Within a few years, thousands of new residents will have moved into the new Long Island City condos rising on either side of the Queensboro Plaza/Bridge Plaza N train station. When they do, they’ll want to check out these three local favorites.
Mexican diner
You can order pasta, gyro or pernil at Momento Restaurant, the diner Jose Rojas and his father Ete have run for seven years. But the dishes that strike closest to home for the Rojas family fall under the Mexican section of the menu.
They have roots in Southeast Mexico, and have worked in city restaurants “as far as I can remember,” says Jose. Before opening Momento, his father ran a tiny Greek coffee shop called Mary’s two doors down, slowly adding tacos, tortas and other Mexican food to the menu. When a larger space on the block opened up, he says, they jumped at a chance to expand.
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Today their menu includes enchiladas filled with steak and topped with salsa verde or mole, served on a bright yellow tray with Mexican rice and beans ($9); or platters with chile rellenos ($8), or ribs stewed with salsa verde ($9). There’s also the $3.50 El Monte — or “the mountain” — a hand-patted and grilled corn flour cake topped with beans, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, Mexican crema and your choice of meat.
Momento Restaurant: 25-13 Queens Plaza N., near 27th St., Long Island City; (718) 786-8297
Korean corner
Even some LIC residents may not know about Green Tea Deli, considering that it’s hidden on a dead-end side street wedged between two highways. But this decades-old bodega is worth seeking out, as it serves some of the neighborhood’s only Korean food.
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In addition to the by-the-pound salad bar and sandwich counter, there’s a short menu of traditional Korean lunches like spicy squid with rice ($7.99), soft tofu soup loaded with red chili paste, vegetables, strips of toasted seaweed and scallions ($9.25); or a Korean version of ramen ($6.50). (Order it spicy for an extra 50 cents).
There’s also a takeout-friendly version of the sizzling rice dish called bibimbap ($6.99), the original meal in a bowl. The takeout bowl is filled layers of vegetables — lettuces, kimchee-pickled bean sprouts and cucumbers, blanched zucchini, marinated mushrooms — then topped with a fried egg and, for an extra $1.50, chicken, shrimp, or the thin slices of Korean-style marinated steak called bulgogi. Toss it together as you like with your sides of kimchee, chili paste and white rice.
Green Tea Deli: 2818 41st Ave., at 29th St., Long Island City; (718) 433-4322
Indian addition
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Raj Gautam is like the mayor of southeastern Queens Plaza, chatting with hundreds of customers a week at his 24-year-old Gotham Fresh Foods deli and at Raj’s Indian Kitchen, his three-year-old restaurant next door. What he’s most proud of — other than from-scratch food — is that he knows regulars by name. If you’re new, he’ll soon learn yours too, says Gautam: “I like to greet every customer.”
At Raj’s — run with help from Gautam’s wife Vinita — many of those regulars appreciate the affordable lunch combos available from the steam table, including one where you can get any vegetable (like zucchini) and any chicken (like creamy tikka masala) with rice and naan bread for $5.99.
But if you have time, order off the menu so that chef Dominic Gomes can cook some of Raj’s specialties to order. That includes dal tarka, ($6.99) a thick yellow lentil stew with garlic and toasted cumin, which Gomes tops with caramelized onions; or paneer tikka ($9.99), cubes of baked Indian cheese marinated overnight in spice paste. Other highlights including the round puffs of bread called poori served with stewed chickpeas ($6.99); and an app of cauliflower florets that are spiced, battered and fried, then dredged in a sweet-spicy chili sauce ($8.99).
Raj’s Indian Kitchen: 27-18 Queens Plaza S., near 28th St., Long Island City; (718) 361-8844
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