The Bottom Line
- Great prices
- Style and charm that stands out
- Delicious, honest food, Mexican and fusion
- Congestion and lack of parking on Roosevelt
- Under elevated #7 subway
- Cash only
Description
- Address - La Flor Bakery and Cafe, 53-02 Roosevelt Ave, Woodside, NY (at 53rd St)
- Hours - Daily, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Breakfast served until 2 p.m.
- Phone - 718-426-8023
- Subway - #7 to 52nd St. Or express #7 to 61st St and walk west on Roosevelt Ave.
- Menu - huevos rancheros, French toast, eggs, tacos, pizza, steak, seafood, salads, tarts, pastries
- Prices - Breakfast, $5-$8; Appetizers, $5-$9; main courses, $7-$19; Cash only
- Alcohol - La Flor serves wine, but no other alcohol.
Guide Review - La Flor Bakery and Cafe in Woodside - Restaurant Review
La Flor is where I take house guests who don't believe in the power of Queens. A few sunny hours spent at a round marble table, snacking on delectable shrimp quesadillas ($8) — two thick, homemade, white corn tortillas stuffed with grilled shrimp, white crumbly cheese, and roasted red peppers — and molten huevos rancheros ($5.25) with red pepper and tomatillo salsa, and they all come out Queens converts.
This Mexican-fusion dream is the brainchild of Viko Ortega, a Manhattan pastry chef by day who opened his own restaurant in his own borough. Ortega's genius comes out in his desserts, notably the generously creamy flan and the caramel-encrusted bread pudding.
For dinner La Flor serves what I think of as "real food" — of the grilled snapper with julienned vegetables variety — alongside traditional Mexican specialties such as a pair of perfectly cocoa-infused mole enchiladas ($13). On Saturday evenings you might even catch a glimpse of Viko himself, dressed in a chef's toque, touring the handful of tables in a pleasingly proprietary fashion. I took one of my closest friends to La Flor in an attempt to convince her to move to New York. Reader, she did.
Most shockingly, La Flor has what most Queens locales don't even dream of obtaining: charm. Bundles of it. Wide, sun-filled windows and round cappuccino cups of it. What a find.
