#7-line

After a lazy Saturday, a balmy New York Spring evening was the perfect time to explore Roosevelt Avenue west of Jackson Heights.  The 7 Line runs on an  elevated track above Roosevelt, so conversations tend to go like this:

"Hey, check out th...(Rumble, Clatter,, Screech)....over there."

"What?"

"Never mind, it's gone."

But the noise and bustle (Roosevelt is also a busy auto thoroughfare with buses, delivery trucks and weekend drivers) make this main drag an exciting and interesting contrast to our other main street, 37th Avenue which has a comparatively sedate and refined vibe in a Mayfair kind of way (Mayfair johannesburg, that is, not Mayfair London)

Here's what we did manage to do in 2 hours over 30 blocks roundtrip...

We started off by sharing some beef momo from a Nepalese food truck ($4)

We ordered it to go and ate it on 37th Road, (which is confusingly right next to and parallel to 37th Ave - I'll explain in another post) part of which has been blocked off to auto traffic.  They've also put a few metal chairs and tables in the middle of the road in a brave, yet ultimately futile attempt to create a European style "palazzo" in the middle of JH, but hey, kudos for even trying.

Roosevelt between 61st and 70th is Filipino Town with a bunch of family owned businesses as well as more well known establishments, like Red Ribbon Bakery, Krystal Cafe and Jollibee - the Philippines' answer to MacDonalds and KFC all rolled into one.

We tried Chicken Arroz Caldo from Red Ribbon which we discovered was a Filipino version of Chinese chook - very tasty rice porridge or congee flavored with garlic, onions, ginger, and fish sauce and served with hard-boiled eggs, spring onions, fried garlic, and calamansi (a Philippine lime).  ($4.75)

In addition to the intriguingly named Bum Bum Bar and a super cool 24-hour laundromat with free wifi, we found 2 long murals under the 61st Ave/Woodside station (this is just a small part of one wall) and a wedge building that seemed unusual for this neighborhood.

To round out our dinner, we picked up an Aloo Tiki (potato patty stuffed with chickpeas and cilantro) and a Vegetable "Cutlet" (shaped like a "V")  $2.75 from Rajhbog Sweets.  We were too full to try the Samosa sandwich, but it looks exactly like it sounds - a samosa between 2 slices of bread with some other stuff on it.