Magical Culinary Tour: Astoria

Here we go again, on another trip to an exotic destination. This time, it's Astoria, Queens. :))

Let's face it, these trips are just as much for me as they are for you. I have lived in New York since I was six years old, but have not even scratched the surface when it comes to seeing all that New York has to offer. Astoria is no different. It is known for its Greek neighborhoods, and of course, its Greek food.

I was in search of one thing: halloumi! Halloumi is not impossible to find in Manhattan, but all the small blocks I have seen have been around the $7 mark. It's almost an insult to this New Yorker to go with the first price I see and not search for something better. And after shelling out close to $7 for the crapgonzola the other day, I cannot spend so much on cheese I am not entirely sure I would even like. Halloumi is described as squeaky, salty, styrofoamy... Mmmm, ok. Well it's just cheese for pete's sake; so why am I getting panic attacks about it??? Speaking of cheese, I am really happy I'm not a cheese-o-phile. I do love my parmesan (and I'm not talking poorman'sgrana) but I could see if I was obsessed with it how it would become a very expensive thang to be hung up on.

So back to the tour. I had do some recon before heading out. Ah, the wonders of a T1 connection at work ('bout time!) and free paper and printer ink at my disposal.



Plus, all photojournalists, such as myself (wink, wink) have a trusty MTA map on their office walls as well.

We don't want to get lost in the land of souvlaki and tzatziki. Opa! (By the way, Russians say that too!)

Back to the matter at hand, shortly after finishing up work I headed north and then east to Astoria. According to my 'Astoria File', Steinway Street was supposed to be a good starting point as it is known as "The World's Longest Department Store". I wouldn't say it was a department store, as such, it just seemed to be a long, very long, stretch with horrible Eurotrashy boutiques, blech. I went to Astoria to do some Greek-spotting, but wasn't seeing any. I finally turned on 30th Avenue and things started changing. There were some hip restaurants on the corners, and greek grocery stores cropped up here and there.

My first stop was Elliniki Gona ("Greek Corner"). What bullcrap. It was just a typical grocery store, and the only thing 'Greek' about it were the packages of feta that were found in the refrigerated section -- packages of feta, mind you, that anyone can find in any grocery store here.

I didn't let that distract me from my goal: cheap halloumi! Then I happened to see Cyprus Deli. Well, halloumi is from Cyprus, score! The store was cute and did offer halloumi at the cheapest I have seen. A package roughly double of what I have seen in Manhattan only cost me $5.19. The price for a pound was $7.99. Excellent, so I bought it, of course. I even managed a pic of the store, though I looked like a complete weirdo for taking a picture of cheese! Ah, all for my readers.


Then, I stopped off at a bigger store, Mediterranean Foods, with a huge deli counter. There, the halloumi was $5.99 a pound! What??!! Well I'm not all for returning cheese, so I lowered my head and declared myself un-victorious. Next time, next time. But here are some pics, and I got some fab kalamata olives and Greek yogurt. Though, of course, in Astoria, they just call it yogurt. ;)

Mediterranean Foods had Greek flags everywhere and was chock-full of products imported from the Motherland. I was really impressed; this must be a Greek New Yorker's idea of heaven.

Now that I had my halloumi plus other things, I decided to walk around and in and out of shops to see what else Greek Astoria had to offer. I went into a bakery...

... and had an interesting conversation with the young woman who worked there.

Me: Do you have Greek bread?

She: (Showing me a rustic-looking loaf of white bread) Here is a loaf of white bread.

Me: OK, but do you have Greek bread, maybe something smaller.

She: Well this is smaller, it's just white bread.

Me: Erm, ok, but is it Greek?

She: It's white bread.

LOL. Well I guess we've removed any doubts at all that it was white bread. I bought the yummy looking loaf, still not knowing if it is Greek. Hmmmn, no matter.

I set my sights on walkng a bit further to the supposed Greek superstore, Titan. I passed a window with a wide selection of olive oil on the way... (Man, these Greeks really love their flags, don't they?)

and a couple of more places where the names of the stores made me chuckle.

I shortly reached the mecca of all things Greek, Titan!

Not many things take my breath away. But walking into Titan, I was impressed!

I think it had to do with the entire fridge of Greek yogurt. You don't know what a big deal that is to me. And it's the cheapest I have ever seen it, I think, but I need to consult with my sources on that.

There were huge deli counters and endless vats of olives. A fabulous bakery, where I got my bro-in-law his favorite kourampiedes. They are powdered little cookies. That's the best way I could describe them.

The whole time I was at Titan I kept thinking how I wish I had a shopping list so I could really make the most of my trip there. I was completely unprepared!! I need to go back, just so that I could stock up on yogurt and olives.

So, all in all, the trip up there was definitely worth it. I got lots of goodies (pic to come), and even found a cute Italian deli where La Bella San Marzano tomatoes were to be found at the cheapest I have seen, just $1 a can. Astoria is a foodie's dream, not to mention the chic restaurant scene. Yes, yes I must go back!

When I got back home, I made good use of some of the stuff I bought... Coming soon!