41-10 49th St. (Photo: QueensPost)
Dec. 19, 2011 Staff Report
For upper Skillman Ave residents, the struggle to find a slice of pizza is going to be over– as two pizzerias are about to open.
A new pizzeria will be opening on 49th Street, across the street from Café Marlene and next to Florent’s. That pizzeria is expected to sell pizza for a $1 per slice. The business owners are currently renovating the 41-10 49th St. space.
50-12 Skillman Ave. (Photo: QueensPost)
This development comes just a little over a month after it was reported that a new pizzeria will be opening at the old location of Rosario’s Pizzeria & Restaurant. That pizzeria will be located at 50-12 Skillman Ave. and is expected to open at the very beginning of 2012.
Meanwhile, a bakery appears to opening at 51-18 Skillman Ave., called Olimpica.
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49 Comments
they charge a dollar bill for the 99cent slice.. thats just wrong on principle. consumers feel taken advantage of.. also the slices are very small like papa johns. I wouldnt go back
@ Dorothy Moorehead
With reference to quality of food at The Dog and Duck in my opinion it has been nothing short of disappointing. Who needs another Irish Pub in the area with poor overcooked food ?? I guess the Irish do. You state it is operated by a real chef who serves real food and good food at that. Please, it is pretty bad. Did you taste the so called Pate’ ?? Identify it’s contents and you are a winner. Have you had the bland overcooked burger and oiled soaked french fries ?? Or how about the overdone Ribeye on special ?? This may sound a bit scathing but it is what I and friends experienced not once but twice .The second time was to give them another chance. Sorry but I nor my friends will be eating here anytime soon. It is not a place for for food unless you like your food bland and overdone. PLEASE no more pubs but instead “real chef inspired quality food” for those that care!!!
i have hopes this new pizzeria will be good…i’ve had pizza’s from all over the neighborhood and i honestly prefer Italian Affair over by plaza 48. nice big slices and free delivery. but if this new place is good i’ll order from there.
The crust at Sunnyside Pizza is great. Skillman Pizza (the coffee shop) is my favorite when I’m craving kalamata olive and or real mushroom toppings. None of the pizza places have whole wheat crust:(
Yep, saw that the other day. I’ll try it out and report on what it’s like.
Never tried Marabella’s, either. You guys think it’s better than Sunnyside Pizza?
I am completely serious when I tell you I passed the 49th Street pizza place today and noted that the awning is up. It says 99 cents for a slice.
Hipsters – ride the L line and pretend to read their Kindles or Nooks while they doze. Also have lots of money for expensive haircuts but much less for food. Are perennially in danger of eviction yet know how to beat the system. They also think that the new movie Shame is a real art film.
MARABELLA ROCKS! And hipsters wear nerdy eye glasses and don’t bathe a lot.
Marabella’s on 41st & Greenpoint is the best in the area.
Really, Sunnyside Pizza getting all these shout outs?
Hipster Men Checklist: pork pie hat, facial hair, skinny jeans, t-shirt that makes statement, converse sneakers, socks that make a statement, iPad
Hipster Women Checklist: Stylish messy shag hair cut, thick rimmed glasses, vintage clothes, iPod
They’ll eat pizza when hungry and drink a Pabst.
Honestly, I don’t understand why everyone’s so worried about hipsters taking over the neighborhood. I know what hipsters look like–they exist, and I’ve seen them–but I haven’t seen them here. On any given day, I feel like I’m just about the most hipstery person in Sunnyside, and I would get laughed out of Williamsburg if I tried to hang with the cool kids.
There is so such a thing as a hipster. I’ve seen ’em on the tube.
Here’s how you can figure out what it is: go to any subway stop in the city or outer boroughs and observe the people. Then go to the Bedford Ave. stop on the L train and observe the people. Subtract the difference and you will have a hipster.
@Timesup Perhaps you are right, there is no such thing as a hipster. I’ll work with my dictionary to come up with a new word to express what I mean: inexperienced people trying on memes from the cultural edge as they go through the process of self-discovery; people who perceive and attempt to follow an “in crowd;” people who parrot opinions expressed by the cultural leaders of the moment. From my experience, having been a hipster at one time, they are in that period of life when they are testing the lessons of childhood against adult experience, a period of rapid change and growth. It is a valid period of life, but like any good sized influx of people, their presence is upsetting a long held cultural balance in the neighborhood, whether good or bad. Change can be good and exciting, and it can also be disruptive, it depends on who you are. New energy is good, it is just easier to incorporate in smaller doses. The last five years have been dizzying around Sunnyside.
This may come as a shock to many here, but:
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A HIPSTER!!!
Really. It’s a made-up word. I know so because I’ve heard it used to describe people from all walks of life and with no commonalities whatsoever. And I’ve never met a self-identified hipster neither.
