Queens 50

New York Magazine has published the Queens 50 - "A pre-gentrification to-do list." Though my take on "pre-gentrification" can be summed up as "huh? That sounds like a silly Manhattanite comment," I do love the Astoria-heavy list. I just might have titled it "50 Great Places to Explore in Astoria and the rest of Queens." Some of my faves:

• #3 "Pretend you’re in a Norman Rockwell painting" on Grand Avenue in Maspeth. Totally true, "Maspeth is America" but they forgot to mention that Maspeth's America is half Polish.
• #14 "Slurp the best ices in the city." Yes, you got to love the Lemon Ice King of Corona.
• #19 "Get into grappa" at Piccola Venezia (42-01 28th Ave, Astoria) and that's now tops on my weekend list.