A while back, I was talking to my friend Hungry over at Tasty Eating about food in Flushing… and ice cream at Eddie’s. She mentioned how she’d actually never been to the food stalls, and also how she wanted to try Eddie’s, so we made plans to do a whole walkaround from Flushing to Eddie’s. Are we insane? A little bit. It was awesome, and we happened to pick a day that was excellent in terms of weather – not hot, and just a slight bit of cold (windy, really), so as we walked and warmed up, we never got too hot.
Our first stop was, of course, Flushing Mall, which is slated to close some time next year. The food court downstairs is quite extensive, and though I took pictures of everything, I’m still not entirely sure what everyone got nor from where.
I have no idea who ordered this, but I think it was TT and it may have been a spicy peanut noodle dish.
Beer Boor went with some noodles and… stuff. I’m really hoping the attendees chime in with their thoughts and dishes.
MadJac ordered a pineapple shrimp dish.
I know this was one of Hungry’s dishes, but I don’t know what it was exactly.
This was one of two lamb burgers from Xi’an Famous Foods (it says so on the wrapper). I still don’t like this dish all that much.
I ordered a Taiwanese hamburger (so said the menu) from a stall a few down from Xi’an. It was not what I expected it to be, and I didn’t finish it.
CT also ordered a pork chop over rice, which came with a soup and pickled mustard greens on the side. Though this took the longest to come, at $6 and change, that was easily the best deal on the table (or maybe not? I know my burger was $1.50). That’s a HUGE platter!
One of the things I kept trying to get here but always managed to get there too late – the special mango ice cream which was around $5. TC ordered this, knowing how I kept missing it (thanks TC!) – shaved ice on the bottom, topped with mango syrup, condensed milk, cubes of fresh mango, mango ice cream… maybe there was more stuff. I split this once a long time ago with Blondie, Brownie and Danny, and we had trouble finishing it back then… and now, with easily 8 people, we still had trouble finishing it. Crazytown. I love it though – sweet, decadent, bright flavors that just remind you of a nice summer day… yumm!!!
After we were finished with those dishes, I pushed everyone upstairs to get Korean Chinese Dumplings. We got the “3 kinds” which means there are three ingredients in the dumplings – pork, chives, and cabbage I think – or was it scallions? not sure. It came with the usual sides of chili sauce and a crunchy cole slaw/kimchi concoction that I enjoy greatly.
Unfortunately, though these have been a fond memory for me – I often get to the mall after they close upstairs, but not the downstairs food court – now that I finally got to eat them again, I noted with disappointment that they didn’t hold up to my memory of them. No one was particularly impressed, and I was slightly embarrassed that I’d been drooling and waiting for these, but no one seemed to blame me too much. We moved on.
Of course, I love dumplings passionately, so next up was White Bear, which I comfortably say has the best Sichuan dumplings in chili oil out of anywhere I’ve tried. I’ve tried a fair number of places. The wrapper is delicate, thin, and silky, yielding to reveal a perfectly juicy meat nugget inside that bursts with juices and flavors. The pickled greens on top with the chili oil add a lot of contrasting textures and flavors – slightly crunchy, slightly sour, slightly spicy, and just add up to easily, in my opinion, the best Sichuan dumplings. Maybe even the best dumplings, period; I really enjoy these and can easily inhale one order alone, and then some. (One order is 12 dumplings for about $4.)
At this point, everyone was a little thirsty, so I took them over to Queens Crossing Mall. My other friends had told me about Kung Fu Bubble Tea and raved about the grapefruit, so, though Hungry doesn’t quite enjoy bubble tea, we trooped through Paris Bakery and into the mall itself for our various drinks. I don’t remember thinking this was particularly expensive – maybe $3, about average for bubble tea – and I got a small grapefruit, no bubbles. It was very tart, not sugary sweet, and allowed the natural grapefruit flavor to shine through. It should – it’s all natural grapefruit juice – so I liked this a lot, but if you’re big on sugar, you probably won’t like this.
After that, we bid adieu to TT and CT – who had other obligations – and began the walk from Flushing through Corona, then onwards to Forest Hills.
