Indonesian food bazaar and more in the QNYC Evening Edition for Thursday October 4, 2012

Indonesian food bazaar is this Sunday in Astoria

Among many local food mavens, the eats at the Indonesian food bazaar are some of the best Indonesian dishes served in all of NYC. The food really is wonderful and oh so tasty. This Sunday is likely the last food bazaar of the year, since the weather is starting to cool down and summer is over. Stop by for various meaty and veggie foods, and if you see there’s iced coffee, go for it – it’s super delicious.

Annandale Park, have you heard of it? 

This Queens neighborhood, “a lost, forgotten community” was developed before Rego Park was, and now it’s part of that larger community. Its original boundaries were the LIE to the north, 63rd Road to the south, 99th Street to the west and 102nd Street to the east. The Queens Chronicle tells us a little more about it, including the fact that “the name lives on only in Annadale Playground.” All the original homes – Craftsman-style bungalows – are gone, replaced with bigger structures.

The historic (and partially landmarked) theater in Ridgewood might become a working concert venue

Located near the border of Ridgewood and Bushwick, this 1916-era theater may very well become a concert/performance space. The current owner is working with CPEX, a Brooklyn-based real estate firm, who is helping to facilitate walkthroughs from interested parties. As for the partial landmark aspect of the theater, the marquee and facade gained landmarked status in 2010, but the insides did not; at one point there was the chance that a supermarket would open up in the interior. When the theater was closed in 2008 it had gained the reputation of being the “longest continuously operating first-run theater citywide.”

A lot of good could happen if the theater reopened as a concert space – property values could increase, there’s tax revenue, and the theater could give folks another reason to consider Ridgewood as an arts center of the borough (it’s doing pretty well with the art scene especially these days).

The NYT discovers that at Phayul in Jackson Heights, Tibetan food can be spicy 

The Times ventured out to Queens this week and published a short review about Phayul, a Tibetan restaurant in Jackson Heights (GMAP). We are fans of the restaurant and happy to read reviews of the place. And why is this food spicy (granted, Tibetan food can be a bit tame, especially compared to its neighbor to the south, Nepal)? “The cause is emma, better known as Sichuan peppercorn, a spice found on the Tibetan plateau.”

It’s easy to experience that heat in the shoko sil sil ngoe ma, which made of shredded potatoes tossed with scallions, chile pepper and “enough emma to make your jaw throb.” It’s fantastic stuff. Also, that description of the butter tea as tasting “like melted butter, no more, no less” is very much compatible with our experience. If you let it sit too long, though, it will develop a skin on it.

The Kissena Velodrome – the only one of its kind in NYC

Joanna Eng brings us a very interesting piece on the Kissena Velodrome, the only bicycle racing track in NYC. It’s located in the middle of Kissena Park, near East Flushing. It was originally built for the 1964 Olympic trials, and was then renovated in 2004, though it’s still a bit lumpy in parts. It’s now used in the warmer months of May-September for amateur racing, and throughout the Fall for the free Star Track after-school program, which teaches youth ages 9 to 13 to race bikes.