Astorian Weekend Edition 16.4.09

This Thursday, join Jimmy van Bramer at The Creek for a fundraising party for his candidacy for the 26th City Council district. Apart from the interesting discussions that will no doubt crop up during, The Creek has some tasty food. The guac and salsa app is good, and I've enjoyed the fish tacos as well.

This is Eastern Orthodox Holy Week, so in Astoria, Greek Easter is just around the corner. But you can see an amazing procession on Friday evening, around 8 p.m. To see the Good Friday procession/epitaphios that involves congregants from three local Greek churches (St. Catherine, St. Markella and St. Irene), stand on the corner of 31st Street and 23rd Avenue. Make sure you have a delicious loaf of tsoureki on hand to celebrate this weekend, too.

Saturday is chock full of fun! Head over to Astoria Park around noon for the Astoria Park Alliance Earth Day celebration - meet up by the butterfly garden under the Hellgate Bridge. At 2:30 p.m., stop at Soleil Cafe (37-14 Astoria Blvd) and meet up with the Astoria Artists are Awesome group to discuss the future of the arts in town. At 6 p.m., the Queens is Green Fashion Show starts up at Green Space in LIC (37-24 24th Street, #301). And finally, AMandA in Wonderland (38-01 23rd Ave), with its myriad music and arts, goes on for 12 hours (starting at 4 p.m.), into the wee hours of the morning.

The next morning, er, afternoon, you can find tasty grub nearby at Sparrow for brunch.

The Creek and the Cave

Last week I finally made it out to The Creek and the Cave in Long Island City; it's about a block from the Vernon-Jackson subway station. And it's interesting - you turn one way out of the subway and it's desolate. You turn another direction and you're just steps away from open businesses and foot traffic. LIC is definitely still developing and parts of it are still very industrial.

We walked in and were greeted by a very nice young man who gave us a rundown of where everything is in the space. There's a bar upstairs and downstairs, a room to play pool, a performance space next door, and a really great outdoor patio in the back with another smaller bar and plenty of tables, chairs, and a movie screen. They show films out there on Thursday nights during the warmer months.

We had some great beer - a Sol, which is kind of like a Corona but much better, and I a red ale from a brewery whose name I forget, but what was notable - beyond its real tastiness - was that it was from a brewery that is women-run in Pennsylvania. We also had a salsa and guacamole ($5.95) sampler which was also really good. The food itself was ok. I had three soft tacos, one of each filled with chicken, pork, and tofu. The pork was by far the best, savory yet sweet. We also tried chicken enchiladas made with flour tortillas, which to me is a little odd - I'm accustomed to enchiladas being corn tortilla-based. Everything was tasty but not stellar. I'd definitely give the food another chance, though, and try other things. I hear the burritos are particularly good.

The guy who served us was terrific, though. Super nice and helpful and gave us great suggestions when we asked for them. It was the kind of service that makes you want to leave a really big tip. And the movie (Kill Bill), while quite violent, was a lot of fun. I'm really curious to know what happens in Kill Bill 2.

So, overall, the beer is great, salsa and guacamole is also great, tacos and enchiladas are ok, service is very good, and the vibe is excellent. Laid back and relaxed, a nice place where you can just hang out with friends and enjoy yourselves. Oh, and they have live music there quite often. Definitely recommended.

The Creek and The Cave
10-93 Jackson Ave.
Long Island City
718-706-8783

Open for lunch, dinner and drinks Tuesday through Friday.
Dinner and drinks Saturday and Sunday.

Astorian Weekend Edition 13.09.07

One of my favorite events is happening this weekend, the Shoreline Cleanup. The big one will be in Astoria Park, starting around 9am, going until around 1pm or so. Check-in is on Shore Blvd across from the war memorial, and you'll most likely see me helping out there. It's a terrific event and a great way to contribute to the community. Be sure to wear sturdy shoes (that means no sandals or flipflops). And if Astoria Park is too far from you, from 11am-2pm that day there's a shoreline cleanup at Gantry Park. Gantry Park is located at at 48th Avenue and the East River. For more info, contact GantryParkFriends@aol.com.

Later that day is the re(Cycle) Plays at Socrates Sculpture Park. This is a free event with a bunch of local theater groups participating. From the press release:

THE (re)CYCLE PLAYS is a free outdoor festival of live performances in theatre, dance, and music with green themes. A dynamic mix of artists will recycle titles from the medieval Cycle Plays and pair them with today's leading ecological issues. This series of short performances will cycle throughout the day on multiple stages.

Also on Sunday, Flux Factory (38-38 43rd Street) is starting a new project, DeluxeFactory. There's a capitalist element to it, which I'm sure will be twisted by FF in their own inimitable way. Saturday at 7pm is the opening party, plus the gallery is open during the weekend.

The Astoria Symphony has a performance this weekend, too. They'll be performing the music of Wagner, Huff, and Brahms. On Sunday at 5pm they'll be playing in Astoria at St. Joseph's Catholic Church (43-19 30th Avenue). Tickets are $12 apiece.

Thursday night the Creek and the Cave in LIC (10-93 Jackson Ave) they're showing Kill Bill 2. I was there last Thursday and had a great time. The food is tasty, the beer is great, and it's fun to be outside in the back watching a movie. Kill Bill was terrifically violent but such a well-crafted film. I'm really curious to see how things happen in the second installation.

If you want to do some shopping this weekend, we've got great boutiques here in town: Kristees (24-01 23rd Avenue), Candy Plum (30-98 36th Street), Loveday 31 (33-06 31st Ave), The Blooming Company (22-75 31st Street), and Mimi's Closet (21-10 31st Street) come to mind. Such cute stuff!

And maybe a trip to Dolce Italia will be in your plans? I understand that apart from the delicious pastries they also sell bread. Pair that with some great feta and olives from Angelo's Food Emporium ( 31-27 Ditmars Blvd) up the street, and a bottle of Greek wine from Omega Wines over on 23rd Ave (29-15 23rd Street), and you're set. Don't forget some gelato later at La Guli (29-15 Ditmars Blvd)!