Cassinelli and more in the QNYC Evening Edition for Thursday March 14, 2013

A little bit about the people at Cassinelli

Nancy Ruhling at the Huffington Post wrote about the people behind Cassinelli, the pasta factory over on 23rd Ave in Astoria. Their hours are a bit wonky, but their product is a delight.

Tony Bonfigli and Nella Costella are the owners (they are not married) and have been at the pasta business at Cassinelli for over 50 years. Tony came over from Italy when he was 13 (1956) and Nella arrived in 1951 (she’s 8 years older than Tony, so she was 21). After she had her first child she worked part time at the factory. She and Tony bought Cassinelli from the owners in 1972.

We love their pasta and especially like making lasagna from their fresh pasta sheets (believe us, it makes a huge difference).

The 2012 Report Card on Large Parks

New Yorkers for Parks has released their 2012 Report Card on Large Parks – these parks are defined as public spaces between 20 and 500 acres. The Report Card has run data-driven evaluations on aspects of each parks against agreed-upon benchmarks, and they highlight well-functioning parks.  Queens has the most number of parks evaluated – 17! This includes Astoria Park, Juniper Valley Park (Middle Village), and Baisley Pond Park (Jamaica), among others. NB: really big parks like Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Idlewild, Alley Pond, and Forest Park were not part of this Report Card.

Hello, secret affogato

Hey, that rhymes! Seriously, we loved reading about this off-menu affogato – gelato or ice cream with espresso poured over it – at Eddie’s Sweet Shop in Forest Hills. “It’s vanilla chip ice cream drowned in espresso and topped with a crumbled sugar cone and hot fudge.” And it’s only $7! Sweet (literally).

White Bear’s wontons #6 rule, no lie

Gothamist agrees that the wontons at White Bear in Flushing is some of the top Chinese food in NYC. They call them spicy wontons, and they are also known as “wonton #6.” The wonton skins are strikingly bright white and the wontons are crazy delicious.

“This minuscule Flushing shop—located steps from the Flushing-Main Street 7 stop so no excuses!—makes Sichuan-style wontons stuffed with savory pork and cabbage, lovingly encased in a thin, tender wrapper. The dumplings are then generously sprinkled with spicy chili oil, chopped scallions, and diced picked vegetables.”

Our mouths are watering just thinking about them.

MTA Bus Time – many more lines in Queens will get a hookup

The MTA Bus Time project – a real-time bus tracking tool – will find its way into Queens by 2014. Currently it’s only implemented on the Q60 in Queens. It’s on many lines in Staten Island the Bronx and has been a great success. Fernando Ferrer, the MTA’s acting chairman says, “Bus Time is so helpful to our customers that we have scheduled an extremely aggressive timetable to introduce it to three other boroughs.”