Monday, October 7, 2013

Future Home of Our Newest Burger Place

The future home of Twist and Smash'd, scheduled to open next month at 72-06 Austin St. ...



23 comments:

  1. I really wish new restaurants would bring a variety of cuisines to Forest Hills. Cheeburger opened, then there was Bareburger and now we have this coming establishment. We have 4 frozen yogurt places, 5 or 6 Thai places, a bunch of Italian restaurants, bakeries, etc etc. How about Korean or Tapas or French or Vietnamese?

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    1. We've had all of those in recent years, except Vietnamese. But I agree, more variety would be great. But even before that there are some big basics in our food offerings that are glaringly missing in central FoHi: a take-out salad place, a good diner-type place, an independent coffee shop, and a Chinese restaurant (if they open those anymore, rare to see new ones open anywhere these days).

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    2. I miss Rouge. We need a French bistro stat.

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    3. For Chinese, you should head to http://redfarmnyc.com/ which opened in 2011.
      If they opened that here, I'd totally go.

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  2. Drake, I know you'd love a take-out salad place, but the two that we've had over the years didn't last long. We simply don't have the lunch crowd for that type of place to flourish.

    I agree with Anonymous that it seems we have 'waves' of establishments. As I mentioned in another posting, while I wish Twist & Smash'd success, I'm not sure that our neighborhood can support another 'fast' burger joint. It's simply that it seems to be more of a lunch offering (people aren't typically looking for a quick-serve dinner) and we simply don't have that much lunch traffic during the week. I work from home and often am one of a handful of people frequenting the restaurants at mid-day.

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    1. The other salad places were small independents, without the power of marketing or a lot of $ behind them. Most people didn't even know they were there. And, what's more, they just weren't that great.

      Chipotle, which needs a certain volume of customers to justify a store anywhere, seems to be doing quite well here. In the evening, there's a huge line. And I went in yesterday mid-afternoon and there were customers eating there too.

      I think it's more about the quality and name recognition of the place. More and more people are working from home these days, and there are a lot of people who work in the Forest Hills area.

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    2. So you want a franchise like Chop't to open an storefront that won't be sustainable? You think simply because it has marketing money behind it it will be a success? Chipotle serves actual food on top of salads. Ask the manager how many salads they actually serve a day. A stand alone salad place wouldn't do well here simply because there is a lack of demand for that type of offering at a high enough clientele count to justify it. You can buy a salad at just about every restaurant in town. I can't imagine they move much salads at any of them.

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    3. Show me your Forest Hills salad research.

      I was in Chipotle several months ago and noticed the woman in front of me ordered a salad. I wasn't even aware they had them, so I got one. I now have them virtually every time I go there. They're great. And I'm sure there are tons of other people who are doing the same thing or else they wouldn't offer them.

      By the way, Banter's Signature Salad is a tremendous experience. Delicious and huge. A great lunch or dinner option. Again, I'm sure I'm not the only one buying it or they wouldn't continue to have it on their new Fall menu they just launched.

      I almost get the feeling Anonymous somehow feels threatened by the idea of more places offering salads and healthier options. WTF is up with that? Just when you think you've seen people write everything here, they go ahead and surprise you with even wackier stuff.

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    4. Sorry to say but these chain salad places, including Chipotle, are awful. Their salads come out of a bag, the salad leaves are dry and full of germs and bacteria. You might as well pick your salad from a trash can.

      If you want to get a good salad, you just need to go to Boulangerie. If you look through the open window in the kitchen, you can see the employees cutting and washing each salad leaf by hand! Absolutely no other place in Forest Hills, with the exception of Danny Browns, does this. What we need is more quality places like these two establishments rather than more chains.

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    5. Not threatened, Drake. And there's a big difference between places offering salads vs a storefront dedicated solely to it. I just don't think those places are viable in our neighborhood. Two of those dedicated storefronts closing only reinforces that thought. So does that fact that you and others wanting salads patronize existing establishments that offer multiple meal options. Those by themselves, let alone combined, speak volumes on the necessary market research. If people want salad, there are plenty of places to get them. There's no justification for a dedicated store front for it. I just don't see the demand to justify it. And, it has nothing to do with the quality of the product. I've had Banter's salad and it is good, there's no denying that. Stand alone salad places need volume from the lunch crowd to stay profitable. That's just not something FoHi can offer.

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  3. Just what we need, another burger joint! How about another gastro-pub, and while we are at it, we could really use another ice cream/frozen yogurt place!

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  4. I'm going to agree again with Anonymous in that I too believe that there is a big difference between a restaurant offering salads as a primary offering (I won't say exclusively, as they can potentially have some type of sandwich offering) versus an establishment offering a mix of offerings.

    I personally liked the soup/salad restaurant on Austin Street back in the day, and stopped there often on my way home from work. It was almost always empty, even though I thought it was pretty good.

    Drake, I believe from my previous postings that you know I'm a huge fan of healthier food options. I'd LOVE to see a Chop't open in Forest Hills. I simply don't feel it would be sustainable. I hope to be proven wrong someday.

    With that said, I wouldn't be surprised to see a Panera Bread eventually find its way to Austin Street. Like Chipotle, Panera seems to have a cult-like following and will draw a crowd for lunch and dinner. With that said, location is everything and my feeling is for a place like that to be successful, it needs to be West of Continental. Chipotle picked the perfect location -- lots of foot traffic from the subway, and closer to the office-centric businesses and school.

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  5. Pandera would be a great idea, many options there!!

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  6. There's a Panera in the Rego Park Mall and one by Trader Joes. Might be too close to be viable. See Staples as a prime example of the same redundancy. But I could see an Au Bon Pan opening. Their Queens presence is pretty limited.

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  7. This might be somewhat off- topic, but what about the other type of Foodie, the Cook? If you look at Forest Hills from that perspective, it ain't too bad. Perhaps not as "exotic" (or affordable) as Jackson Heights, Flushing or Liberty Ave., but you can get good quality produce, etc. from the local shops. If you include 108th Street, as I do --although that is Rego Park-ish territory -- a home chef can create some good meals from what is available within walking distance.

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  8. Can someone please open a Pret??!!!

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  9. Panera was looking around Austin St a few years ago but could not find a reasonable rent and settled near TJ. Manager told me that their off-peak business is extremely slow but do very well on weekends. Story sounds familiar.

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  10. Ripe has some great salads. Agree with the posters who say that salad only places are not viable. I would rather have a soup place, like Hale & Hearty Soup.

    What we also need is a good cafe type place where there is enough space to have a drink, meal, and do some work. The Starbucks on 71st and in B&N are too small. The one on 78th is much bigger. It doesn't look like Biu Bella is doing well. Could be a good conversion for a big Starbucks or the like.

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  11. What we need is a good, emphasis on GOOD my friends, DINER! One that serves up awesome breakfasts, and comforting tasty dinners at a reasonable price. But with the high rent in FH, I'll just dream on.

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  12. This is going back many years (late 80s, early 90s), but does anyone remember Cafe Moka? It was right next to the Midway. It was something between a diner with bagels, sandwiches, soups, etc.,and a more Euro- type cafe. Not too expensive, plus you could sit there and chat or read and write for as long as you liked. I'd like to see something like that again.

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    1. Yeah, I remember that place. It was a good place, but unfortunately because people could sit there for as long as they liked, it failed. Can't make money off people who just sit around and order a few cups of coffee and bagel.

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    2. True, but that place also did quite a bit of take- out business to office workers and commuters. The other reason it failed was that rents rose and giants like Krispy Kreme pushed into that location (it finally failed too, maybe the address is jinxed!).

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