NY Family Vacation

Family Vacation

These are various pictures from family visitors in October.

Takara

Pan Seared Tuna

Location: 150-11 14th Avenue, Whitestone, NY 11357
Cuisine: Asian Fusion, Japanese, Sushi
Phone: (718) 747-1368, (718) 747-1465
Prices: $17/person (dinner)
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 10
Service: 10
Value: 10
Environment: 8

Frequency: Unique

This is my new favorite restaurant. It was recommended to my parents by Auntie Remy, who is a regular there. One night, my parents went out with her and brought me left overs... a portion of the pan seared tuna, which is now my favorite dish. Since then, we've gone there for several family occasions.

Their specialty is sushi and Japanese food, but the owner has experimented with and expanded the selection to Asian Fusion. For their entrees, the seafood is the best I've ever had and I haven't even tried all of their dishes yet. The pan seared tuna is the most original dish I've seen. The edges of the tuna are seared and the middle left rare. The pieces are setup in a mountain shape around a clump of sesame soba noodles. It's then topped with seaweed and caviar. Spicy mayo forms a moat around the mountain.

The owner is also a chef and concept developer. He seems to have a personal relationship with his guests. He has hung out with us as well as every other table, making everyone feel at home. The restaurant is family run, so the staff is just as friendly as the owner.

While some dishes are mid-range to pricey, you do get your money's worth with portion size.

Cranky's Cafe

Location: 48-19 Vernon Blvd., Long Island City
Cuisine: Cajun
Phone: (347) 738-4921
Hours: SUN (9am-10pm); MON-FRI(8am-10pm); SAT (9am-10pm)
Website: www.crankyscafe.com
Prices: ~$20/person (dinner)
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 9
Service: 8
Value: 8
Environment: 7

Frequency: Unique

Click here for the Picasa album 

Fish Deboning

This is the deboning of the fish @ Tung Yi Fung. The goal is to filet the fish without flipping it over. This was an OK job as he pushed the veggies off the plate (saved by Uncle Charlie)... and the segment close to the head broke.

Tung Yi Fung

Location: 135-29 37th Ave., Flushing, NY, 11354
Cuisine: Chinese, seafood
Phone: (718) 886-8233
Prices: $15/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 7
Value: 8
Environment: 7

Frequency: All the Time

There's nothing new here. All stats are the same as before. I just wanted to bump this restaurant up with Auntie Remy & Uncle Charlie's visit.

Click here for recent photos

Shogun Palace

Location: 34-20 Linden Place, Flushing, NY
Cuisine: Asian, Buffet
Phone: (718) 888-1133
Website: www.shogun-palace.com
Prices: $11/person (lunch)
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 7
Value: 10
Environment: 7

Frequency: Unique

I'm not a fan of buffets, but I'd have to say that this is one of the better ones. The location probably doesn't help the business much, but it's a nice find if you know about it. With a lunch price of $11, you'd think they would hold back on the good food, but there's actually a full variety of choices. There are no cheap variants of dishes. The soup station is even open for service. Trays at the counter were replaced quickly when they ran out. The environment was actually pretty nice... better than many banquet halls in Flushing.

Click here for the Picasa album

Unidentified Flying Chickens (UFC)

Location: 71-22 Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights, NY
Cuisine: Korean
Phone: (718) 205-6662
Website: http://ufchicken.com/
Prices: $10/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 10
Service: 10
Value: 9
Environment: 7

Frequency: All the Time

I actually don't think I ever reviewed this one because I've always taken out from there. This was the first time I ate in. I think UFC shares the title of Best Korean Fried Chicken along with Mad for Chicken. The two are very similar, but I'd say UFC holds the edge in the secret sauce while Mad has the better organic meat. Service is excellent as the store owner is always available and hospitable to his customers. Prices may seem high, but you get a lot when you stop and think about it. The quality of the ingredients is also top notch.

Click here to visit the Picasa album

Broadway Chinese Cuisine

Location: 83-17 Broadway, Elmhurst, NY 11373
Cuisine: Chinese
Prices: $15/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 5
Service: 9
Value: 6
Environment: 7

Frequency: Uncommon

This is supposedly one of the best Chinese restaurants in Elmhurst, but I wasn't impressed by the food. It was OK, but maybe it's just because I eat in Flushing's Chinatown all the time. I guess it could be the choice of dishes as well. For more details, check out the comments on each image. On the plus side, the service was great and the place was clean.

Click here to visit the Picasa album

Auntie Remy & Uncle Charlie's Vacation

Auntie Remy and Uncle Charlie came over from the Philippines to visit for a few weeks this Spring. They were actually here over a week ago, but went with my parents and some friends on a group vacation to Cancun. I took this week off to spend time with them while they're in NY.

The following album covers a home dinner and another one in Elmhurst the next day. Click here to see photos.

Chinese New Year 4711

Holiday Food Fest

I had the whole week off and wasn't traveling. Since Wiley has combo vacation/sick/personal days, the tendency is to have a lot of days at the end of the year because of overpreparedness for being sick. Naturally, I spent the week meeting up with friends over meals.

This album consists of:

1) Oceanic Seafood Restaurant: This was a Friday lunch with my parents, Uncle Bock & Auntie Kim at a new buffet restaurant that took over the former Gala Manor. Full review in the future.

