Locale

Locale's style reflects the neighborhood's modern yet multi-cultural chic aspect, which has become a signature of present day Astoria. Locale's diverse menu can accommodate almost any taste, whether it's and early afternoon brunch or an intimate dinner.

I'd been to Locale before I even moved to the city, but this weekend was my first time back. The small restaurant is a few blocks off the subway line, tucked away in a residential part of Astoria. It has a great atmosphere that's a combination of restaurant and lounge, with a couches on an elevated area in the corner and floor-to-ceiling windows around the dining room. The restaurant was crowded, though I'd say it is a little pricey for the neighborhood, but the cuisine is definitely above average.

We ordered the fried zucchini as an appetizer. It wasn't even on the menu, but our server suggested it, and we were pleased with the choice. The strips were lightly breaded and crispy, and not too greasy. There was a saucer of marinara sauce for dipping, but it was too chunky and the zucchini strips too thin to make it easy to dip into and get good 'coverage'. >We also tried the crab cake, which was served with a dill sauce that I found to be a little overpowering, V liked it though. It wasn't that 'lumpy' but didn't seem to be loaded with much bread either.

I ordered the seafood pasta which was served with a whole assortment of seafood: scallops, shrimp, clams, mussels, calamari and crab. There was a good amount of everything but some of it, like the scallops, was grainy. The pasta itself wasn't anything special, and the sauce wasn't quite what I expected, as it was rather thin. I had ordered the dish with a white sauce which was flavorful but thin, and didn't really stick to anything.

Other times we've eaten at Locale the food was very good, and we tried tonight to keep the price down. I can imagine that at a restaurant like this you really get what you pay for, and there are some chef's specialties like the Mozzarella Olivata which is homemade cheese served hot with olives and tomatoes. It is distinctive and delicious. The restaurant has a great atmosphere, good crowd, good service and a unique take on the cuisine, I'll try it again sometime when my pocketbook can better take the hit.

El Boqueron

El Boqueron serves authentic and traditional tapas, that is, small entree dinner portions from various regions of Spain. We dish up exquisite dishes that leave your mouth savoring for more.

El Boqueron is right on the corner near V's apartment and though she's lived there for nearly two years, we've never been. Finally it seemed like a good time to try it out. The restaurant seems a little too fancy for its location next to the elevated subway tracks in Astoria, the prices of some entrees seem a little high, but we enjoyed the food and the friendly service.

Continuing our trend, and because of the fact that this was a tapas restaurant, we ordered a few little dishes, starting with a spinach salad. It was served with warm crunchy bacon bits and a very nice dressing, which made for a good start to our meal. Next we had a few slices of Manchego cheese, a white Spanish cheese, that is to me, kind of like a mix between cheddar and Parmesan.

From the hot tapas choices, we tried the stuffed mushrooms, which weren't quite as good as we'd hoped. I think because they were rather small mushrooms, and the stuffing, vegetables and bacon, wasn't very bacony. Overall they tasted fine but weren't amazing.

We also tried (for the second time this week) chicken croquettes. About the size of two 'tots,' they were crispy with an almost creamy filling of ground chicken. There was some kind of white cream sauce on the side which was great to spread on the hot 'tot' to cool it down a bit. (I had originally posted this as a description from another restaurant, but that was a mix up and has been corrected for the record).

Our last 'tapa' was my favorite, and probably the simplest too. Chorizo sausage cooked with Rioja wine, was served sizzling in a crock. Hot and perfectly seasoned, not too tough and not too dry, the sausage was very good. It was a nice way to end the meal too. We decided against dessert and that made for a reasonable bill and a satisfying meal.