I was hoping the word would have died by now. I guess some people need simple labels to make sense of a complex world. And by lumping people into fake categories, it’s easier to manifest our inner self-loathing into a targeted rage toward the “other.”
The world is collapsing before our eyes, and we’re busy categorizing people into new groups just so we can hate them.
We should all be thankful that Queens/NYC has been virtually immune from the depression that’s shook most of the rest of the country. We should be thankful that our residential and commercial real estate is in demand, and Sunnyside doesn’t resemble one of those depressing upstate towns with dark storefronts. Thankfully, people from all over the country and world still want to live here.
Sorry to post earlier as eVarese (that’s my default handle… but this isn’t some anonymous Mac forum)… My name is Michael and I live on 52nd st. near Skillman Ave. I bought a 2-bedroom place with my wife a few years ago after living in Sunnyside, as I said, since 2004. I’m not a “trust-fund kid”… I’m a hard-working musician who has tirelessly earned my own living and am thankful to be successful enough to be able to buy a home in a superb neighborhood… which is THANKFULLY not anything like Park Slope or Fort Greene or other similar spots.
[By the way… I think this thread is perfect for discussing these important issues… yes, it was about pizza… but the restaurants and businesses in our community define our environment just as our proximity to Manhattan and the beauty and tranquility of the Sunnyside Gardens]
As I mentioned above…. I am so happy that we live in a diverse neighborhood. I am thrilled to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder on the 7 train with hard-working people from Bangladesh, Guatemala, Ireland, China, Puerto Rico and any and every nationality we find in our glorious borough.
Although more young people are moving to our area because of being priced-out of other places, I do not believe Sunnyside will become the gentrified horrorshow that Williamsburg and other neighborhoods have become. When I mention Sunnsyide to the non-Queens folks I interact with… they usually scoff. I’m happy for that… they have no clue… and the incorrect stigma that is Queens will forever live in their myopic minds.
@doc… I’m sorry if you perceived my comments as being pretentious. I hold my pleasures and joys in life quite dearly…. and good food and good alcohol are right up there with good music and other “good” stuff in life. And I am excited to see new places spring-up in our superhood.
I try every new restaurant that appears and patronize as many existing places (that I like) as I can.
We all live in a great neighborhood… and should all be grateful. The more successful businesses are in our neighborhood, the more attractive it will become to new, diverse lovers of awesome things and places.
The “hipsters” are the people who rudely hug the tables at Cafe Marlene.
@QBM I’m sorry you found my comments hostile. They were in response to yours, which were wounding to me. There are always at least two sides to every issue and as exciting as it may seem for young people to discover a new place and put their mark upon it, it is exasperating for older people who have been there and done that.
In one’s early 50s one needs the stability to continue working and building resources, and a platform from which to share hard-won competency. It is not encouraging to suddenly be surrounded by scads of people half your age who can’t see the work you’ve done, only the flaws in it and want to rip it apart and start from scratch.
We who love Sunnyside because it is our home welcome newcomers, but please, take a little advice from history, “When in Rome, do as the Roman’s do.” It makes for better social relations.
The subject was pizza!
The pizza guys would love it if all these hipsters bought a slice.
@ E.A. Bartholomew
“…all the rich hipsters who work in liquor stores and don’t actually need to get into the city are just going to live closer to it because it’s cool.”
Seriously, how many people do you think this description applies to? You weaken whatever argument you’re trying to make with tone-deaf and seemingly random generalizations like this.
Yeah, I think it’s possible that the neighborhood, as many other neighborhoods around NYC, is going to become more gentrified, hip, and expensive. It makes me kind of nervous because I’m not a trust-fund baby and don’t have a lot of money to pay exorbitant rent. I guess commutes for us on the poorer end with real jobs in the city are just going to get longer, and all the rich hipsters who work in liquor stores and don’t actually need to get into the city are just going to live closer to it because it’s cool.
The only hostility here is coming from Just Looking. If Sunnyside is hip, then Queens Blvd is a safe street to cross. Sorry to burst your bubble but I’m not a hipster, however I do not shun so called “hipster culture”. If I wanted to feel edgy, I’d live in Bushwick or Morrisania…definitely not Sunnyside. I’m happy people a community here, but I’m so sick of the commenters on this board. If you dont think that Sunnyside is headed towards a similar Williamsburg/LIC fate, then you completely lack foresight and it might be time you not claim home to an extremely volatile environment that is NYC. All I was saying was that I agreed with someone’s accurate assessment of the current state of Sunnyside.
