If you are a loyal WeCouldEat reader, you know Spud and I are in love with Astoria eats. There is so much diversity, quality, and the prices are grub-tastic. Here are some off the beaten path places we have discovered:
   
Arepas Cafe – Venezualan (33-07 36 Ave): Quality arepas, corn pockets filled with everything from spicy pork to shark to peanut butter + bananas. They are cheap, filling, and a departure from the ordinary. Favorite: Arepas   Bonus: C,reamy, cinnamony, Chicha shake

Cafetal – Mexican  (30-19 Astoria Blvd): A real hole in the wall under the N/W subway where you might have to break out your Spanglish, but the food is no frills and delicious. Favorite: Huge torta filled with meat, beans and the works  Bonus: Mexican Breakfast of sloppy eggs and chorizo, a neighborhood fave. (Now on Seamlessweb!)

Gianpiero Bakery – Italian Bakery (44-17 30th Ave): Even in a mini-Italian neighborhood this old time bakery is a standout. It is all about tradition here. Favorite: The incredible cream that fills cannolis and lobster claws, hell I could eat it with a spoon! Bonus: The old men sitting outside with espresso arguing in Italian.

La Papa – Baked Potato (30th and Crescent): From the Mundo owners, this place is obviously Spud’s dream come true. It’s a shrine to the tuber with amazing baked potatoes and unlimited toppings. Favorite: All American with cheddar, bacon, broccoli and pickles. Bonus: Red lentil soup 

New York Pao de Queijo – Brazilian (31-90 30th Ave): This joint has the craziest combos on their burgers and is a real South American experience, but is tiny so get it delivered. Favorite: X Egg, we love it so much, we’ve dubbed the whole joint “X Egg”. It is a burger topped with egg, bacon, mozzarella, corn, potato sticks, mayo… Bonus: Chocolate shake 

Lorusso’s – Pizza (18-01 26th Road): It’s a nondescript pizza place hidden on a side street, but the focaccia is delicious. $6  gets you a personal size focaccia with an array of toppings. Favorite: Potato. Hands-down this is delicious foccacia with creamy whipped potato topping. The owner keeps the recipe top secret. Bonus: The spinach-ricotta (when the potato sells out).

Zorba’s Souvlaki – Greek (29-05 23rd Ave): You can’t have an Astoria list that doesn’t include Greek. This place is not at all hidden, but can be overlooked on a block packed with eateries. Sit outside and get simply prepared dishes. Favorite: Grilled chicken souvlaki with rice  Bonus: Greek Pizza is huge and tasty.

Istria Sports Club – Istrian (28-09 Astoria Blvd): Intimidating on the outside, friendly on the inside. Feel like a tourist tasting traditional Istrian dishes. Favorite:  Fuzi (Istrian Noodles) Bonus: No sports watching required

I have been going to Veselka for a long time. In fact, whenever I am out late, hungry and in the East Village, Veselka is the first place that pops into my head. For one thing, it is open 24/7 and is always packed with young, drunk people, although not annoying ones, somehow. It’s pirogies, potato pancakes, burgers, and desserts are all good late night drinking comfort food. On this particular night, Spud and I had not been drinking (only coffee) and it wasn’t really late, only 11 pm, but we had a jonsing for some good Ukranian cuisine. Generally, I order the six-piece pirogi sampler. But this time, because we weren’t drunk, most likely, we ordered the Eastern Europe vegetarian combo platter. We both got borscht – served warm – that was actually pretty tasty. We got a huge platter of three pirogies (cheese, potato and spinach), kasha (which is definitely NOT my favorite) and stuffed peppers. It was a ton of food, although not sure why we didn’t get meat at an Eastern European place? But it was interesting to venture out. Plus, the prices are dirt cheap. Veselka remains a favorite of mine, partially for nostalgic reasons and partially because it’s a New York original. It’s food quality isn’t spectacular, but it gets a Golden Bonzone anyway. I mean in what other city can you order Pirogies and Borscht at 3AM??

Kaoveve
Hoyt Avenue South near 23rd Street, Astoria

Despite what you might think, this is not an entry about Italy at all. In fact, it is an entry about overcoming fear and trepidation in Astoria……there have been two places that the Astoria Crew has been curious about for some time. One is a restaurant called “The Istria Sport Club” located on Astoria Blvd, sporting a tantalizing menu of Istrian classic dishes, but also looking exceedingly unwelcoming with a large metal door with no windows and the impression that it is only a male establishment. The other, a new wine bar located on Astoria Park South called “Kaoveve” and pronounced “Kaf-en-ay” phonetically. This place was originally called “Steve’s Place” and was filled to the brim with older Greek gentlemen with cigars and cigarettes drinking expresso and playing cards every day. This was a place where little ‘ole Spud had to walk by on her way to the subway where she could actually feel the men’s eyes boring holes into her…..the testosterone simply creating a large barrier and unwelcoming spirit, no matter how many times Bleff said that they had the best Frappe’s ……Spud could not stand the thought of entering the establishment.
So, imagine the Astoria Crew’s surprise when we decided to tackle both of these haunts in one night! And, of course, lots of fun ensued. In order to get to the restaurant portion of the Istria Sports club, you need to walk down a narrow staircase, whereupon you will enter a small room with quaint Croatian overtones……and then onto the back room, which is large and opens out onto a full patio, which must be awesome in the summer time. Overall, the interior was not in the least scary or intimidating.
Finally, the food! We asked our waiter to bring us out some house specialties and so he brought us some fried fish, fried calamari, a soup (massive bowl) with kielbasa, beans, barley, and vegetables in this smoky broth. Then the main dishes of meat, veal and assorted sausages, and a handmade pasta dish with a slow-cooked veal sauce…..they were all amazing and highly recommended. All of this with a huge bottle of wine kept us quite satiated and the best part being that the food and drink was dirt cheap! Overall, this was a hugely wonderful experience and everyone in the neighborhood should go.

On to Kaoveve! We were already a little drunk as we walked through the door and were met immediately with a warm welcome from all of the locals and the wait staff practically fell over each other helping us out. The owner (Costas) immediately set us up in the back room with free appetizers of hummus and vegetables and cheese and pita and a really tasty sausage with beautiful glasses of free champagne with blueberries and strawberries floating in them. The glasses of wine we ordered were gigantic and delicious. The back room is enclosed and there is semi-loud music playing, but it is a nice place to hang out with friends.
Since I started this post, Kaoveve has actually grown to be an actual restaurant. WeCouldEat and I have not been back to dinner there yet, but we run into Costas all the time and some of our friends have been back and said that although the new menu is small, the food is quite good. We are looking forward to checking it out!
By the way, the explanation of the title of this post is that there was an older Greek woman in Kaoveve when we were in there, and we asked what the name meant and it sounded like a heavily accented “Place between Naples and France”……we later realized that she had said, “A place for your neighbors and friends”…..very fitting.