Dear Mr. Softee

Dear Mr. Softee,

While I respect your right to drum up business, I mean really with gas prices these days you must have to sell an extra hundred rainbow pops a week just to pay to run your magical refridgeration vehicle. I beg of you, can you please use common sense when playing your song?

This is not Manhattan, I wouldn't propose a ban barring an entire generation from hearing a song that brings them back to their childhood. This is Queens, where Mr. Softee trucks run harder and faster than anyplace else. It is not uncommon to see them flying down Skillman Ave faster than a fire truck. (Does anyone else recall the infamous 45th street/Skillman accident a few years ago? When one hit a parked car, flipping both it and the truck, only leaving sad melting clown pops in the road?)

While I think common sense would suggest Mr. Softee might not get customers by mowing them down. I also think common sense dictates that 11 in the morning while school is in session is not the best time to be driving around a neighborhood with the song blaring parking on the side of the road until the street cleaner chases you away. Nor is 11 pm the best time to stalk the neighborhood children for a late night frozen treat.

Mr. Softee, you are a big white truck with an HVAC system that sounds like a jet engine. We see you. And after one song, we hear you. But after several hearings of your song, we don't like you! Please try to use common sense, and in turn we promise not to drive by YOUR home several times a day blasting an annoying song out of OUR windows!

Sincerely,
Ms. Italian Ice

Bliss is a Miss

I wanted to like Bliss, I really did.

When they opened in the late summer of 2005 on the corner of 46th Street and Skillman Avenue where the former Jaunting Car Pub used to stand, it was one of the first signs that our little neighborhood was changing. Soon after came the much beloved Sunnyside Garden Farms market across the street, and then Bliss' rival restaurant, Quaint just down Skillman Avenue. Lynn and I first ate at Bliss shortly after they opened, eager to show our support for a new local restaurant. On our first visit, the service was great - the server was attentive, gave us a run down of the wine list, the beers available (both bottles and on tap), and the specials.We were both fairly pleased with the experience, despite the fact that as vegetarians we could only order one item from the menu - the fresh mushroom ravioli appetizer, as our main course, which we liked. Since it was a bit pricey and since the menu didn't change over the next year to include other vegetarian entrees, we didn't return until recently. Instead we often favored Bliss' neighbor Quaint, which opened in early 2006. Quaint has a slightly more diverse menu (though still lacking in the veg department), has a nicer atmosphere, and is a bit more affordable.

On our most recent visit back to Bliss things had changed. The flimsy card stock menus were splattered with red wine stains, there was no wine or drink list, and they had taken out the beers on tap which left them offering only Amstel, Coors Light, Bud Light and Corona, which made the place feel more like Applebee's than a "new-American bistro" as described by the New York Times. It took ages for the wait staff (who were nothing but polite and friendly) to take our drink orders, ages for our drinks to arrive, and ages for our food to arrive. And they were not that busy. Again, Lynn and I had the mushroom ravioli appetizer as our entree, but this time Lynn noted that the sauce tasted like "a mix of butter and dijon mustard." Our dining companions who are not vegetarian were only a little more adventurous. One had the salmon, which was nicely presented and was reported to be very good. The other had their hamburger. While I did not sample the burger, the bun looked like it came from a 12-pack of Wonder buns they bought across the street at Sunnyside Garden Farms and the pickle slices on the side looked sickly and pale, as if they had been sitting in a jar for a decade or more. While it didn't quite redeem the experience completely, I admit their chocolate mousse dessert was tasty.

It's surprising that in the face of some stiff competition with Quaint, Bliss didn't try to step things up a bit - shake up their menu, lower their prices a smidge, have more interesting drinks and specials. Instead they have done the complete opposite - they have stagnated, taken away drink options and let their service slide. It's no wonder then that their busiest night of the week is Tuesday - the one night Quaint is closed. On other nights when we walk by, Bliss is sadly empty while Quaint is hopping. It makes me wonder how long Bliss can survive. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like it would be sorely missed.

(Here's what Wesley had to say about Bliss last year. I wish I could say they've come a long way since ...)

One Day a Week is All Nita Asks

I posted previously on my failed attempt to get a donut from Nita's Bakery on Greenpoint Ave. They only sell them on Sunday.
Do you want to know why the only sell them on Sunday?
Because they kick motherfucking ass, that's why.

Repair or Despair: Stranded by the 7 Train

I love Queens. I love Sunnyside. That said, occasionally, on long weekends, or say, every weekend in the month of March, I do occasionally like to leave the area, even if it is to just go deeper into Queens and grab some Indian food in Jackson Heights. Unfortunately the MTA has decided for the next 6 weeks or so the area of queens reliant on the 7 train is under house arrest where no one is allowed in or out.

