an extensive backlog of places i've come across on the internets:
jackson diner
Roti Boti Restaurant - 2709 21st St (@ astoria blvd/newtown) (pakistani)
Malagueta - 25-35 36th Ave (brazilian)
cafe triskell - 33-04 36th Avenue (crepes)
Uzbeki/Kosher: Cheburechnaya
Tibetan/Japanese: Yeti - 4316 Queens Blvd
Sunnyside: de mole - 4502 48th Ave - Mexican
TAQUERIA - Coatzingo - 76-05 Roosevelt Ave
Punjabi: Tandoori Hut - 11908 94th Ave (richmond hill)
Bagels: Utopia Bagels (1909 utopia pkwy) whitestone
Korean: Natural Tofu (40th & Queens Blvd.)
El Rey Del Sol is a truck that parks on 30th ave and 33rd St most nights (always weekends) from 7pm-3am.
37th Ave around 75th or 77th Streets - Indian grocery stores
Han ah Rrum Market in Woodside (59-18 Woodside Ave, near Roosevelt) - soft tofu
Best Yet Market of Astoria (supermarket) - 19-30 37th Street
Nusura (http://events.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/dining/reviews/17unde.html?ref=dining)
82-80 Broadway (Whitney Avenue), Elmhurst, Queens; (718)898-7996.
BEST DISHES Fried pork jerky; tod mun (fried fish cakes); Siam grilled chicken; som tum; whole fried fish (try the chu-chee curry or thai chile sauces); khao mon gai.
PRICE RANGE Appetizers and smaller dishes, $3.95 to $7.95; Main courses, $6.50 to $18.95. Bring your own beer, wine or liquor.
Spicy & Tasty
39-07 Prince St., Flushing, NY 11354
at 39th St.
718-359-1601
Zabb Queens
71-28 Roosevelt Ave., Queens, NY 11372
at 71st St.
718-426-7992
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/248540#1870377
http://www.chow.com/digest/1743
sunnyside - quaint, bliss
http://nymag.com/search/dblistings-search.cgi?crumb_qid=11974290080&nymbreadcrumb_push=Sunnyside&other_params=%7Crestaurant%3Bnyml_subtype%7C0%3Bnyml_is_closed%7C0%3Bnyml_not_in_search%7Cqueens%3Bnyml_address_borough%7E%7EQueens&results_per_page=25&sort_params=nyml_guaranteed_sort_name%3Balphabetical&sort_param=name&search_type=restaurant&autonomy_fieldname=nyml_address_all_neighborhoods&autonomy_fieldvalue=Sunnyside&filter_prettyname=Sunnyside
http://nymag.com/search/dblistings-search.cgi?nymbreadcrumb_push=Astoria&other_params=%7Crestaurant%3Bnyml_subtype%7C0%3Bnyml_is_closed%7C0%3Bnyml_not_in_search&sort_params=&results_per_page=25&search_type=restaurant&autonomy_fieldname=nyml_address_all_neighborhoods&autonomy_fieldvalue=Astoria&filter_prettyname=Astoria
http://nymag.com/search/dblistings-search.cgi?nymbreadcrumb_push=Jackson%20Heights&other_params=%7Crestaurant%3Bnyml_subtype%7C0%3Bnyml_is_closed%7C0%3Bnyml_not_in_search&sort_params=&results_per_page=25&search_type=restaurant&autonomy_fieldname=nyml_address_all_neighborhoods&autonomy_fieldvalue=Jackson%20Heights&filter_prettyname=Jackson%20Heights
http://nymag.com/search/dblistings-search.cgi?nymbreadcrumb_push=Long%20Island%20City&other_params=%7Crestaurant%3Bnyml_subtype%7C0%3Bnyml_is_closed%7C0%3Bnyml_not_in_search&sort_params=&results_per_page=25&search_type=restaurant&autonomy_fieldname=nyml_address_all_neighborhoods&autonomy_fieldvalue=Long%20Island%20City&filter_prettyname=Long%20Island%20City
http://nymag.com/search/dblistings-search.cgi?nymbreadcrumb_push=Woodside&other_params=%7Crestaurant%3Bnyml_subtype%7C0%3Bnyml_is_closed%7C0%3Bnyml_not_in_search&sort_params=&results_per_page=25&search_type=restaurant&autonomy_fieldname=nyml_address_all_neighborhoods&autonomy_fieldvalue=Woodside&filter_prettyname=Woodside
http://nymag.com/search/dblistings-search.cgi?nymbreadcrumb_push=Flushing&other_params=%7Crestaurant%3Bnyml_subtype%7C0%3Bnyml_is_closed%7C0%3Bnyml_not_in_search&sort_params=&results_per_page=25&search_type=restaurant&autonomy_fieldname=nyml_address_all_neighborhoods&autonomy_fieldvalue=Flushing&filter_prettyname=Flushing
Szechuan Gourmet
Elmhurst:
CHAO THAI
(718) 424-4999; 85-03 Whitney Avenue (Broadway); $; $25 and Under: 8/16/06.