@EA Bartholomew We who have lived here all our lives have done so because it is nice, cheap and a quick ride into jobs in Manhattan. In our twenties and thirties we were the oft-maligned “Bridge and Tunnel” people, definitely not hip. But with the growth of the top 1%, concentrated in the NY area, cool people have had to expand their territory. They’ve become B&T folks themselves. Sunnyside will stay close to Manhattan, but it won’t stay cheap. And the huge increase in traffic diminishes its niceness, too. Sigh. All things change.
Well said, Matt!
The point that this pizza place won’t get a lot of foot-traffic is a good one. This street isn’t too busy. Since $1 pizza is something consumed primarily by whatever drunks happen to stumble by, I guess the proximity to Murphy’s makes sense. But are they going to get enough business to sustain themselves? We shall see.
Good pizza is worth fighting for. $1 pizza? Eh, you can have it.
Irish isn’t a race. I’m of Irish descent, and I think there’s a few too many Irish pubs and such around the neighborhood. But I’m not complaining because the neighborhood still manages to be very diverse despite it. It’s just not something I personally dig.
Parts of Sunnyside seem hipper than others. The scene at Salt and Fat on a busy night is pretty hipsterish, and when I went to a wine tasting at Claret, I saw plenty people my age (mid 20s) wearing plaid and huge glasses. But when I tell people from out of town about my neighborhood, I usually boast that it’s a convenient, quiet, safe place to live, and there’s a great selection of food and other conveniences.
I didn’t move to Sunnyside to see people dress the same as me, I moved here because my apartment is pretty nice and relatively cheap, and taking the subway to work is pretty simple. The nice neighborhood and local culture are perks.
How did you all manage to start a fight over pizza!? It’s pizza people! PIZZA!
@Queens…B…M Sunnyside is already hip, in case you haven’t been awake for a few years. And your hostility to those who resent their hometown being taken over by hipsters, perhaps like yourself, betrays your shallow understanding of human nature. They are the very people who worked and built community here when it was not hip, maintaining a place you could move to and feel edgy about. If you had the least bit of self-knowledge and humility, you would thank those people and be grateful for their years of fidelity. If you develop any maturity, you will regret your callow advice to those who have come before you. Not everyone has the wherewithal to leave, even when they want to.
eVarese is SPOT ON with their assessment of Sunnyside. To all of you who yearn for some yesteryear version of Sunnyside, move to Nassau or Suffolk county where not much changes and not much goes on. Sunnyside will inevitably go through a RADICAL change in the next 5 years. Young people will flock here and building codes and zones will be altered constantly and soon Sunnyside will be considered “hip”. I can already see all the ground level apartments on Skillman between 40th and 46th streets opposite the parks and playgrounds being converted into shops, restaurants, and bars.
Wow, $1 slice pizza right across from me? There goes my New Year’s resolution before I’ve even made it!
@ eVarese
Please don’t bring any more of your type to Sunnyside.
eVarese
Pretentious much?
Is there a bakery across the street from where this new bakery is going to be
Plus where the new pizzaeria is gong to be is hard to find.. alittle off skillman ave… But marlene cafe keeps doing here prmo peole will find the new pizzeria by accident
We need a map for all these new business in our town..It is great to have all these new business in our town expecially on or near skillman ave…
Sunnysde post is the spot for the new pizzeria the place for new business to open a business in a cubicle next to florenca hair salon which is alslo one of your advertisers on this site…
great reporting as usual…
be more fitting if they just made it 99 cent pizza.
Hey ,where is the moderator,I thought race debates were not aloud on this site…or are only minorities covered.the Irish were in sunnyside before a lot of you!
A bakery right near the Marjolaine? Are they serious?
$1 slice does not equal “good pizza.” I have to agree with eVarese that a different sort of pizzeria would be nice here. Sunnyside Pizza is by far the best traditional slice, but we could use a neapolitan place (a la Paulie Gee’s, Motorino etc).
I have to disagree on The Duck and Dog, though. I live a block from it and I think it’s a wonderful addition to the neighborhood. The food isn’t quite typical Irish pub, and the stuff that is typical is very good. And it’s frequently packed (which has been my only complaint, too loud in there when it’s busy!). But to agree again, we certainly could use more restaurants akin to Salt & Fat, Claret and Quaint.
@Dorothy Morehead:
I fully appreciate your hopes that the new restaurant in your building would benefit the community. Personally however, (and multiple friends corroborate my feelings) The Dog and Duck is, in my opinion, not what the neighborhood needs.
I do hope they are successful (I’d love nothing more than to go back! as you can imagine I was not impressed the first time). Perhaps they will find a niche in the already over-stuffed Irish-fare…. (perhaps they’ll offer LIVE Irish music on the weekends!) <– not serious.
