we definetely want to check out Astoria - being of Greek Australian background i heard there are some great Greek eateries in the area...last night we watched Anthony Bourdains 'No reservations' and he went to an Egyption restaurant in Astoria - Ali's
the food looked amazing!!

anyone have any rest/cafe recommendations?
is there anything else interesting in this area - is the shopping OK?

Our favorite spot is Agnanti. What we do is select a whole bunch of "appetizers" - hot and cold and share everything around the table.

The place known as Ali's is the Kebab Cafe on Steinway Street, at #25-12. There is a group of similar restaurants in the same area.

For food shopping, you might want to visit Titan Foods:


http://www.titanfood.com/mm5/merchant.mvc

Not in Astoria - but Kefi on the upper west side has excellent greek food.

oh thanks everyone...looking forward to exploring the area and Greek delis as well as visiting my Great aunt!

must look out for 'Kefi' we're staying in the UWS for 4 nights!

For a great burger, visit Jackson Hole Diner in Astoria. One of the best burgers I've ever had.

There are Jackson Holes all over Manhattan. I certainly wouldn't go all the way to Astoria to eat there. (I also really dislike their burgers, which are far too large and steamed under a lid, making them juicy but basically tasteless.)

Go to Astoria for things the area specializes in: seafood, Greek food, some other interesting ethnic restaurants, most of which are along the N subway line (especially around the Broadway stop).

Check out this page from urbanspoon.com re: Greek restaurants in Astoria http://tinyurl.com/kkferj

Zenon Taverna is where we ate which was recommended by my Greek friend. Excellent!

I agree that Jackson Hole's burgers leave something to be desired. I can recall when they first opened in NY - it was the place to go for a burger -- that was a good number of years ago. Since I now live near the 2nd. Ave one - I had one just recently. Yes -- too big and they are not too savvy about what medium rare is.

For more information on Ali and his food, you might be interested in the NYC chapter of the new book, EAT MY GLOBE, by Chowhounder Simon Majumdar:



http://books.simonandschuster.com/Ea.../9781416576020

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/628170