File photo (Photo: SunnysidePost)
Sept. 18, 2013 Staff Report
The Queens Blvd store that was formerly occupied by Laven Pharmacy is going to become a cafe.
The new tenants were at the 41-31 Queens Blvd location yesterday and said that they expect it to take at least 3 months to get it ready for opening. The tenants had yet to come up with a name for their cafe and did not want to go into any great details about the store at this early stage.
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I really hope it’s a cafe similar to Aubergine or Cafe Marlene and not a “cafe” which is actually a deli that sells swill for coffee, which seems to be a NYC disease. I’m wary of someone calling a place a cafe and yet giving no detail. Not a great sign, but I can dream. Atmosphere is so important for a good cafe and the chances of fluorescent lighting and/or total takeover by teenagers (including staff that will be hired and who will play obnoxious crappy popular music at defeaning levels when the owner isn’t around) is always a worry in this area. I believe that problem was the demise of The Grind, which started out well, but quickly went downhill when it became impossible to sit in a semi-quiet atmosphere and read or work or chat at a reasonable volume due to the high school invaders. Hope the new owners will visit Aubergine and Cafe Marlene and see how it’s done.
So far I’ve tried the house blend regular and decaf. Both are great, as is the hazelnut which is made with real hazelnuts, not artificial flavoring. I’m looking forward to trying others. Thanks for the tip about going on Saturday–half the pleasure of coffee is the smell!
I used to buy the Columbian beans but they have two house blends which are really tasty. If you go Saturday mornings, somethimes they’re roasting the beans and it smels heavenly. Glad to hear this, Dorothy!
@ SuperWittySmitty. You are so right about Baruir’s. I’m embarrassed to say that, though I love coffee, I never bought it from Baruir’s until last week when I stopped in with a friend before dinner at Ariyoshi. It’s delicious. I was back yesterday to get decaf and hazelnut.
People, please show the Change bum the proper respect and call him by his name.
it’s Squirts the Change Bum.
Witty, you’re complaining. Stop it.
Superwittysmitty — I agree with you!! Parrot and Baruir are great stores with quality products.
Can’t wait for this to open!
We had a good sandwich shop on 42nd, next to the Dunkin Donuts on the south side. They had a good selection of quality cold cuts, too. These places need a lot of traffic to survive. Now, it’s another salon.
If people would buy cold cuts, cheese, coffee, bagels, and pastries from real merchants, instead of from corporate-owned supermarkets, we would all benefit. Patronize these stores- too many of them are loaded with merchandise but lack customers.I just bought a big jar of tahini from Parrot- $1 cheaper than at the supermarket. There are communities that would LOVE a store like that on their block. The beans from Baruir’s are delicious- why buy cans of crappy, pre-ground and higher-priced coffee at Associated? Because it’s convenient? Poor excuse.
Um…
Cafe doesn’t necessarily mean coffee. It’s highly possible this could be a corner bistro or brasserie with folding french doors similar to Dog and Duck. I for one would rather have a food place than just a coffee shop as we do have Baruir.
We also need a good sandwich shop!
The ebike store owner places the lotion in the basket or it gets the hose again.
David’s Bagels are good, but there’s no atmosphere in that place at night. Flourescent lighting is not inviting. And I don’t get people who go to a store with a laptop, looking for WiFi so they can surf the web. It should be a socializing environment, not a solitary one.
I’ll go. If I like it I’ll go again. Who knows how long a place can get its talons into me? I was obsessed with Mangal when it opened. Not now. Now it’s El Shatar!!
I want to squirt all over the e bike store.
The Rose was great.
A cafe is a great idea, and the thought of wifi is cool, but I would hate to see it turn into looking like Starbucks. I love Starbucks coffee, but those people sit there for hours and do not move, surfing on the internet. Makes it hard for people who just want to sit for 30 minutes to talk with a friend, enjoy a cup of coffee, etc. Geez! Just pay for high speed internet at home people! It’s really not that expensive!!!
I’m assuming that most of the remarks above were written with tongue in cheek. Sunnyside needs another café like an epidemic of swine flu. The management must be crazy. They’re probably paying a premium price for a corner location. Even Starbucks wouldn’t risk that when they eventually came to Sunnyside.
