Last year’s ‘it’ food was poke, which came and left Long Island City with barely a trace. Crabs have vanished too. In previous years I speculated baby food and roadkill might gain traction in LIC. 2018 looks to be more prosaic, but what’s wrong with that? All I need is a good turkey club anyway. Mayo on the side. Accompanied by a pint of extra-hoppy IPA brewed with blood orange and agave. Or if it’s before noon then a double soy latte where the ground coffee has been steeped in water from fjords and the beans have been pre-digested by an exotic animal of some sort. And for dessert something with chocolate that needs to be ordered at the beginning of the meal …oh and petit fours, DON’T FORGET THE PETIT FOURS! What time should I be over?
RECENTLY OPENED
Fifth Hammer Brewery – Opened in early October, according to website spontaneous live music too. No food onsite, but I believe BYOF encouraged
Indie LIC – opened in November in Court Square. Salads & sandwiches during the day, bruschette, cheese plates, entrees & sides at night
Levante – pizza & more in Court Square. Open since summer, but still no liquor license which I can only imagine is very frustrating
Piatto – pizza …on Center Blvd. Opened in October
Sapps – opened around new year’s. Asian fusion in Court Square from the Shi crew
The Loft – just opened Latin, or is it latino food? in former Crabhouse
COMING SOON
DesiBowl – the signs are up, they’re looking to hire, by the end of January it should be a go for Indian-Mexican in LIC
Xi’an Famous Foods – how famous? 30-minute lines do not deter patrons from waiting at their midtown location to be ‘noodled,’ and soon LIC will feel the heat. Famous yes, expensive no, and the ‘foods’ are spicy: málà!
COMING NOT SO SOON
Bellwether – since a facebook posting in early December not much revealed
R40 – hints of movement inside this month as the gate has been kept down most of the time since we first saw the sign posted for ‘Argentinian Restaurant’ back in June. Plus, though it’s barebones, they have a website
Sweet Chick – late Feb/early March for this chicken ‘n waffles mini-chain coming into the Alobar space
Mothership Meat Company – early Spring according to Facebook, as they deal w/ “endless bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo,” the excruciating wait continues…
REOPENING
The Riverview – Center Blvd stalwart has been closed for renovations per a sign in the papered windows. No answer at listed number, but believe the closure/renovation may have had something to do w/ flooding on the ground floor of Avalon South
L’Inizio – re-opening under a new name: Centro Pizza Bar, and a new owner, Stephen LoGiudice who grew up in Astoria. Stephen said to expect some small changes to the pizza and an expanded menu (fried calamari), a few cosmetic touch-ups, and more tables (booths) when they re-open any day now.
[…] I have decided to list all three returnees from last year in the Coming Soon category as opposed to the “Not-So-Soon” category in the hopes that […]