#MonthlyPicks | What Does Liz Lusskin Love about Queens?
BY QEDC It's In Queens
Good Eats
First, this is an impossible task! There are SO many truly GREAT eats in LIC — for every palate and level of dining. Please click here to check out our full list. That being said, here are a few to get you started. Murray’s Cheese Bar, which has had cheese caves in LIC for a long time, just opened a restaurant on Jackson Avenue where you can melt into the world’s best grilled cheese or feel virtuous with a scrumptious salad. Woodbines Craft Kitchen is an elevated Irish pub on Vernon Boulevard (aka LIC Restaurant Row) with food as good as their superb drinks. Indie LIC is an outpost of a wonderful Lincoln Center restaurant with superb offerings from breakfast through dinner. And to feel like a VIP, you need only book a table at Manducatis Rustica, where the host, Mamma Gianna, will fill you with the finest ingredients crafted into sublime Italian cuisine.
Unique Treats
Whether you’re looking for something to buy, eat or do, LIC is full of unique possibilities. Matted LIC always has the perfect gift for yourself or someone special — from local art, jewelry, and special items. Brickhouse Ceramic Art Center is not only a studio, but a place to buy fabulous locally made pottery. We are also NYC’s climbing capital with The Cliffs at LIC and Brooklyn Boulders Queensbridge. Finally, if you’re still hungry, visit Taste Crème (above photo) for gorgeous and delicious custom cakes.
Wander Streets
To experience LIC, you really need to visit all five of our breweries: Fifth Hammer Brewing Company; Rockaway Brewing Company; Big aLICe Brewing; ICONYC Brewing Company; and LIC Beer Project. You can also wander through Gantry Plaza State Park, Hunter’s Point South Park, Queensbridge Park, Rainey Park, and Astoria Park to complete the waterfront adventure. Admire the gorgeous views of Manhattan and landscaping and/or bring a picnic basket for some socially distant outside time! Or spend a day exploring our many cultural institutions, including MoMA PS1, SculptureCenter, Flux Factory, Museum of the Moving Image, Noguchi Museum, and Socrates Sculpture Park.
Historic Feats
Many LIC buildings used to have different purposes and you can still see history shine through them. Did you know that, in 1983, the old Silvercup Bread factory that had been vacant for six years became Silvercup Studios? Did you know that MoMA PS1 was named after an elementary school that used to operate there? Did you know that years before JetBlue moved its headquarters to LIC, airplane parts were manufactured in the building? Then there’s the Brewster building, which was a manufacturing plant for Rolls Royce, Brewster cars, and WWII airplanes.
LIC Partnership President Elizabeth Lusskin is also the Executive Director of the LIC Business Improvement District. A former Co-Chair of the Sunnyside Yard Master Plan Steering Committee and the Amazon Community Advisory Project Plan Committee, she is a Member of the Western Queens Tech Task Force and NYC BID Association Board of Directors. Prior to LIC, the graduate of Yale University and NYU School of Law was the Chief of Staff and VP of Strategic Initiatives at the Polytechnic Institute of NYU. She advised a range of clients through her former consulting practice. She was Deputy Commissioner of NYC SBS, General Counsel to the Downtown Alliance, and Legislative Counsel at NYS Office of Federal Affairs.