{"id":7017,"date":"2009-09-14T10:35:43","date_gmt":"2009-09-14T14:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/?p=7017"},"modified":"2025-09-01T21:13:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T01:13:45","slug":"julie-powell-long-island-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/7017\/julie-powell-long-island-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Chef de Queens: Exploring Julie Powell’s Long Island City"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAfter spending a long, long time working as a temp, Julie Powell now writes in her pajamas in Long Island City, Queens, where she shares a \u2018loft\u2019 apartment with her husband, Eric.\u201d \u2013 Julie & Julia<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Because of Meryl Streep\u2019s 70 million dollar-making movie, more people have become aware of this now nourriture<\/em>-affiliated neighborhood of Queens than ever before. So in homage to the intrepid, knife-to-word wielding Julie Powell\u2014her idol has had plenty of posthumous attention this summer between her book becoming a bestseller again<\/a>,\u00a0guides to Julia\u2019s Paris, and the National Museum of American History’s Julia\u2019s Kitchen<\/a> exhibit\u2014we hopped a Water Taxi to the writer’s hometown of Long Island City to see some art, sample a trademark Powell drink, and of course, eat.<\/p>\n

Mastering the Art of French Eating in Long Island City<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While Julie Powell tried her hand at recreating Boeuf Bourguignon and Foies de Volaille en Aspic (chicken livers with cold jelly), we chose to have our French food served at the restaurant table.<\/p>\n

Tournesol French Bistro | 50-12 Vernon Blvd. | tournesolnyc.com<\/a><\/strong> Rather than aspic of any kind, we opted for the classic Croque Monsieur with a salad and a $1 additional egg, perfectly poached for a total of $9.50. (Note to cheese lovers: the melted brie arugula with watermelon ($11) is another popular dish.) The mousse au chocolat ($6) for dessert was easy on the mouth. \"Crepes

Picnic On the Waterfront<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The perfect place to stroll on a bright, calm afternoon or to catch the sunset over the city, LIC’s Gantry Plaza State Park has some of the best outerborough views of Manhattan. Food Celler & Co. Market | 4-85 47th Road | foodcellarandco.com<\/strong> Put down the MtAoFC and pick-up a grocery basket at Food Cellar & Co. Market. Set up in a similar style to the Whole Foods Market Bowery, Food Cellar & Co. has a wide array of tasty cheeses, a \u2018health food\u2019 section, a friendly team of employees (check out the website), and all kinds of butter for undertakings of Julia\u2019s French cooking when you\u2019re back in the kitchen. Pick up ready-made snacks to enjoy as you watch the ships cross the river, their bows pink from the sky. Communitea | 47-02 Vernon Blvd. | teamap.com<\/a><\/strong> To either take away or to stay, Communitea is another can\u2019t-miss Long Island City eatery. We went in for some green tea (while pricy at $3.00 for a really small \u2018regular\u2019 it was steeped to near flawlessness) and came out with homemade pound cake, the cilantro-portobello panini on ciabatta, and a menu to come back for more. Apparently, Communitea is Long Island City\u2019s first teahouse; its savory sandwiches, tofu hot dogs (Julia Child might roll over in her grave at the thought of those) loose-leaf teas, and free Wi-Fi seem to have caught on\u2014at 5:00pm on a Friday afternoon, we counted 13 people in the teahouse, six of them on their MacBook\u2019s.<\/p>\n

In Between Eating, Ingest Some Art<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Long Island City might not stand up to Manhattan’s cultural scene, but it does have some exquisite pockets of art. (Socrates Sculpture Garden<\/a> farther north of where you’ll be most of the day is a unique spot with a crazy creative energy; its rotating exhibits are a must-see on another visit to LIC.) P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center | <\/strong>22-25 Jackson Ave. | ps1.org<\/strong> This Queens branch of the MoMa sits at the corner of Jackson Ave. and 46th Ave., just a few blocks from the New York Water Taxi drop-off and is steps away from the 7 train, one stop from Grand Central Station. One of the oldest and largest non-profit contemporary art institutions in the United States, the exhibition space (old classrooms, hallways lined with lockers, and somewhat menacing stairwells) claims to display “the most experimental art in the world.” After entering through a courtyard of what appears to be furry, thatched tarp structures shielding you from the elements, take a look at artist Leonardo Erlich’s Swimming Pool, then visit Jonathan Horowitz’s And\/Or, and finally wander into a dark, red-glowing room of intense videos with Kenneth Anger’s “radical critique of Hollywood\u00a0in the midst of violence and eroticism.”<\/p>\n

A Toast to Julia\u2019s Legacy; Drink Julie\u2019s Favorite Cocktail<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Julia