2) Pre-New Year's Dinner @ the Yeo's: This was a home-cooked meal by Auntie Kim.

3) New Year's Dinner: 2 rounds of Korean BBQ at my parents'.

Jin Cheng Restaurant

Location: 142-38 Roosevelt Ave., Flushing, NY
Cuisine: Chinese
Prices: $10/person (dim sum)
Credit Cards: ???

Food: 7
Service: 8
Value: 8
Environment: 6

Frequency: Unique

Jin Cheng is right on the next block from my Dad's office, yet today was the first time we ate there. I've probably passed by it hundreds of times. So it's just odd that we never ate there before! It's probably the most convenient restaurant to go to. It's pretty comfortable for a weekday dim sum since it's away from the Roosevelt/Main St. intersection. The office workers on lunch break wouldn't make the effort to move past Union.

The dim sum didn't have the variety that competing restaurants do, but the taste was OK at least. Portions were average to large. Some thoughts...
- siu mai - tasted great, but poorly crafted. The meat kept sliding out of the skin
- shrimp dumplings - average
- pork ribs - poor... more fat than meat
- fish head - original and actually good... great sauce. I usually don't eat fish head.
- squid - average
- radish cake - very fresh

The only thing lacking in this restaurant was the environment. It's a little dirty with flies, which probably factored into the NYC "B" rating.

Maker Faire 2012

This was the last event of my week as a NY tourist. I bought the ticket online about a month ago, finding out about the event during my search for Raspberry Pi. I missed Maker Faire last year, so wanted to be there this time. I was just lucky I found it in time.

My ticket was for one of 2 days during the weekend. Saturday had talks for both the Arduino and Raspberry Pi, so I went for it. I almost turned back because the 7 train went down with signal problems. Then I looked at Sunday's schedule and it just didn't have the same events. I ended up taking a crowded Q48 to 111 Street and got there 30 min later than planned. But I made it and got to see the 2 demos I was going for. I even got the Raspberry Pi main board!

Intrepid & Enterprise Part 3

Continuing my week as a NYC tourist, I went to visit the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum for the first time. I had a good view of the Enterprise flyby earlier in the year and then again when it was tugged over to the Intrepid. So I wanted to see the shuttle up close.

For its size and number of items to see, the Intrepid entry is not cheap... $30 for a combination of general admission + the separate Shuttle Pavillion entry. Other options include the concorde and guided tours. However, it is a unique experience and an important part of US history. So I think everyone should do it at least once. There's just no reason to be a repeat visitor like the other museums, unless there's something big... like the space shuttle retirement.

High Line

Last year, my first visit to the High Line was a spontaneous one, so I didn't have my real camera with me. Since then, I've been trying to find some time to get out there again and I finally did it today. It's probably not as nice as in the middle of the Summer, but a Sunday morning makes it easier to get some quality humanless shots.

Since my previous visit, the section after 20th street opened up and the path now goes up to 30th. All of the good stuff is still at the downtown end though. 20th - 30th is mostly just repetition. I'll go again when they expand further. To be continued!

SriPraPhai (Long Island)

Location: 280 Hillside Ave., Williston Park, NY 11596
Cuisine: Thai
Hours: SUN (12am-9pm); MON-THU (11:30am-9:30pm); FRI (11:30am-10pm); SAT (12am-10pm)
Website: www.sripraphairestaurant.com
Prices: $20/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 7
Value: 7
Environment: 8

Frequency: Unique

I didn't know there was another SriPraPhai until Uncle Bock & Auntie Kim mentioned it. I thought it was a strange location for a Thai restaurant, but it does pretty well out there. We went early to beat the crowds and there was a line by the time we left, though not nearly as crazy as the Elmhurst one. That one needs an electronic display with ticket number for the people waiting on the sidewalk!

The important thing about the Long Island restaurant is that the food is the same quality as their original. So if you factor in wait times in both places, it's actually worth it to drive to Long Island! The space is less congested as well.

Here are the links to previous posts:

- SriPraPhai Elmhurst 2008
- SriPraPhai Elmhurst 2009

Double Rainbow

Memorial Weekend

Lake Pavillion

Location: 60-15 Main St., Flushing, NY
Cuisine: Chinese
Prices: $15/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 7
Service: 3
Value: 6
Environment: 9

Frequency: Unique

I got home at around 4:30 and then rested a little bit before heading out again. This time it was a family dinner and our first one out in ages. We heard that the restaurant that took over the Palace Diner space opened this week and wanted to see it for ourselves.




They did a great job of renovating the space. While then outside looks the same, the interior is completely different. The old kitchen area because part of the dining hall, creating a single huge open space. There are also private rooms all around. The decor is an improvement over Palace Diner, which never really did any major renovations.

I thought the food was OK overall. It was just another Chinese place... nothing spectacular, but nothing terrible. The problem is that it's priced higher than downtown Flushing. So it's Main St. prices, but not Main St. quality food.

It was their first week and easy to tell as the staff was confused most of the time. It didn't seem like they had a system for serving food. All of the waiters would bring stuff out of the kitchen and not know which table it was for. During our dinner there, there were 2 dropped dishes (luckily empty). This place isn't really ready to be reviewed. I recommend that you give it a few months before eating here. I just wanted to see it out of curiosity.