically 75% of the apartments were dedicated to affordable housing at various bands, and we thought it would be interesting to see where rental prices currently stand. A 2-bedroom in Gotham Point South, was listed at $7500 recently according to StreetEasy. I’m guessing the landlord didn’t net that (concessions or discounts), but it’s a lot higher than where things stood 18 months ago for 2-bedrooms which were in the $4k-$5k range. Fwiw, the affordable 2-bdrm units were priced at $600 for those in the 30% band (Income of $25k-40k) and $3,100 for those in the 165% band (maxes out at $220k in income for a family of 4). Leading to the question of who are the 25% paying full price?
The other not-so-big story is the summary of the LIC Summit Conference that took place this week. What’s really left to say about LIC that’s not already known? Though we’re growing a lot in absolute terms, it pales percentage-wise from where we were a decade ago when the Citi Building stood alone.
Today the interesting growth in Queens lies elsewhere, and the announcement of a new soccer stadium and development places it at the end of the 7-train line in Flushing. This is big news which I think is beneficial for LIC in that it puts us at the nexus of accessibility to yet another landmark.
Finally, as an offset to bland news comes a great classic about Steinway Cafe-Billiards, an olde timey pool hall located on the site of the proposed Innovation QNS – which took one step closer to passing this week – which is expected to be built on the border of LIC and Astoria. In an excellently worded long-form article, reporter Haidee Chu writing in The City shows that there is a downside to all the new housing, and this elegy poignantly shares what we may lose forever. I miss the smell of cigars.
Arob’s Homestyle Website – come get a plate baby
NYC Reaches Deal To Build Soccer Stadium In Willets Point – big deal
Iconic Astoria Pool Hall, Steinway Cafe-Billiards, Is One Shot From The End – classic
Innovation QNS Passes Key Council Vote As Affordable Homes Increase
Officials Celebrate Final Phase Of Gotham Point Tower – snore
LIC Summit Brings Together Brings Together Hundreds Of Local Professionals – mehh
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