#PickoftheWeek | Restaurant to Launch New ‘Feast’ Menu During a Feast
BY QEDC It's In Queens
It’s time to save the world…one delicious bite at a time.
The multi-faceted nonprofit Queens Together presents “Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner” at The Queensboro on Thursday, Nov. 4, at 7 pm.
It’s actually much more than a dinner, but let’s begin with the menu. True to its title, the entrées are platters of spicy Korean wings, buttermilk fried chicken, and Nashville hot chicken. Side dishes include coleslaw, potato salad, marinated bean salad, and jalapeño-cheddar cornbread. Strawberry shortcake is for dessert.
The price is $35 per person, and all proceeds go to The Queensboro. So the meal is a mouth-watering way to support the Jackson Heights restaurant that voluntarily fed front line workers and those facing food insecurity during the Covid pandemic and other difficult times. (RSVP to jonathan@queenstogether.org.)
Located at 80-02 Northern Blvd., The Queensboro opened in 2018 as a community-focused hangout with great American cuisine and a large party room for events. The pizza was outstanding, and the mixed drinks were exceptional. When Covid hit Queens, the three owners – Dudley Stewart, Michael Fuquay, and Tony Liu – demonstrated their community focus by providing thousands of hot meals to Elmhurst Hospital Center, while also stocking mutual refrigerators and working with shelters. Later, they fed victims after an eight-alarm fire ripped through a six-story apartment building on 89th Street last April.
Now, The Queensboro is about to launch “Feast Menus,” and this night provides a sneak preview (or pre-eat). The packages follow.
LECHON ($500 + feeds up to 12 guests)
Whole suckling pig with chimichurri, accompanied by sautéed greens, roasted potatoes, and a salad of apples, celery, chicory, and walnuts. Starter of pigs in blankets. Seasonal fruit crisp for dessert.
SALMON COULIBIAC ($600 + feeds up to 12 guests)
Whole side of salmon encased in puff pastry crust, layered with spinach, mushrooms, cabbage, rice, and dill and accompanied with lemon cream sauce. Starters of borscht and smoked salmon blini. Russian honey cake for dessert. (Caviar service available for an additional charge.)
SEAFOOD BOIL ($60 per person with eight-guest minimum)
Steaming piles of peel-and-eat shrimp, old bay spiced crabs, clams and mussels in garlic butter sauce with corn on the cob, boiled potatoes, mushrooms, and crusty garlic bread. Cups of gumbo to start. Baked Alaska for dessert. (Ice chest of beer available via pre-order.)
TONY’S LUAU ($40 per person with eight-guest minimum)
Kalua pig and cabbage with pineapple, taro root, macaroni salad, kimchi, poke, and lomi salmon. Starter of spam sushi rolls. Pineapple upside down cake for dessert.
FRIED CHICKEN FEAST ($35 per person with eight-guest minimum)
As mentioned in the beginning, spicy Korean wings, buttermilk fried chicken, and Nashville hot chicken with coleslaw, potato salad, marinated bean salad, and jalapeño-cheddar cornbread. Strawberry shortcake for dessert.
The organizers
Based in Astoria, but serving the entire borough, Queens Together was established in March 2020 to feed people facing hunger and health care workers who were treating Covid patients in local hospitals.
The man in charge, Jonathan Forgash, operates Queens Together like a trade association, providing advocacy, education, savings, marketing, and income opportunities to members. Community service ─ most frequently feeding underserved populations ─ is also a mainstay of its mission.
Before Queens Together, Forgash ran Star Struck Catering, a film and TV industry catering service, for more than 20 years. In 2016, he co-founded Queens Dinner Club, an informal group that gets together for periodic meals at different borough venues, with Joe DiStefano, a blogger and Queens Tourism Council’s official foodie, and long-time restaurant promoter Gabe Gross.
Editor’s note: “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner” is limited to 32 people. RSVP via jonathan@queenstogether.org. Payment due after the meal. Proof of vaccine and ID required.
Images: The Queensboro