This unassuming neighborhood cafe plays to a predominantly Thai audience. And the food is resolutely authentic. The kitchen’s free hand with chilies and its facility for balancing sweet, sour and salty flavors distinguish it from its brethren west of the East River.
The surprisingly spicy larb, available with chicken, pork or beef, is a meat-based salad loaded with mint and scallions and finished with a sprinkling of toasted ground jasmine rice that imbues a subtle smokiness.
LA UNION
(718) 592-2786; 91-18 Corona Avenue (91st Place); $; Article: 9/21/05.
The menu at La Union, a Peruvian chifa (slang for Chinese restaurant), includes platters of chancho, a Hispanic rendering of char siu, Chinese for roast pork; wonton soup filled with noodles, chunks of taro and potato and leaves of bok choy; and chi gau kay, a version of Cantonese fried chicken, dipped in a batter thickened with chuño, a starch from freeze-dried potatoes.
MINANGASLI
(718) 429-8207; 86-10 Whitney Avenue (Broadway); $; $25 and Under: 2/1/06.
The satays at this Indonesian restaurant are excellent, served in a sauce dark with Indonesian soy sauce and rich with peanut butter. Nasi rames, combination plates, are the go-to option for anyone dining alone. For $6.95 you get an ample helping of rice flanked by one of 13 choices of meat and seafood.
PING’S SEAFOOD ★★
(718) 396-1238; 83-02 Queens Boulevard (Goldsmith Street); $$; Review: 8/9/00.
Ping’s looks like hundreds of other Chinese restaurants in New York. The big square room is casual and brightly lighted, with a bank of aquariums near the back. The extraordinary selection of seafood in the tanks ends up on your plate. For the best options, ask for the translation of the Chinese menu.
TANGRA MASALA
(718) 803-2298; 87-09 Grand Avenue (Queens Boulevard); $; Article: 9/21/05.
Chinese food is very popular in India, and the menu at this Chinese-Indian includes many Indian favorites. Among the appetizers are chicken lollipops and curry chicken rolls, and the hot and spicy entrees include chili chicken; Manchurian chicken served dry or with gravy; and tangra masala tiger prawns.
Manhattan:
Nha Trang
87 Baxter St.
212-233-5948
You don't come to this little spot near City Hall for the atmosphere: 1970s cafeteria crossed with Saigon airline café. You don't come for the service: fast at best, unfriendly at worst. Rather, you come for the food — soft-shell crabs, lightly battered and tarted up with onions and basil; overflowing bowls of pho packed with rice noodles, scallions, and beef; and barbecued pork chops that are plainly done but sweet and eminently satisfying. As one of the longtime (and friendly) waiters says when he brings out the food, "Nummy, nummy." — TS
Dumpling House
118 Eldridge St.
212-625-8008
Hardly a restaurant, this sliver of space in the part of Chinatown that bleeds into the Lower East Side makes and sells fabulous dumplings. These little parcels are notable not only for their impossibly crisp bottoms and luscious pork-and-chive filling, but also for their unbeatable price-to-tastiness ratio: Five cost just $1. Compared with that deal, a triangular slice of puffy, golden sesame pancake split horizontally and laid with preserved beef, pickled carrots, and cilantro sprigs seems like a splurge at a buck fifty. The decor is not just no-frills but virtually nonexistent, so hunker down at one of a half dozen stools at the counter in the back if you must. Or better still, lug your cheap feast a blocks west to the park. — JG
Great New York Noodletown
28 1/2 Bowery
212-349-0923
Everyone knows the real deals are in Chinatown, from fake designer bags to restaurants like this fluorescent-lit feeding pit that's crowded till the 3 a.m. closing. Compensating for the dingy decor and slapdash service are authentic Hong Kong–style dishes such as salt-baked soft-shell crab, duck with flowering chives, wonderful noodle dishes, and killer suckling pig with fragile, crunchy skin. — IS
Phoenix Garden (242 E. 40th St., between 2nd and 3rd Aves., Manhattan) with Wu Liang Ye, Szechuan Gourmet and Evergreen Shanghai as four of Manhattan’s top Chinese restaurants. (BYOB)
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/343800