Hey Sunnysider, watch the video on YouTube of the bike shop using a grinder with sparks flying everywhere as people walk by. He needs to go somewhere else.
http://sunnysidepost.com/2013/08/09/sparks-fly-on-queens-blvd-as-e-bike-owner-does-repairs/
David’s bagels s a good place for a bagel and coffee and they are open 24 hrs
I hope they do artisan espresso and source their beans from Baruir’s or some place local.
Aww Come On. The CHANGE guy is a permanent figure in our community. Leave him out of this. What a treat – you will be able to sip coffee, smell e-bike grease and watch our local street bum take a dump (and maybe get a quick glimpse of his wee wee) all at once. Ahhh, NYC, it is one hell of a town. Don’t you just love it here in Sunnyside!! Thank you to our local merchants and of course our beloved politicians for bringing such joy, pleasure and entertainment to a neighborhood of immigrants who are use to eating where they take a dump. It will really make em feel like they are home again. Besides, would YOU hand the CHANGE guy money and have your palm touch his?
Yeah, outdoor seating alongside a five lane highway known as queens blvd.
It will succeed. It should have open door walls and have a brasserie feel.
Hoping for some wireless internet and good outlets! We could use a cafe like that in the area. So far the only one is Ave cafe.
In the past 10 yrs, The Rose was the best restaurant/cafe. Clean, simple, good fresh food. Maybe the new owners can follow that formula. Coffee shop, light dinners, long hours. It would be great.
We don’t have to worry about outside eating in the winter. I doubt the bike man will be there long.
Good bye e-bike store ass. No way will he be allowed to operate as he does now. There will be a lot of complaints and and response since there will be an occupied business next door serving food. He won’t be able to store the bikes all over the side walk. man that e-bike guy is an a$$hole. he doesn’t even work on real bikes (motorcycles). Goodbye sucker!
Good luck to them. I hope they know what they’re getting into since their storefront is the garage of the e-bike repair shop AND the home of the CHANGE guy.
Might be nice if they were another little place like The Brothers Cafe (43rd Ave. & 40th St.) to pick up an egg sandwich, bagel, coffee, whatever, on your way to work.
It was called The Grind.
Good luck! There used to be a cafe on 40th and QB on the southside but it closed about five or six years ago. I thought it was a cool place. Was it called “The Drip” or something like that?
Hoping that Skillman gets more restaurants too!
Sounds like a nice idea. Hope the CHANGE guy is not allowed to hang outside of it. Il take the fumes from the bike store over him any day.
LOVING this!
fantastic news~
Agree with Sunnysider & Za! Nothing, though, will ever compare to when it used to be Pizza World back in the day! Frenchy’s Father should never have sold it. 🙁
Cafe sounds good BUT something need to be done to the e-bike store. Not only is it unsightly but can be a pain when he does his repair on the walkway.
And I’m for one glad about the cafe. I really hope it’s a boutique cafe and not another generic looking cafe that can’t even make a decent cup of coffee (which is the case way too often). The closest thing we have to that in Sunnyside/Woodside is Aubergine, but Aubergine is pretty far from this location.
Um, we’re freaking NY’ers. If it’s a good cafe people are not going to be stopped by some dude possibly working on his bikes outside. Plus, no one said anything about an outdoor seating area yet… that’s just speculation. It’s probably going to be closed in. Chill out
Now if they put tables and chairs on the sidewalk, people can sip their espresso and watch the e-bike guy splatter the sidewalk with grease and oil and shoot out sparks as he cuts a piece of metal in half. Coffee and free entertainment.
complainers
It should be “their cafe.”
Traffic is mostly going east in the evening, so the CO levels won’t both those who want to dine al fresco,
great news – but how is the motorized bike repair shop aromas going to be welcoming for business???? as a matter of fact look at your photo and look at how he has defaced the sidewalk with oils etc and parks his repairs in front – this should be interesting!
You really want to sit on Queens Blvd? Have fun breathing exaust fumes all the live long day..
If they can put up a clean awning and change the gates to the type that can’t be spray painted that would be an improvement to start. But how is that going to work with the e-bike store next door and the guy working on bikes on the sidewalk? And aren’t e-bikes illegal–how are they getting away with that in plain sight?
Yes!
That is such fantatic news… we could really use a cafe over there… also the street is wide enoug for outdoor seating in warm weather… there is not much on that part or side of the blvd and would bring some foot traffic over there…. that is why ” the sunnyside post ” gives our town such up to date news” you are such a vital news source for our town.