Back in March, we decided to take sometime off from work and enjoy Queens. We had officially lived in Astoria for a year, but our busy schedules kept us from truly exploring the world around us. This seemed like the perfect opportunity.
We began our first day with breakfast at Gossip Coffee. We ordered lattes and, of course, donuts. The donuts are the brainchildren of Masterchef season 5 contestant Chef Scottish Francis (the donut king).
I ordered the Prosciutto Guinness and Tom had a seasonal St. Patrick’s Day donut featuring Bailey’s. These donuts are no joke! The flavors are rich and balanced. They were some of the best gourmet donuts we have ever had. He truly is the donut king!
After breakfast, we stopped at Key Food to pick up some groceries for the weekend. We opted for childhood favorites like hot dogs, mac and cheese, lunchables, and some bacon and eggs for breakfast. Yes, sometimes our fancy palettes require simple, but yummy foods.
Back at home, we rested for a couple of hours and then ventured out to the Museum of the Moving Image. Pro Tip: The Museum is free on Friday afternoons.
We explored all the permanent exhibits before heading over to the Martin Scorsese installation. It explored his extensive career and featured many pieces from the famed producer/ director’s personal collection. Though this exhibit has now closed, we highly recommend checking the museum out. They always have cool and interesting things to see.
We stopped at the Astor Room next door for dinner. It’s a small restaurant and bar in what appears to be a basement at the entrance of Kauffman’s Studios. It began as a commissary for the movie studio in the 1920’s. It was the perfect location for film creators to pick up a meal. Today, it is a destination for good food and craft beer. It has a very speakeasy feel and the ambiance transports you back to old Hollywood. There are also movie/TV posters for what has been filmed at Kauffman Studios. You will be surprised by what has been filmed in Queens.
The menu sounded fantastic so we decided to share a few things. I began with a green salad topped with incredible bleu cheese and Tom had the french onion soup. We shared the beef tartar topped with a quail egg and these delicate fried oysters with what I believe was a sweet and tart citrus sauce on top of spaghetti squash.
On our way home, we stopped at McDonald’s for Shamrock Shakes. I had never had one and Tom felt this was the perfect occasion. I LOVED it! We ended our night watching Moana and relaxing. I also made Tom try one of those charcoal peel masks with me so here is a silly picture of us to end the post.
On Thursday we’ll share day 2 of our adventure in Queens.
The Cocho Life 