After a pleasant walk through Flushing Meadow Park, we found ourselves walking north on 108th Street. A few blocks off Horace Harding into Corona, we smelled the most amazing thing, and realized: yep, we’re hungry again, as we faced Empanadas Cafe. I was reticent, and let everyone else troop in and examine the menu of the small, unassuming shop, while I stayed just outside and looked at our surroundings. I drive down this road occasionally and never paid that much attention to this place. Could it be any good?
They offered three types of empanadas- an all natural, corn, and flour casing. I don’t remember which was which, sorry!
Everyone decided to order two each, except for me. I took bites from everyone. Hahaha!
Notice something? Look closely at the top of the empanada. It says chicken! How cute is that? And genius!
Here are two more.
…and another two. Useless pictures since I have no idea what’s in them, haha.
Here’s a beef empanada. I thought it was okay.
I’m not sure what this one was!
This was beef & cheese. I actually really liked this one a lot.
The “hot sauce” that came with each order. I liked this a lot – it was less hot, and more refreshing with a slight kick, very cilantro-y. Within a week, I was creating my own version, which I’ll explain in another post. 😉
The surprise winner of the day? This plantain & cheese empanada. You wouldn’t think – or at least, I wouldn’t think that was a good combo, but the sweetness against the mild savoriness of the cheese was excellent. I was ready to go inside and order my own.
Chorizo and potato. The inside part tasted fine, but I really didn’t like that style of empanada (this was the all natural something or other one). I don’t think I was alone in that opinion for the day.
Our next destination was actually The Lemon Ice King of Corona. Beer Boor had decided to join us when Hungry and I talked about this tour, and had insisted on adding it to the list. I can’t say I was angry about it!
Funny story; these were on display. I thought they looked super perfect, so I took a picture. Turned out they were plastic models of apples; they had the real ones in another display case. Hahaha.
Beer Boor ordered lime, and got cantaloupe for me. I liked mine, though I thought it could be stronger in taste.
Their menu of flavors! Lots of flavors available.
TC stepped up the FBM game and got two – lemon and pistachio. I tried some of the pistachio and was impressed by the flavor, but not the color.
After a brief sojourn to the park nearby to enjoy our ices, watch people playing bocce (bocce ball?), and – well, in a minute, you’ll see – Beer Boor decided to get another ice, watermelon this time. This one was really, really good. I think I’d get this the next time I go!
In the park nearby was this stand set up, selling little treats. Funny enough, they don’t have a set schedule for when they’re there, they don’t have a store front, so I can’t tell you when to visit them… but VISIT THEM.
I bought a few small cheesecakes from them – I don’t even like cheesecake that much, but theirs was outrageous. They make everything themselves, and they had cookies, cakes, Italian pastries like lobster tails and cannolis (which they filled on the spot for you). TC bought a couple, so I imagine he can chime in with how he liked his!
We walked from Flushing to Corona in this installment. Next time: Corona to Forest Hills!
em says
I am really surprised you haven’t gone to explore the food court in the New World Mall at flushing yet. It is amazing!
They have this lobster meal for $12 down there. (And there is a crepe stall) way too many other stalls to try at one time. I haven’t tried all of them yet but there is this hand pulled noodle stall that is also very good. I hope you get to try each stall one by one and review them =)
Feisty Foodie says
This post took place in late April… I’m way far behind on posts 🙁
One of those posts is coming… eventually… don’t worry 🙂 Thanks for the info about the lobster meal though!
T.C. says
I passed by that food court yesterday. I saw the Lan Zhou Hand Pulled Noodles stall and many other Chinese/ Asian stalls. Two Pho stalls that haven’t opened yet.
I wondered how well is Pizza stall doing? There’s also a Burger Shack that sells Peruvian roast chicken.
Oh, the lobster meal is 13.50 + tax.
em says
only if you get the bigger lobster. (unless they upped the price of the original meal over the last week)
standard lobster $11.50
bigger lobster add $2= $13.50
esther says
your photos look great, yvo! i’m hungry now. 🙂 i love that you guys walked allllllllll the way to forest hills!
the kung fu tea in elmhurst is not very good. i hope it’s yummier elsewhere. their bubbles are super gummy, they take 10 minutes for each order, and the tea was all heavy cream. 🙁
i love corona ice king. it’s the besssssttttt!
