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Queens: A Culinary Passport

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Everyone knows New York City is the culinary epicenter of the United States. And while Manhattan gets Michelin stars and Brooklyn gets blogger hype, real culinary fanatics know that authentic ethnic food experiences happen in the restaurants of Queens. There, New York's celebrated ethnic diversity is the most potent, with more than one million foreign-born residents. This means food lovers can travel the globe without using any vacation take a culinary tour of China, sip a frappe in Greece, dine on authentic Italian sausage—all without ever leaving Queens!

A Culinary Passport welcomes visitors to the borough, serving as your guide to more than 40 hand-picked ethnic restaurants and food stands, complete with chef profiles and recipes for recreating signature dishes at home. Also included are highlights of not-to-be-missed hidden spots, like ethnic grocery stores stocked with multicultural essentials, fresh-from-the-sea fish markets, and delis that turn out freshly made mozzarella and sopressata.

For Queens novices, the book includes easy-to-follow subway directions and even detailed neighborhood walking tours, ensuring that your next trip to Italy, India, Greece, Latin America, and China is only a borough away.

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 30, 2014

9 people are currently reading
311 people want to read

About the author

Andrea Lynn

30 books22 followers
Obsessed with food from an early age, Andrea Lynn is happiest when in the kitchen dabbling with ingredients, making a culinary career always in the cards. As a writer and recipe developer, Andrea Lynn's articles and developed recipes have appeared in print and online for numerous publications. She has written numerous cookbooks and developed countless recipes (and counting).

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12 (28%)
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
Profile Image for Doug.
2,579 reviews933 followers
September 30, 2014
Received through the Goodreads First Reader Program and the generosity of St. Martin's Press.

This is a lovely little book, that serves as much as a guidebook to the NY borough as it does a cookbook. Author Lynn divides Queens into its 9 neighborhoods, and for each section, includes critiques of several of the most interesting/prominent (usually ethnic) restaurants, a featured recipe from these, an interview with a knowledgeable resident as to their fav spots, as well as a 'walking tour' map explaining how to get around. The book is liberally illustrated with terrific full color photos and the recipes range from the very simplistic ('Greek Frappe') to quite elaborate/exotic ('Dan Dan Noodles'). My only qualms about the book is that it is obviously intended for, and most useful, for someone actually living IN (or planning an extended stay) in Queens - which I don't/am not ... and sometimes she has pictures of, or describes, wonderful dishes for which she DOESN'T provide a recipe. :-( All in all though, this is a quite unique and handy little guide.
Profile Image for Anna.
41 reviews2 followers
October 5, 2014
Received in a Goodreads Giveaway in September 2014. Thank you!

This is a great little book! It is both a restaurant guide book and a recipe book. So it's not comprehensive at either. the recipes given are interesting and very much doable. Some are from the actual restaurants while others are inspired by the original dishes.

The writing is very clear and interesting. There is a bit of history, a bit of cultural information and a lot of food. If you are coming to NYC or want to taste some of the restaurant style ethnic foods, I'd recommend getting this book. It also gives clear travel directions to neighborhoods that are not often visited by tourists but are wonderful to to see, and have meal in.

Oh and the author forgot about Jamaica, which you might need if you are heading to, or from the JFK airport by public transport.
7 reviews3 followers
October 6, 2014
I was so glad to win this book for an honest review. After reading this book it definitely makes me want to venture out of the South (I live in AR) and head to Queens. I had no idea that there were so many different kinds of restaurants in Queens. I love all of the recipes in the book. I have several of them tagged to try out. One of my favorite things about this book, besides the recipes, were the amazing photos. This is definitely a great book if you are a "Fellow Foodie!"
Profile Image for Lauren.
216 reviews3 followers
April 6, 2018
This book is really fantastic! I want to try everythingggg
284 reviews3 followers
January 21, 2015
I was privileged to receive this as part of the First Reads program. I enjoyed reading this book, and I'm going to be making good use of it. I made two of the recipes (albeit two of the easier ones) already this weekend, and I have several more marked to make later. I also plan to visit a couple of the restaurants before the end of the month.

