3 ways Long Islanders can travel this weekend
Passengers enjoy a sightseeing Circle Line cruise. Credit: Circle Line
Columbus Day weekend: for some a holiday, for others a regular weekend, and for everyone a final chance to in indulge in seasonal bites.
A few hours: Flushing Food tour
The dumpling brigade at the food court at New World Mall in downtown Flushing. Credit: Scott Vogel
If Queens is one of the seven wonders of the food world, downtown Flushing is a wonder within a wonder, and the corner of Main St. and Roosevelt Ave. a veritable UNESCO world heritage site in the making. Ground zero for any Flushing food tour should be the basement food court at New World Mall, where culinary glories include Uyghur diced noodles (at Tarim Uyghur), cauldrons of panfried soup dumplings dotted with black sesame seeds (Pan Bao 66), and hand-rolled noodles served with every conceivable protein (Lanzhou). Try not to fill up — no mean feat — if only to save room for the street-level treats nearby. Some of the best food is takeout only — we’re looking at you, White Bear pork wantons — and the smaller the venue, the more dazzling the offerings (ditto fish balls at Fu Yuan). Browse the goods sold by street vendors, curio shops, plant stores and more, and then, when you’re ready for dessert, duck into Shakalaka Bakery for some German egg tarts (don’t call them Portuguese), or a taro chiffon cake with a generous coating of — wait for it — pork floss.
A whole day: Cruise up the Hudson
Circle Line hosts scenic cruises up the Hudson River. Credit: Circle Line
’Tis the season for Oktoberfests, tours of dramatic fall foliage and enjoying the last of autumn’s magnificence before the chill of winter. But few activities offer you the chance to do all three as, well, efficiently as Circle Line’s eight-hour fall cruises up the Hudson River (tickets from $65). Leaving from Manhattan’s Pier 83 select Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays through Nov. 10, the vessels — which have large outdoor decks for sightseeing — head northward for 50 miles with a destination of Bear Mountain. There, cruisers can disembark for two hours to hike the state park’s trails and enjoy the scenery before a return sailing south. In both directions, cruiser are treated to live music (expect polka hits and more from this weekend’s headliner, the Street Beats Brass Band) even as Circle Line serves a menu that includes bratwurst, pork schnitzel, a selection of seasonal ales and other oompah fare. What’s that you say? You want to try a buzzy new restaurant upon disembarking in the city? Just head a few blocks east and Szechuan Mountain House for a tongue-tingling odyssey in an attractive setting on Ninth Ave. Having amassed tons of followers in Flushing, Soho and St. Mark’s, the mountaineers are ready to take over midtown with dramatic and definitive takes on dishes like sliced pork belly with chili garlic sauce, its meat suspended in midair clothesline-style.
A whole weekend: Montauk
Montauk is hosting a fall festival this weekend featuring live music, clam chowder contest and activities for families. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Why would anyone spend Saturday and Sunday out east in the offseason? Well, hotel offseason rates, for one. (At presstime no fewer than five Hamptons properties were offering rooms less than $200 a night.) But Fall Fest is also this weekend, a Montauk-wide event radiating out from the town green, including music, a farmers market, work by local artists, activities for kids and — not to be overlooked — the 43rd installment of the town’s annual clam chowder contest on Saturday. Buy a mug, ladle up from the competitors and cast your vote for some of the best soups from local restaurants and gourmands.
Waterside dining at Beacon in Sag Harbor. Credit: Yvonne Albinowski
Or get your last taste of summer at the Clam Bar in Napeague, surf and turf at the Beacon in Sag Harbor, the fish and chips at Montauk’s own Westlake Fish House, all of which close for the season this weekend.
Newsday writer and restaurant critic Scott Vogel aims for a refreshing, gimlet-eyed take on the Long Island food scene, often while drinking a refreshing gimlet.
