For many New Yorkers, Queens—home to La Guardia and JFK airports—is a place of arrivals and departures, a place one passes through en route to somewhere else: the city’s gateway to the world. But for those of us lucky enough to live and eat here, Queens is a world unto itself. An entirely delicious one. How could it not be? The borough has one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the country. Name an immigrant group and I’ll point you to where they’ve settled in Queens: Greeks and Egyptians in Astoria; Thais in Woodside and Elmhurst; Mexicans in Corona; Nepalese, Indians, Bangladeshis, and South Americans in Jackson Heights; Chinese, Taiwanese, and Koreans in Flushing. It’s a patchwork, polyglot landscape that, not coincidentally, offers up some of the city’s finest momo, bao, tacos, moussaka, pad kee mao, dosas, kebabs, kasha, soup dumplings, and almost any other far-flung specialty you can think of—often just an elevated train ride away.
Yes, Queens can seem baffling to outsiders. It’s New York’s largest borough by area, a sprawling, gritty streetscape where 30th Avenue intersects 30th Road and 30th Drive, street addresses involve numbers like 135-25, and a good many signs and menus are not in English. This might explain why visitors and residents from across the river generally stayed away, at least until recently—while a certain other borough next door grabbed all the attention. But while the brownstones of Brooklyn may have a corner on charm, Queens traffics in a different sort of energy. Its allure is authenticity, and its beauty is on the plate. Lately, however, a palpable shift has occurred as more New Yorkers wise up to Queens’s endlessly varied food scene. Among savvy and hungry locals and out-of-towners alike, it’s become the borough to explore, and to eat your way across. Since I moved with my husband to Jackson Heights in 2007, we’ve seen reaction to our borough evolve from “Huh...what’s that like?” to “Can you send me dinner recs for Flushing?”
And food lovers are coming not just for traditional iterations of global cuisines—which Queens wins at, hands down—but for more forward-thinking spots, too, where next-generation chefs have discovered that cheaper rents plus changing demographics add up to culinary gold. The upshot? This is the next outer-borough frontier—and believe me, I’ve got dinner recs aplenty.
FLUSHING
With its high-rise hotels and steamy basement noodle joints lifted straight from a Wong Kar-wai movie, Flushing feels like another city entirely, which it once was. Founded by the Dutch in 1645, it’s now home to one of the nation’s largest Chinatowns.
BIANG!
Jason Wang made his mark with Xi’an Famous Foods, a noodle stall started by his father in the Golden Mall basement (more on this later). Soon he launched Biang, a takeaway branch in the East Village that’s since expanded throughout Manhattan. This sleek glass storefront on Flushing’s Main Street is his first sit-down restaurant. What to order: Pork buns and grilled meat skewers ease you into Mount Qi noodles, bearing the refined licorice flavor of star anise. Next up, any of the “spicy and tingly” lamb dishes will numb your tongue. (A cucumber salad tempers their intensity.)
XIAO DONG BEI
The cuisine of Dongbei (the northeast Chinese region formerly known as Manchuria) is marked by raw or lightly cooked vegetables and complex spice mixtures at Xiao Dong Bei. What to order: Double-cooked sliced pork belly with chili leeks; any of the whole fish preparations; or a vegetable medley of potatoes, green peppers, and eggplant in a vinegary soy sauce.
FU RUN
With fluorescent lighting and at least two big televisions playing Chinese news, Fu Run doesn’t deliver much in the way of ambience, but like Xiao Dong Bei, it’s a tantalizing introduction to Dongbei flavors in New York City. What to order: The signature dish of Muslim lamb chop baked with a crust of spicy cumin and sesame seeds, and one of the cold vegetable salads, such as shredded potato with green chilies and scallions, or a refreshingly tart lao hu cai(tiger vegetable salad) of cilantro, scallions, and tiny salted shrimp tossed with sesame oil and rice wine vinegar.
GOLDEN MALL
Head down the dingy steps to Golden Shopping Mall, a basement of tightly packed open kitchen stalls, where you’ll start at Chengdu Heavenly Snacks, a specialist in the chili-heavy, noodle-driven cuisine of Sichuan’s capital. Next, you’ll want to grab a stool at Helen You’s justly famous Tianjin Dumpling House for delicate made-to-order dumplings. What to order: At Chengdu Heavenly Snacks, dandan noodles with minced pork are a straight shot of oily umami. At Tianjin Dumpling House, sample dumplings filled with lamb and green squash, and pork and dill.
DUMPLING GALAXY
Helen You from Tianjin Dumpling House recently opened her first full-service restaurant Dumpling Galaxy—a more refined affair, with red and white decor in Chinese lacquer—in the Arcadia Mall, a few blocks from the Golden Mall. What to order: Chopped lobster sautéed in ginger and garlic, and any of the dumplings.
KULU DESSERTS
After school and in the evening, Flushing kids gather at Kulu Desserts for ice cream and small jars of Chinese milk pudding. The latter’s consistency takes some getting used to, but once you do, its subtle sweetness is crazily addictive. What to order: Milk pudding flavored with black sesame and green tea, or—if you’re feeling wild—desserts made from the stinky-but-delicious durian fruit.
FANG GOURMET TEA
Out of a narrow shoebox of a store on a nondescript shopping strip comes some of the best tea in New York City. Sit for a Taiwanese-style tasting of oolongs, jasmines, and puerhs at Fang Gourmet Tea: A server brews and pours each tea with great ceremony, while explaining the leaves’ origin and flavor profile. What to buy: At $108, a five-ounce tin of Original Dong Ding Oolong Honey Aroma isn’t cheap, but other options dip below $20 for two ounces.