Feisty Foodie says
Thanks Esther! The good weather helped though, if it was super hot/humid I think we’d have died.
My friend (who recommended Kung Fu tea to me) just told me that the one in Queens Crossing Mall is not as good as the original which is somewhere else in Flushing, so I’m going to guess that the one in Elmhurst is even worse 🙁 That sucks though. Quality control, sheesh!
And Corona Ice King was awesome 🙂 You should come with us next time!
BeerBoor says
Our total trip — we went all the way through Flushing Meadows, so we came out a bit south of Lemon Ice King — was 6.9 miles, according to Google Maps. Worth the blisters.
I believe my Flushing Mall choice was a spicy pork ball soup, something like that. It was fine, and under $5. Last stall, past Xian I believe.
Hungry says
My dish from the flushing mall was Spicy Cumin Lamb Hand-Ripped Noodles from Xian Famous Foods.
Also, the flour empanada is the light beige colored on. Corn is bright yellow, and the brown one was an organic flour.
I also got some zeppoles from the park. I ate a couple then forced TC to finish them off. They were HUGE and fried fresh. Yum!
T.C. says
I’m glad I got the mango shaved ice at the Flushing Mall. I believe we finished most of it though. My sweet tooth will not be hindered. Haha. I was contemplating getting a lamb burger too but so much food to come throughout the day. Plus Hungry gave me some of hers. Yay.
The White Bear dumplings were superior to the Korean Chinese Dumplings.
The chorizo empanada is a grainy organic flour. I usually enjoy the corn type. Salsa verde was great. I washed mine down with a refreshing Apple Postobon soda. MmmMmm. The beef empanada was good but the plaintain & cheese was definitely win!
Lemon Ice King was okay. I didn’t get Lemon. I had a Pineapple and Pistachio (Hulk Smashin’ Green!), which happens to be the very flavors of Ice Cream we consumed much later. 😛
The zeppoles by the park were awesome. Hungry got like 6 and I ended up eating 3-4 of them. LOLOL. Way better than Led Zeppole (but most street fairs can probably beat them.)
I ended up eating the chocolate cannoli and lobster tail days later and they were still quite SSWWWEEEEET. I really liked how they personally filled the Sfogliatelle (poked a little hole into it)with their home-made cream. Same ceram went onto the Cannoli. Seriously, VISIT THEM!! I would go back for more pastries!
Nicholas says
I always thought that “Taiwanese hamburgers” were 割包 (gua bao)? That doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen before. It looks like it was just filled with pickled greens. SO SAD LOOKING.
Feisty Foodie says
Yea, I was expecting gua bao (like from Gu Shing or Andy’s Seafood Grill), so I was kind of disappointed.
TT says
i had the cold sesame noodles with ground pork & peanuts although i think what i got was warm. from the stall to the right of Xian.
yea the Chinese-Korean dumplings were pretty meh. The ladies working the counter were pretty pissed that the seven? of us only got one order. White Bear is soooo much better.
Trader Joe’s have surprising good dumplings. Skin isnt too thick. CT makes em good. Why else do you think I asked her to move in with me?
T.C. says
“HEY, NO MORE TEA FOR YOU! ONLY 1 ORDER.”
Feisty Foodie says
Why are you kissing up to CT here?! Hahaha
Hungry says
Dumpling throwdown!!
Jane says
EMPANADAS CAFE! I moved away and still dream about that place! Thanks for the memories (and all the unfulfilled longing). That place has awesome broccoli/cheese one, and ham & cheese. Obviously not very authentic, but delicious anyway.
Feisty Foodie says
It was pretty great – I have no excuse not to visit for a cheap dinner of empanadas, then dessert at Ice King!
Fred says
FBM game?
what FBM game?
Fred says
Bueller…………..?
Bueller…………..?
Feisty Foodie says
I don’t know what you’re talking about?
Fred says
ala “TC stepped up the FBM game and got two – lemon and pistachio.”
Feisty Foodie says
Um… it’s slang. “Stepping up your game”?
Fred says
ah, sorry – I had hoped to buy it for (F)amily (B)oardgame (M)onday a Casa de la Fred