While this book is probably most useful for those who live in the NY metro area, tourists looking for activities that are off the beaten path might want to check it out as well. There is a culinary walking tour included for each featured neighborhood, and there are ideas for parks, museums, etc. to visit in each neighborhood too.

Some observations:

For convenience, I would have liked a page listing the types of cuisine featured and where to find them in this book. Like I said, for convenience, and it's just my preference. There is a regular index in the back.

There were a couple of restaurants featured that I wouldn't call ethnic. They do seem like places I'd like to eat, though, and I can see why the author doesn't want anyone to miss them.


Overall I really enjoyed this book.

Profile Image for Scott Haraburda.
Author 2 books52 followers
November 14, 2014
Goodreads First Reads Giveaway Book.

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Queens: A Culinary Passport: Exploring Ethnic Cuisine in New York City's Most Diverse Borough is a culinary travel book and cookbook through one of America’s diverse places.

The book contains valuable information, such as restaurant highlights, and easy-to-make ethnic recipes. Also, it contains descriptions of the borough itself, along with hidden spots, such as ethnic grocery stores stocked with culinary essentials. In essence, it really provides walking tours of each neighborhood, making the reader want to hop on the subway to taste all that this place has to offer.

The author, Andrea Lynn, has a culinary degree from the Institute of Culinary Education and briefly worked in a New York Times three-star restaurant. With her culinary expertise and personal knowledge of the neighborhood, she wrote a unique book that would help both natives and visitors alike.

Queens: A Culinary Passport is a very useful guide for anyone visiting this New York City’s borough. I look forward to using this book when I visit, and can’t wait to sample some of its recipes.
Profile Image for Ali.
300 reviews3 followers
March 23, 2015
I received a free copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway. The following review is a fair and honest review and not influenced by the free copy of this book.

Queens: A Culinary Passport was a great introduction to the different food options in the Queens area of New York. It takes you to 9 different areas of Queens and goes into detail the best places to visit depending on what type of food you enjoy most.

Each section of the book has an introduction to the part of the city they will be talking about, a spotlight of 3-4 different food shops, a recipe from each shop, a walking tour of highlights to not miss, and beautiful pictures that make you wish that you were right there to taste the food.

I would advise this book to a few different groups of people. For those that are interested in ethnic food recipes (I can't wait to try to make the Korean Barbecue Lettuce Wraps with Marinated Steak and Pickled Vegetables pg. 100), those that like to learn about interesting areas of the United States, and those that may be taking a trip to the borough of Queens.
Profile Image for Lili.
333 reviews15 followers
October 5, 2014
I received this book thanks to Goodread's First Read program, and here is my review!

This book is a cookbook, but it is also an adventure in a very ethnically diverse neighborhood in New York. I am going to be honest, I will probably never visit any of these restaurants, because the idea of going to that big of a city scares the pants off my me, but at the same time I really want to try these foods and visit these places!

It is really well written, the little blurbs about the various restaurants and stores are told in a very personal feel, making it feel like the author is telling you a story about this awesome place she ate at/shopped at. The recipes are delicious looking and easy to follow, luckily most the ingredients I can find at various local ethnic markets so it does not look too hard to make.

This book finds a nice home with my cookbook collection.
Profile Image for J.
327 reviews
May 6, 2015
As a resident of New York, I usually eat out in Manhattan. When I saw the giveaway for this book, which focuses on Queens, I entered the giveaway and I won.

I'm glad I did. The book highlights some restaurants I want to try. I had put off reviewing it hoping to actually eat in one and compare my own take on the author's.

One very helpful part of this book is that it has walking maps of the different Queens neighborhoods in which the restaurants are located. So, you can choose a neighborhood that is easily accessible via a subway line and then select a restaurant in that area to stop and have dinner.
1,285 reviews9 followers
December 28, 2014
Picks a few recommendations for several Queens neighborhoods. Includes recipes and nice color photographs.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews

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