Mother's Day in Astoria

Mami and Me - Mother's Day '07

Mother's Day is this Sunday so I thought I'd provide you with helpful hints on where to take Mama. The great thing about an Astorian Mother's Day is that you can choose between a high-end prix-fix or a casual brunch or dinner. The choice is yours!

Below are some of Astoria's great eats for Mother's Day.

Akti: This new Greek eatery is social and fun but also has an upscale feel, which Mom will like. Their seafood is out of this world and so fresh! Although they are not having a specific Mother's Day special, I encourage you to try their regular menu.

34-19 30th Avenue, Astoria, NY 11103. 718.721.3530
N/W Train to 30th Avenue

Brick Cafe: A charming bistro style eatery with great outdoor seating and yummy Mediterranean dishes. They're offering a brunch/dinner combo menu on Mother's Day but prices will remain as usual.

30-95 33rd Street, Astoria, NY 11102. 718.267.2735
N/W Train to Broadway or 30th Avenue

Cavo: This elegant Greek haven is celebrating Mother's Day with a bang! Cavo is known to be expensive but you get great quality food. Their Mother's Day special includes a 4-course $49 prix-fix special. An added bonus? All moms get a $20 Cavo gift card.

Click here for menu.

42-18 31st Ave, Astoria, NY 11103. 718.721.1001
R/V/G Train to Steinway or 46th Street

Mojave: This modern Southwestern joint and sibling of NYC's Agave will serve their regular menu items on Mother's Day. You will not feel like you are in Queens here--the space is absolutely gorgeous, which will impress Mom.

22-36 31st Street, Astoria, NY 11105. 718.545.4100
N/W Train to Ditmars Blvd (last stop)

Ovelia: A contemporary Greek eatery and the heartbeat of Astoria's 30th Avenue, Ovelia offers amazing eats and a fun indoor and outdoor atmosphere. For Mother's Day, they'll serve their regular brunch menu and for dinner they'll have a Rack of Lamb special as well as their regular dinner menu items.

34-01 30th Ave, Astoria, NY 11103. 718.721.7217
N/W Train to 30th Avenue

Stove: An endearing and peaceful Irish restaurant with a quaint outdoor garden, friendly staff and delicious comfort food. They're offering a $35 prix-fix menu for Mother's Day, which consists of an appetizer, entree, dessert, tea and coffee. I have the menu on-hand so please email me at critic@foodistanyc.com if you'd like to see it.

45-17 28th Ave, Astoria, NY 11103. 718.956.0372
R/V/G Train to 46th Street

Trattoria L'Incontro: This is definitely the Astorian splurge but worth every penny. You'll get the freshest pasta in town, great wine and an a homey atmosphere to boot! They offer a $60 prix-fix menu, including an appetizer, entree and dessert. Space is VERY limited so if you're interested call now.

21-76 31st Street, Astoria, NY 11105. 718.721.3532
N/W Train to Ditmars Blvd (last stop)

For more of my Mother's Day recommendations, see my article on about.com.

Happy Mama's Day Astoria!

Bella Via - A Cozy Pasta Heaven

Bella Via - 47-46 Vernon Blvd, LIC, NY 11101
718.361.7510
7 Train to Vernon Blvd/Jackson Ave
www.bellaviarestaurant.com

Bella Via was recommended to me by Vivian, owner of the Little Soap Shop and by my cousin Vicky. It's hard to find quality Italian and this place seemed cozy, nice and reasonably priced. Dan and I had dinner there this past Friday and were very happy with the food. The service still has a ways to go, but overall it was a good experience.

Atmosphere:
Bella Via has a very homey, comfortable feel. It's a warm place to be, both in the literal and figurative sense--the brick oven provides the physical warmth while friends and family give-off a happy, social vibe. The place was bumpin' on Friday night, and especially for a late dinner--we left around 10p and Bella showed no signs of slowing down. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves just like at a big Italian family dinner. Even though Bella is loud and boisterous, there were plenty of couples enjoying quality time, making this great for intimate evenings as well as for big social dinners.

Food:
The food is the area with which we were wowed. Everything was fresh, not heavy and seasoned really well. We got to sample a little bit of seafood as well as their starchy dishes:

Baked Clams Oreganato: We pretty much knew what to expect here--large clams, bread crumbs, butter, lemon, the works. But what we got was all that and so much more! The clams themselves were on the smaller side but so incredibly fresh that we were excited to have four pieces each. The sauce, which they floated on was the best part. While it had tomato in it, it was white wine based and so light that after the clams were gone, we dipped all of our bread into it and basically licked the plate clean.

Gnocchetti di Ricotta e Spinaci: This was my choice for entree and despite its name, "gnocchetti" or small gnocchi they definitely were not small. These were handmade spinach gnocchi that not only tasted delicious on their own, when dipped into the amazing white wine sauce described above, they were pure heaven. The only thing I had qualms with were the Kalamata olives in this dish. They were too salty and did not enhance the gnocchetti at all--they slightly took away from them. Dan tried my dish too and agreed--unbelievable gnocchi, the olives on the other hand were meh.

Tagliatelle with Shrimp and Sun-Dried Tomatoes: What caught Dan's attention about this dish was the shrimp. It was cooked perfectly, which is hard to find in restaurants. The pasta itself was also tasty and cooked al-dente. Once mixed (again) with the delicious white wine sauce, the pasta, the sun-dried tomatoes and the yummy shrimp, it made for a solid dish. Dan enjoyed it but mentioned many times that he liked my gnocchetti better.

Even though we weren't in the mood for this, I must mention that Bella Via also serves a variety of coal fired brick oven pizzas. From Pizza Margherita to Arugula with Prosciutto di Parma to Robiola Cheese with Truffle Oil, this seemed to be a popular dish to order.

Service and Cost:
The service was where I saw need for improvement. First off, our menus weren't given to us immediately, which was a bit strange. We sat there waiting for them and when they finally arrived and we looked through them, it took long for the waitress to come back and take our order.

Another bizarre occurrence was the absence of a bread basket. We were beginning to think that they don't serve them here but then I spied one at a table across from us. Where was ours? It came about 15-20 minutes after we ordered. While the dishes took a while to get to us, they were so delicious that we didn't let the service bother us.

Bella is moderately priced for an Italian joint. Antipasti range between $6.95-$11.95, pasta between $11.95-$15.95, pizza between $10.95-$18.95 and traditional entrees between $14.95-$23.95. Our dinner total was $70, which included 2 alcoholic drinks, an appetizer, two pasta entrees with tax and tip.

2 Mmmms