My neighborhood profile of Astoria is up on the NYP Home blog.My fresser readers should note: Stamatis is one of my favorite Greek restaurants -- I only mentioned the moussaka, but if you're a fish fan, they have some really spectacular grilled sea creatures. Lamb chops, fried meatballs, and all the rest are outstanding. The bottom line is pretty much: Whatever you order, you can't go wrong. (And the octopus is really outstanding.) The only thing to note: It is slightly more expensive than one would expect. (The moussaka is the cheapest thing on the menu.)
Likewise, I give my thumbs up to Trattoria L'Incontro. That was a new one for me, but I had read about it before. (It's one of Astoria's 5 or 6 restaurants that made it into the Michelin guide.) It started out with a few strikes against it: I schlepped out there on Monday -- they were closed. I went back on Tuesday after work. I wound up having to wait for 40 minutes for a table! But I was actually really impressed with the pasta I had. (Rigatoni with a lamb ragout.) And even though it was a long wait, they were polite. It wasn't Queen -- my favorite Italian restaurant -- but nothing is. The thing that I got the biggest kick out of was the fact that they had a guy playing the harp! For Queens, it is an excellent Italian restaurant.