What the neighborhood needs, in my opinion, are more restaurants that move the local cuisine forward (Salt and Fat)… or offer something ethnic that is extremely and consistently awesome (Tito Rad's or Sripraphai).
New places like The Dog and The Duck, that perhaps offer quality meals (I do think they are over-priced for what is there) and the standard (yawn) beer selection, don't bring our community something we need — in my opinion.
I well-remember my near elation when I saw the then unopened Claret moving a COUCH and COZY CHAIRS into their construction zone one afternoon (rather than flat screen TVs!).
Does one wonder why Claret is now packed every night of the week? They offer those 3 tried-and-true ingredients for success mentioned above (and certainly the other 3, location-location-location). I never get tired of going into Claret to relax with friends over amazing wine/beer, tapas and atmosphere — or when it's nice outside, sitting on their patio and marveling at our beautiful neighborhood!
Unfortunately for these new pizzerias, they are destined for the dustbin of "Victorias II" and other sad ventures if their $1 slices are indeed what we all expect they will be — cardboard with sauce and "cheese", as PAL says above, they are "dead on arrival".
The demographic of Sunnyside is changing… it's impossible to not notice this (and impossible to stop!). I moved here in 2004 when there was almost nothing beyond Bliss Cafe and (gasp) Aubergine. Proprietors in our neighborhood must understand this new market to succeed… or not… and fail.
All of my local friends have chosen Sunnyside over living where other colleagues thrive (Park Slope, Fort Greene, etc.) precisely because of the unique offerings of Queens (yes, including Irish bars!!!). However, there is no stopping the tide of young professionals and artists. I talk Sunnyside up to every single person I meet around NYC.
"Sunnyside?" they say…. "YES!" I say. It's an acid-test I have for people's cultural-intelligence.
Dorothy, I hope that you and other local community-leaders will embrace this change and encourage more unique, quality ventures in our amazing neighborhood!
Maybe I'll start a local craft-brewery! <– not serious. (sort of)
The $1 pizza business plan can only work in a high traffic location. The only redeeming quality about that kind of pizza is its freshness. This place is dead on arrival; it’s gonna be cheap, awful slices that have been sitting around all day.
Yes, we do need a good pizza restaurant on Upper Skillman
(That is in the 50’s so it is considered UPPER Skillman ….
Hope the one at the old Rosarios is a GOOD one .. Very convenient ..
A new bakery is right on too ……………
A quick note about The Dog and Duck. It is not just another Irish pub. It is owned and operated by a real chef, with real food–good food. While as of last week I no longer own the building, I live and work in the neighborhood and own the building next door. It was very important to me that the new business in 45-20 Skillman be one that would benefit the community. Thankfully, they are doing very well. Please don’t dismiss them out of hand.
Sunnyside Pizzeria is the absolute best in the entire neighborhood!
Its location is 40th St & Queens Blvd, not 41st.
And glad you called it a pizzeria this time and not a pizza store!
I assumed “Upper Skillman” referred to the higher street numbers or farther up the hill (both eastward).
Upper Skillman ?
I live a few doors down on 49th St., and I’m not really looking forward to $1 pizza, unless it turns out to be miraculously good. $1 pizza is a certain kind of business strategy that tends to produce poor pizza. Maybe if I’m feeling lazy and cheap (not unheard of, with me) I would head there for a quick, crappy lunch. But I predict I’ll end up sticking with Sunnyside Pizza for a decent pie.
I’ve always been a fan of Lentinis myself. I look forward to see how the new place stacks up against the local competition.
Eat pizza! It’s good for you! Especially when you have the munchies!
Will any of these establishments offer wood-fired pizza with fresh ingredients and outstanding dough? The only such spot around is Sapori d’Ischia on 37th ave and 54th st….. hardly a convenient location… and they don’t deliver. Although, it is worth driving over there (or on the way home from the BQE).
What we definitely don’t need is another boring, Queens-standard pizza joint. Sunnyside Pizza on Queens and 41st is above and beyond any spots I’ve found in the area, but… it would be nice to have another good place to choose from… and somewhere closer to our apt @ 52nd st. (I do feel bad for the Sunnyside Pizza delivery guys schlepping all the way to us!)
When Bliss Cafe closed on 46th and Skillman I called Sapori and told the owner they should buy it! But, alas, ANOTHER! Irish Pub beat them to it (how many Irish Pub’s does an area need for godsake?!?! — and I’m “Irish!”).
When will restaurateurs grasp the concept of “good food, good prices, good environment” (read: Quaint, Salt and Fat, Sripraphai).
I hope these new places offer something well-above the status quo and are not just another Lentini’s or Donato’s or (ack!) Pizza Boy II!!!!
I fear… if they don’t… the owners are just wasting their money.
It’s a pizza eat pizza business!