In an effort to not leave us completely stranded the MTA was kind enough to provide us with shuttle busses in addition to the normal bus lines that come through the area. While I may not be an MTA thought leader, I wonder by what calculation those thought leaders came up with the idea that a BUS would be able to accommodate as many people as a 10 car subway train?

Now I know that work needs to be done on the train and platform, which is most evident on the Queensbound 45th road platform where large chunks of the concrete floor continue to go missing, though are covered up by large pieces of wood. But is there not a better way that this work can be done?

Would east siders tolerate the 4, 5 and 6 trains being out of commission for an entire weekend? Would the city tolerate this as it would likely strand and inconvenience thousands of tourists? Our subway system has been in existence for over 100 years, yet after all that time they can't figure out a way to make repairs?

So while the title of this blog is Let's Meet Up In Queens, you better have your own transportation to get here!

One of Our Own Takes the First Shot

When William Grimes was reviewing restaurants for the New York Times, he would conceal his identity when making a reservation by using the name, 'Ron DeFeo'. In case you didn't know, this is the name of the original Amityville murderer, upon whose story the book and subsequent movies were based. Ron woke up one night and murdered his entire family.

Now, in an act of murderous irony, Queen's own William Grimes is hastening the death of our dear borough, while, irony of ironies, lamenting it's loss.

Read it here , if you must.

Donuts or Bust - Nita's European Bakery.

Sunday mornings can be awesome. I don't think I really new how to appreciate a Sunday morning until I moved to New York. My old home town didn't have a brunch culture (also known as 'The Fisting'), didn't know how to spell New York Times, and revolved almost entirely around football and therefore booze.

But when J. from down the block told me about creme-filled donuts at The European Bakery on Greenpoint Ave., I knew Sunday's in Queens were about to get a lot better.

But, I'm having one of those weeks. Okay, ten day stretches. Hmm. Anyway, after dealing with some bidness over by the river this morning at 630 or so, I found myself outside this joint by 8. Earlier in the week I had gone in to scope out the place and bought what turned out to be damn fine - if small - muffins and a groovy little thing called a coffee ring. But, I was ready to dig on a donut. I NEEDED a donut.

Do you know who the Soup Nazi is? I used to work around the corner from Soup Kitchen International. It was good soup, made famous (better??) by being immortalized on an episode of Seinfeld. It wasn't too far from true. And, talk about a real - at least before the immortalization - New York Experience. There really is nothing like the desire for good food coupled with the trials to get it that will make New York eating, New York Eating.

Anyway, I ordered the donuts. I got, 'No donuts, today.' 'But, it's Sunday,' I countered. 'No donuts,' was all the response I could get.

So, if I'm up for it, and if God's willing, some time soon I'll be telling you about a creme-filled donut and a real New York experience. But for now, I'm just going to wolf down this crispy-on-the-outside-chewy-on-the-inside cinnamon roll and listen to Kristen Shaughnessy talk about the morning papers while I read the NYTimes online.
I love her. I love the Times. And, though I long for a donut, I love these cinnamon rolls.

NOTE: Nita's received a respectable 13 on it's last inspection.

The Y Responds

Dear Annie
Thank you for your concerns and questions that you have expressed to us. I am consulting some of my other staff in regards to theses issues and I will be in touch with you by the end of this Week. Thanks for your patience

Stay tuned!

New Years Resolution Playing Out at the Y

Lynn and I live on different sides of the tracks, so we work out at different places. I'm inclined to pay her spot a visit, if only for the entertainment factor.

Me, I rock it down at the Y on Queens Boulevard and 32nd Street, in the shadow of the 7 train at the spot where it makes that near-hairpin turn that makes rush hour so much fun. I posted a year ago about the insanity that prevails on the track at the Y, and for awhile, things seemed to be getting worse. They instituted "family time" where children of all ages could be on the track as long as they were accompanied by an adult. The Y has a very loose definition of "accompanied"--I think that multiple zip codes can be involved. Things got really, really bad, and I lost my temper a few times. I know! Can you believe it? Sweet li'l me? It was chaos.

But then, cooler heads prevailed, and now children under 12 are banned from the exercise area completely! Now, the track is a much safer place. Because it's the beginning of January, it's crowded with new members who are trying that walking thing, but I can train those people. I have a "Please stay to the side" or "Comin' through" that seems to do the trick.

Of course, there's a guy who I've seen on the track 3 times now who only walks in the wrong direction, and when you say, "Wrong way!" he just looks puzzled. And there was the lady in the locker room who climbed up onto the bench to change into her bathing suit. Right next to me. I don't need to be eye level with, um, you.

But I'm cool with it all, now that the children are safe from being killed on the track. I might even smile at the desk people next time I walk inside.