Eating Astoria: Arepas Cafe & Sweet Afton again

Since moving (back) to New York, I've been introduced to the delicious wonder that is the arepa. This South American specialty is a thick patty made from cornmeal or flour and can be stuffed with meats, beans, cheeses, and veggies. So you can imagine my excitement when I was told there was a tasty arepas place close to where I live. Arepas Cafe on 36th Ave. serves a damn good Venezuelan arepa.

This arepa had shredded beef, black beans, fried sweet plantains, and white cheese. I don't remember what was in the red and green sauces that they had on the table but I couldn't stop putting them all over everything.

Black beans and rice. I can never figure out how to make my rice and beans taste this good at home.

Also because I forgot to include these in my post about Sweet Afton a few days ago, here are two more photos from there. 

Portobella burger and fried pickles. The burger was good, the breading on the pickles was weird and puffy but I can't say no to fried anything usually.

Sorry about the quality of these photos, they were taken with my phone. I'm going to start bringing my actual camera around with me again, hopefully.

Houston

I was in Houston over the Thanksgiving holiday this past year, and my boyfriend drove down from Austin on Black Friday to meet me and hang out in the city. He used to live in Houston so he wanted to take me to all the places he used to like to eat.

Morning eats:

Egg and chorizo breakfast taco from Chilosos, jalapeno sausage and cheese kolaches from Christy's Donuts, the inside of Christy's Donuts, B at Inversion Coffee laughing at me.

Afternoon eats:

Spring rolls, Vietnamese coffee, bahn mi - all from Les Givrals, fancy cocktails from Anvil.

Evening eats:

B took me to Yum Yum Cha in Rice Village for dim sum but I was too enthusiastic about the veggie dumplings and sesame balls that I forgot to take pictures of everything.

And of course, no trip to Houston is complete without Tex Mex from a 24-hour restaurant following a night of drinking. So much cheese. So much.

Eating (and Drinking) Astoria

In an effort to catch up, I'm lumping together three places I've been to in Astoria in the past year or so. Good food, good drink, good timezzzz.

The Sparrow Tavern
A cute little pub across the street from the Bohemian Hall Beer Garden.

Steak sandwich and fries.

Pumpkin crème brûlée!

Obviously, we ate it all.

MexiBBQ

Despite the goofy name, my roommate and I decided to try out this place for brunch this past summer. Kind of hard to go wrong with unlimited mimosas in glasses the size of your head. Food wasn't bad either.

M-m-mimosas

Breakfast quesadilla. It was just okay.

Cap'n Crunch French toast.

Brunch is my favorite meal of the day.

Sweet Afton

Probably my favorite bar in Astoria so far, because it's super cute inside, is close to where I live, and has good food and beer.

A pint and fries

Mac and cheeeeeeeeeese

That's all I've got for now. Off to enjoy the rest of my day off!  (aka climb into bed for another four hours).

I'm back!

After a very long and extended hiatus, Jo-Anne Doing Things is back.

Since my last entry, there have been a few holidays, a couple trips back to Texas, a hurricane, a lot of eating, and a new year has come around. 2012 for me was about a lot of new beginnings: new job, new relationship, new apartment in a different borough. And I started this blog. While things didn't always go so smoothly, I think for the most part this past year was a very, very good one.

2013 will hopefully be a great year for doing things, I'm very excited about it.

There are a few Eating Astoria posts I never got around to from last year that I'll be putting up in the next couple days, and a few Texas ones as well. For now though, please enjoy this photo of Franklin Barbecue from Austin, Texas. Pork ribs that fell right off the bone, moist brisket, delicious sausage, and potato salad and coleslaw. Food on another level, you guys. On. Another. Level.