Even though I hear great things about the food in Queens, I rarely find myself there. Call it a Brooklyn bias but I just never feel like trekking into the "other" borough. But Lav and I found ourselves in Astoria on Sunday as we were checking out the Mad Men exhibit at the Museum of Moving Images (definitely go check it out if you are fan of the show or just a fan of tv pop culture). We were done relatively early, so we decided to go to Queens Kickshaw for a super early bird dinner.
We were so early in fact that they weren't even serving food yet when we arrived (5:15pm - they didn't serve food until 5:30pm). One thing to keep in mind is that the place is actually much more of a cute cafe that you would find in Brooklyn than local restaurant. We ordered some drinks while we waited for the food service to start. They have a lot of very interesting sounding microbrews and craft beers and you can get flights of beers which is great. It wasn't long until it was 5:30 and we ordered food immediately. They have a vegetarian menu but with a focus on grilled cheeses - what could be better? We opted to get the trio of dips ($9) to start and split the broccoli soup ($4) as well. For my main dish, I got the gruyere grilled cheese ($10) and Lav got the mac and cheese ($14). The trio of dips were a romesco dip, basil aioli, and black bean hummus dip served with warm pita bread. They were all excellent with the romesco being my favorite one. The broccoli soup was actually pretty light - I was expecting a heavy cream based soup but this was much thinner and served with lemon oil on top. I kind of wish that I had asked them to serve it to me with my grilled cheese instead of before because my grilled cheese came with a salad instead of soup and there's just something not as comforting about a salad. The grilled cheese itself was quite tasty - it had caramelized onions, pickled red onions, and layers of gooey gruyere cheese on nicely grilled wheat bread. It was a nice homey and comforting meal. While the green salad was fine, it wasn't anything special but I guess it was good to have something healthy. I tried Lav's mac and cheese and it was a nice gooey dish too - it was made with gruyere, cheddar, smoked mozzarella, french beans and asparagus. It was a nice combination of cheeses although I think it could have used a bit more sharper cheese - I felt like the cheeses they had were a bit on the mild side. For dessert, we chocolate pudding ($7) and it was quite decadent and heavenly. I'm not a huge chocolate fan but it was a solid dessert and nice way to end a meal.
This is definitely a cute place and worth checking out if you are in the hood. While I'm sure there are many more better ethnic eats in Queens, it's still a nice chill place, especially if you are near the Museum and don't feel like walking too far. Total bill: $41/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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