Tuesday, August 26, 2014

A Couple of New Places

First, a new sneaker store on Queens Blvd. in the former Spin Cycle bike shop location...


And the former Stoa jewelry store location on Austin St. is being converted into some kind of coffee place. Not sure if that means cafe with light fare, or more of a coffee-only place, or a coffee place/bakery. If anyone has any info., please comment below, thanks


Friday, August 22, 2014

Santa Fe Mystery Solved—For Now

Whelp, apparently this is the best they can do with this prime restaurant location—for now, anyway. The mystery is solved thanks to Vincent who tweeted me this pic this morning. No new restaurant (all those comments on the old post apparently were based on someone who pulled that out of their #&@), no new apartment building, but those who bet on a Halloween costume pop-up store for the old Santa Fe location bet right. Not to say a new restaurant or apartment building won't follow once the holiday is over. So, we have a whole row of restaurants that draw people from all over Queens... and then Halloween costumes. Makes no sense to me, but whatever....

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Drake Concert Pics

Thanks to Jessica for sending in these cool pics of last night's Drake & Lil Wayne concert at the Forest Hills Stadium. If you have pics of the show, email them to edgeofthecity@gmail.com and I'll post 'em up here.


Tuesday, August 19, 2014

The—Belated—Return of Banter's Outdoor Seating

I glanced over while walking by one of my favorite new restaurants today, Banter, and for a second thought I was seeing things. Their outdoor seating has suddenly reappeared—and I think with rather inviting new tables and chairs to boot—after being oddly absent during this delightfully mild spring and summer. Anyway, better late than never. Soon, I will be wallowing away the afternoons doing this... :)

Drake & Lil Wayne Concert Tonight

If anyone takes any cool photos of tonight's show, please email them to edgeofthecity@gmail.com and I will post them to the blog.

What's Up With? New Town Grocery

With Newtown Grocery (shown above a few years ago after an unfortunate mishap) apparently packing up shop, speculation has begun about what will be taking its place. The space is being marketed as "perfect for a corner cafe", with more than 1,000 square feet of space and, according to an ad I saw, would also include a couple of neighboring businesses. Some local folks believe it may be the up and coming coffee chain Caffe Bene that may move into the location. The chain has already opened a couple of locations in Astoria. And, as we all know, as the saying goes, "What's good for Astoria..."

On the Cusp of Salad

My quest for an easy, effortless way to obtain a salad in Forest Hills is almost over, but not quite. Yes, this simple desire, so easily fulfilled in countless other neighborhoods in New York City, remains stubbornly out of reach of us Forest Hillers—unless, that is, you are willing to play by the rules.

For example, the wonderful new make-your-own salad bar at Natural is oh so inviting and a fantastic idea. But then there are its sketchy hours of operation—apparently they only make the salads during the day-time. And since no hours of operation are posted on the salad bar, when you are going to be delighted with a crisp, freshly customized salad of your own choosing, and when you'll be greeted by a sad empty metal salad space remains uncertain. Not the best way to plan your salad days.

The new wonderful cafe OvoSodo on Queens Blvd. near Ascan has a customized salad option. But it's not a salad bar. You have to order what you want off the menu. Not a salad option for us harried New Yorkers who want to see salad, point, mutter, and leave.

BareBurger has some incredibly complex, inventive and healthy salads. But, once again, sans bar. You have to order it off the menu like you would one of their scrumptious Bison Burgers.

In this age of Just Salad and Chop't, where freshly-built, custom-made salads are just a short line wait away for millions of other New Yorkers, I long for the day of a no-drama, streamlined salad operation that will bring Forest Hills truly into the 21st Century and help all of our waistlines. There are a lot of chubby Forest Hillers who are only getting chubbier.

Behold! Natural's new semi-open salad bar:



Thursday, August 14, 2014

Something's Up in Santa Fe

That huge space on Restaurant Row (70th Road), former home to Santa Fe Steakhouse, is finally being worked on. Very curious as to what is going in there. If anyone knows please comment below or email me at edgeofthecity@gmail.com 

More Pics of The Blacklist Shoot Yesterday

Thanks to Catherine for these great pics! She also sent in a really good video. It's a lot of fun to see your neighborhood transformed into something else through the magic of filmmaking.





Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Photos of Today's The Blacklist Shoot

Among the surprises of today's shoot is that they transformed our charming French bakery La Boulangerie into some type of Russian cafe (at least I think that's what it is — I never watched the show! Let me know). Thanks very much to @coreynyc who provided some of these photos, including the Station Square ones. And he also discovered the telephone booth which looks like it may have been left behind. ( By the way, I left out the photo I took of the sleeping crewman in front of Boulangerie. Didn't want to get him in trouble. But I tell you, he was dead to the world! Must've been up quite early for the shoot. )









Advertising The Aston

Workers putting up the ad for the new Aston Condo yesterday afternoon. Looks like this baby is almost ready to open...



Monday, August 11, 2014

Odd, Disney-esque Villa Taking Shape

I couldn't help but notice this odd, Disney-like villa taking shape near the Queens Center Mall when I went for my periodic DMV-like experience at the Time Warner Cable Center today. It seems that the illusional pleasantness of "America" is encroaching upon, of all places, the NYC Borough of Queens! Who would've thunk! This block appears to contain an Olive Garden which looks like something out of the Harry Potter Theme Park experience down in Orlando and I am told there will be a few other chain restaurants.


2nd Annual Mats Wilander Foundation Tennis Pro-Am


Mats Wilander and Wilander on Wheels returns to The West Side Tennis Club on August 27 for Charity Tennis Pro-Am benefiting debra of America and “Butterfly Children” with rare disease Epidermolysis Bullosa
Join Mats Wilander and debra of America on Wednesday, August 27, 2014 for the 2nd Annual Mats Wilander Foundation Tennis Pro-Am. Play with former #1 player in the world, Mats Wilander, Cameron Lickle of Wilander on Wheels, and other current and former tennis pros on the grass courts of the historic West Side Tennis Club. Past pros have included: John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Jonas Björkman, Thomas Blake, Thomas Johansson, Mikael Pernfors and Karel Nováček. Click here to read about last year’s event in Tennis Magazine.
During the 2014 US Open, debra of America will take over 3 court surfaces at the 100-year old West Side Tennis Club. Enjoy a full-day of dining, instructional clinics, pro challenges, individual competitions, an exhibition match, and new this year, team competitions. Register as a team with your friends or company and compete for prizes! The Tennis Pro-Am is open to guests of all ages and playing levels. All proceeds benefit debra of America's fight against Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) – The Worst Disease You've Never Heard Of.™
DATE: Wednesday, August 27, 2014
TIME: 8AM - 4PM
VENUE: The West Side Tennis Club, 1 Tennis Place, Forest Hills, Queens, NY
BENEFITING: debra of America and the “Butterfly Children” with Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB)
BUY TICKETS AND LEARN MORE AT: www.debra.org/Tennis

 
Mats Wilander

Modest Mouse Panaroma Shot

Thanks to Kevin for sending in this very neat wide-scale shot of Saturday's concert just as the show was about to get underway.


Supermoon Over Forest Hills

Here's a cute little Supermoon story for you all. After realizing my own just weren't hacking it, I sent out a tweet last night requesting Supermoon pics from readers. (Please still send them in to me, by the way, at edgeofthecity@gmail.com) One of the people who replied, @itskitti sent me this gorgeous shot she took of the Supermoon over Queens Blvd.


Now, here's the cute part. Around the same time she was taking her photo, I was taking mine...


And it just so happened I was standing 8 floors below her, right outside her building. You can say it's just a coincidence, but I think I'll blame it on the moon...

Sunday, August 10, 2014

More Modest Mouse Pics

Reader Karen sent in these really cool pics of last night's concert, adding: "The Tennis Stadium is really an amazing venue. So glad it's being put to good use!"    I couldn't agree more!



Modest Mouse Concert Pics

Send in your photos of last night's concert and I'll post 'em. Josh shot this one last night from his central perch in the Stadium:


Wednesday, August 6, 2014