One day in Queens: a food crawl on the 7 train
One elevated train, three neighborhoods, four or five small meals: a Long Island City skyline breakfast, Jackson Heights at noon, Flushing in the afternoon, and the Night Market on a summer Saturday evening.
Queens is the most linguistically diverse place on earth and the 7 train runs through the middle of it, elevated most of the way, stopping in a different country every ten minutes. This day is a string of small meals along that line — come hungry, eat little and often, and accept that you will leave something great uneaten. That is Queens.
It is also the cheapest day on this site. Nothing on the plan has an admission charge, the subway fare is the only transport cost, and a serious meal in Flushing or Jackson Heights costs less than a sandwich in Midtown. Several of the best counters are cash-only, so carry some.
The order runs outward from Manhattan, because the Night Market at the end is in Flushing Meadows and runs Saturday evenings in season — if it is not a Saturday, or not the season, the day ends in Flushing instead, which is no hardship.
The day
Gantry Plaza State ParkFree
Breakfast with the best skyline view in the city. The 7 to Vernon Boulevard–Jackson Avenue — one stop from Grand Central, about ten minutes — then a five-minute walk to the water. Get coffee and something from a bakery on Vernon Boulevard on the way and eat it on the piers facing Midtown. Half an hour. This is the shortest trip to a great view in New York and it sets the day up.
Back on the 7 outbound to 74th Street–Broadway, about twenty minutes. Take the 7 rather than the E for this leg — it runs elevated through Sunnyside and Woodside and the ride is part of the point.
Jackson HeightsUnder $25
Late morning into lunch, ninety minutes. Momos from a counter under the tracks, a taco or a chicken-and-rice plate on Roosevelt Avenue, something sweet from a South Asian bakery on 74th Street — three small things, not one big one. Walk 37th Avenue for the South Asian side and Roosevelt Avenue for the Latin American side; they are two blocks apart and completely different worlds.
The 7 to the end of the line, Flushing–Main Street — about fifteen minutes from Jackson Heights, with Flushing Meadows and the Unisphere visible from the right-hand windows after 111th Street.
FlushingUnder $25
The afternoon, two hours. This is the largest and most regionally varied Chinese food destination in America and the food courts are the way in: a basement or a second floor with a dozen stalls, each doing one thing from one region, most of them under ten dollars. Hand-pulled noodles, dumplings, a skewer, a bubble tea. Then walk the side streets off Main Street and buy something from a bakery for the train.
A ten-minute walk south on Main Street. Optional — this is the digestive pause, not a meal.
Queens Botanical GardenUnder $25
Forty-five minutes in the least crowded botanical garden in the city. Free in the winter off-season and on set weekday hours, a small charge otherwise; the rose garden in June and the cherries in April are the reasons. If you are full and it is a summer Saturday, skip it and walk into Flushing Meadows instead.
Back on the 7 two stops inbound to 111th Street, then a ten-minute walk into Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Or walk across the park from the garden, about twenty-five minutes, past the Unisphere.
Queens Night MarketUnder $25
The evening, on a Saturday in season — check the dates on the spot page before you build the day around it. A hundred-odd vendors from dozens of countries, outdoors, with a price ceiling that keeps almost everything genuinely cheap, which is why you ate small all day. Two hours. The 7 home from 111th Street is busy but frequent and runs late.
Common questions
- What if it isn't a Saturday, or the Night Market isn't running?
End the day in Flushing and eat a proper sit-down dinner there instead of grazing — the day is built to leave you room for it. Or stay on the 7 one more stop to Mets–Willets Point and walk into Flushing Meadows for the Unisphere at dusk, which is free and there all year. Either is a good ending; the market is just the best one.
- How do I avoid ordering badly?
Go where the queue is and order what the person in front of you ordered. In the Flushing food courts, each stall does one or two things well — do not ask for a menu, point at what is being made. Small portions, many stalls. And carry cash; several of the best counters do not take cards, and the ATM fee will annoy you more than the dumplings cost.
- Can I do Astoria on this day too?
Not well. Astoria is on the N and W, a different line that leaves from a different part of Manhattan, and adding it means backtracking through Queensboro Plaza in the middle of the day. Give Astoria its own evening: Greek and Egyptian food, the beer garden, the park under the bridge. It is twenty minutes from Midtown and worth the separate trip.
Who should skip this
Anyone who wants one long sit-down dinner, who dislikes eating standing up, or who is not comfortable in busy, noisy, cash-first neighborhoods — this day is all three.