Back in the Mad Men days of say 1964, in addition to working in advertising, nothing was hipper than knowing a diplomat and attending parties at foreign embassies. In a very straight, conservative, monochrome country, any accent, the more exotic the better, was accorded a certain cachet in Manhattan circles. Feeling those choppers late yesterday afternoon as they hovered just above Gantry Park, and the omnipresence of the UN Building for anyone visiting the waterfront, reminded us once again that LIC is at the center of the universe.
At the very other end of the scale, is the microcosm that is a small village cafe. Communitea fits that description to a, umm, Tea. No-waiter, bus-your-own tables and a simple menu on a large chalkboard, kept the pretensions to a minimum. Just hanging was the order of the day, until it closed it’s location on Vernon last year due to a rent hike, after a decade in business. This week it reopened in a new, slightly off-the-beaten path location. A few changes were made1, but otherwise it sounds pretty much the same. Make the effort to take the walk, otherwise the StarDunk duopoly will consume LIC.
Danny Brown’s Wine Bar and Kitchen will not be coming to LIC for the time being. The Court Square Blog noted the inactivity at the site on Jackson Ave, and the NYT confirmed the closing of his Forest Hills location. Michelin star or not, the 60’s, and the ensuing decades of the 20th century, are long over in Queens.
Danny Brown Isn’t Coming to Court Square – from the culinary heights to nada in two years, a bit of a strange ending
Communitea Reopens – hopefully a happy ending, and beginning
Financier Leaps to Death From Condo Near Queensboro Plaza
5Pointz in 5 Minutes – cool video lets you also see the great art on the inside
See Where NYC Home Prices Have Risen the Most Since 2004 – “real estate prices in New York City have gone from “expensive” to “maddeningly over-the-top pricey” in the past decade—heck, in the past few years” -could we be near an end?
- I hope they kept the portobello burger [↩]
[…] department – one opens, one closes, and this time Communitea appears to have closed for good. Originally located on Vernon Boulevard, it closed in 2014 after a rent hike and re-opened a year lat… on the considerably less trafficked 46th Road, despite having a top-5 LICtalk vegetarian menu […]