ASTORIA AND LONG ISLAND CITY
Grapevines climb over driveway pergolas and roses surround classical statuary in the low-rise, largely Greek neighborhood of Astoria—even as a new millennial generation of late-night (and non-Hellenic) restaurants move in. In nearby Long Island City, which faces Manhattan across the East River, a similar shift is afoot, with old-school Italian, Russian, and Balkan spots being joined by hipster-friendly newcomers.
AGNANTI
On a quiet corner opposite Astoria Park, black-and-white photos of Greek film stars decorate the walls of Agnanti. Brusque waiters negotiate the tightly packed wooden tables, bantering in Greek with the regulars. In the breezy outdoor café, it’s not too much of a leap to imagine you’re on Patmos. (Okay, maybe not quite.) What to order: The grilled octopus or branzino; pikilia (grilled vegetables) with mashed garlic and skordalia (garlicky puréed potatoes); and soutzoukakia (meatballs cooked in tomato sauce). These simple island dishes live or die on execution—and here, it’s perfect.
ARTOPOLIS BAKERY
Tucked inauspiciously in the back of a strip mall is Artopolis Bakery, a Greek bakery redolent of cinnamon and turning out delicious, deceptively simple cookies, most of them the color of pale-yellow cake batter. What to buy: Melomakarono(honey and walnut cookies); galaktoboureko(a thick baked custard pie flavored with lemon and orange—much lighter than it looks); and a fantastic coconut baklava.
KABAB CAFÉ
Egyptian chef Ali El Sayed is renowned for two things: his tiny open kitchen at Kabab Cafe and his outsize personality, equal parts gruff and warm. A native of Alexandria, he’s been cooking in this Steinway Street storefront—decorated with his collages of wallpaper and travel scenes—since 1989. What to order: Expertly seasoned kofte(minced meat) kebabs; grilled vegetables sprinkled with za’atar.
BEAR
Though it looks as if it has occupied the same Astoria side street for generations, Eastern European hideaway Bear was opened only in 2011 by Kiev-born siblings Natasha Pogrebinsky (a chef and former contestant on the Food Network’s Chopped) and her brother, Sasha. The pair focus on updated versions of Ukrainian and Russian staples such as kasha, borscht, salo (a Russian version of lardo), kielbasa, and creamy mushroom stroganoff. What to order: A zakuska platter of smoked fish, cured meats, pickles, and dark bread, which arrives on a wooden board with glasses of chilled vodka. Or arrange in advance for the $175 (yes, in Queens!) nine-course tasting menu of seasonally changing Russian specialties, buoyed by flights of rare and obscure imported vodkas.
TAMASHII RAMEN
A cold fall evening spent hunched over a steaming bowl at Tamashii Ramen, with its darkly lit interior and young crowd, is as satisfying a Queens meal as any. What to order: The spicy and rich tantanmen ramen with ground pork, bean sprouts, and vegetables is Tamashii’s specialty, and for good reason.
JACKSON HEIGHTS AND CORONA
Back in the day, if Manhattanites ventured to Queens for a meal, it was often to Jackson Heights for Indian. The neighborhood’s glory days as a South Asian food stalwart may have passed, but worthy spots remain. Just to the east is primarily Hispanic Corona, home to a sizable Mexican community and a growing Nepalese one, too.
DHAULAGIRI KITCHEN
Tiny and tricky to find—the sign outside Dhaulagiri Kitchen says merely "tawa food corp"—the borough’s best Nepali restaurant is itself worth the journey to Queens. Minimal seating means you’re basically sitting in chef-owner Kamala Gauchan’s cramped kitchen as she conjures up her beguiling Kathmandu specialties. (She’s the unabashed star of the operation, clearly reveling in the attention.) In one corner, sel roti—circles of slightly sweet rice-flour bread—are deep-fried like doughnuts; in the other, Indian-style paratha and chapati flatbreads are rolled out under a giant photo mural of the Himalayas. What to order: You’re here for the Nepali thali, a meal consisting of small bowls of vegetable tarkari(curries), sauces, chutneys, pickles, and a mound of rice, borne on a circular metal tray. And as many of those sel roti as you can eat.
TORTILLERIA NIXTAMAL
Manhattan residents Shauna Page and Fernando Ruiz opened tortilla factory and taqueria Tortilleria Nixtamal near Flushing Meadows Park in Corona in 2008, and their legend has grown ever since. Superbly delicate tortillas are pressed out on a giant machine imported from Mexico, which occupies pride of place in the center of the store. (Nixtamal provides tortillas for a number of top Manhattan restaurants, including Empellon Cocina and The Dutch .) What to order: Nixtamal’s tacos (carnitas, beef, tinga de pollo) and tamales are among the finest in town; in winter, a bowl of pork posole is blandly comforting—as it should be—before the hominy-based stew is spiced to taste with spoonfuls of chopped onion, cilantro, radish, dried oregano, and salsa.
GETTING AROUND
Thankfully, the New York City transit system makes travel to the outer boroughs super affordable and easy. To reach Flushing, hop on the No. 7 subway to the end of the line at Main Street—it takes just under an hour from Midtown (which we’ll use as our default starting point). For Astoria, ride the N or Q to Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard or to Astoria Boulevard (both stops are in the neighborhood), about a 40-minute trip. Jackson Heights is a 40-minute ride on the No. 7 train to 82nd Street. For Woodside, take the M or R trains to Northern Boulevard (25 minutes); Elmhurst, the M or R to Grand Avenue–Newtown (30 minutes); Corona, the 7 train to 103rd Street (35 minutes); and Long Island City, the 7 train to Hunters Point Avenue (15 minutes). And if you’re pressed for time, get an Uber or hail a cab—just not during rush hour, when you’re better off avoiding traffic by riding the subway.