Authentic Queens: Flushing

Our month of Big Apple coverage may be over, but our love continues for New York City. So we got some local tips on how to find authenticity in Queens—not an easy feat in an area often called the “most diverse place on Earth.” And who better to guide us than Jack Eichenbaum, a Queens tour guide and urban geographer? IT editor Janelle blogged about Jack in October, so we caught back up with him recently for a few of his neighborhood picks.

To Jack, the best way to tackle Queens is by venturing through one of its countless ethnic neighborhoods, noshing at exotic restaurants and, of course, joining one of his fascinating walking tours (but more on that later). Jack’s stomping ground, Flushing, is the borough’s oldest community (founded circa 1645) and has transformed into a mostly Asian neighborhood over the past 20 years or so.

A few of Jack's Flushing (and beyond) highlights:

• For an excellent Asian meal, Jack suggests Perfect Team Restaurant for fresh dim sum or Kum Gang San for great Korean food. Both restaurants will likely run you less than $25 for dinner (with enough food for three people), are “pretty swank,” and the menus “go on for five or six pages.” At Perfect Team, follow Jack’s lead and try their scallops in pepper sauce or the pepper-and-salt Vancouver crab (Dungeness crab). At Kum Gang San, you can’t go wrong with either the traditional Korean barbecue or Jack’s favorite, the seafood pancake.

• Built in 1694 by John Browne, the Old Quaker Meeting House is the oldest house of worship in the state of New York and has hosted the likes of George Washington and William Penn. The building itself is distinguished as New York’s only surviving piece of 17th-century ecclesiastical architecture. “When you go in, you feel it’s a very special place,” Jack says.