New Austin St. Restaurant: 718

Here is a photo of 718, the new restaurant/hookah lounge/grill/bar that is getting ready to open on Austin St., where the former Greenline Organic used to be. Do we need another place like this? Well, that depends on which of these incarnations it will mostly be.

Hookah Lounge? No thank you. Sports bar? No thank you. Authentic Mediterranean Cuisine? If it's really good authentic Mediterranean Cuisine? Sure, why not... Um, I guess??

Though I, and many others here in Forest Hills, would much rather have preferred an upscale American bistro a la Kew Gardens' Mood—the kind of place we are sorely sorely lacking here in Forest Hills (see my post about the closing of Mood below), or a friendly independently-owned coffee place, a la Ozzie's in Park Slope, another thing many other neighborhoods in New York City take for granted and something we are sorely, sorely lacking here.

This really isn't rocket science! Mr. Restauranteur, if you want to see an example of what happens when you open a place with an extreme demand for it here in Forest Hills, all you need do is walk into La Boulangerie! Upscale food and coffee places do explosive business here in Forest Hills. Hookah Lounges? Sports bars? Eh... We kind of are overflowing already with these?... But, hey, good luck... I guess?