How Depressing!

Great Depressions can be so depressing. I don’t know how many people saw Paul Krugman’s NY Times blog the other day, but basically he wrote that he believes we are just at the beginning of the nation’s third economic Depression.

I happen to read his column as often as I can and from what I can tell he has been a sober analyst of the economic crisis over the past few years. So, this column of his was rather unsettling to say the least. But he has been warning for quite a while now that a Depression was a distinct possibility if the right public policies were not put in place real fast to prevent it from happening.

I was just sitting here thinking about all the empty storefronts lining the Austin St. area these days, some of which have been sitting empty for a very long time. Will they remain empty for many more months or possibly even years to come? I plan on running a reconnaissance mission soon about this – which in un-geek speak means taking a walk down Austin from one end to the other and counting how many empty storefronts there are. Just because walking is good for me, and because I think it might be interesting to know and post here on this blog.

I know this post is pretty depressing. But it goes to the core of what this blog is about, basically our quality of life here. This blog is all for seeing us continue to move forward as a vibrant part of New York City with new development of all kinds — great restaurants, stores, new residential construction — continuing at a fast pace.  Let’s hope Krugman is wrong. But if he is right, then let’s hope we see some innovative plans soon to get this economy moving again.

NY Falafel Bar Experience – Part 1

There’s been some discussion in the past couple of weeks about the new NY Falafel Bar restaurant that opened at 72-32 Austin St. There was one complaint on another blog about the customer service, but fairly positive reviews about the food. I finally had a chance to pay the place a visit last night so I can now throw my two cents into the mix.

I found the service fine, no complaints there. The gentleman who took my order and worked the register was very pleasant, smiling much of the time, relaxed. He had two guys helping him. They were both very eager to get my order right. Now, while I was there, around 7:30 p.m., there was a small crowd of people waiting so they had to work fast. They got a few little things mixed up, but overall I didn’t have to wait too long to get my food and I got what I ordered in under 10 minutes.

I ordered a falafel in a pita for $5.50 and it was an interesting culinary experience. Overall, I liked it very much.

I have to be honest, my first impression of the falafel when I bit into it was “This tastes weird.” The first thing I noticed was the lack of the garlicky, spicy kick you usually get from a falafel ball. instead, it tasted almost like a veggie burger, blander with even a somewhat bitter taste. So I was at first thinking, “I don’t think I like this very much!”

But that was just the falafel balls themselves. As I made my way down further into the sandwich I reached all the vegetables, humus and tehina and my taste buds exploded with delight. The full mix of all the falafel sandwich ingredients together makes for a satisfying sandwich indeed. The bitter flavor of the falafel are offset by the sweetness of the rest of the fillings and it all comes together great.

It’s definitely a unique tasting falafel they have at NY Falafel Bar. But I think that makes for an excellent culinary addition to Forest Hills. After all, you can get falafel everywhere these days. This place makes it in a special way that is also quite filling to boot.

I called this Part 1 because I will be going back in the next couple of weeks to try other food from NY Falafel. You can find out more about this new restaurant here: www.nyfalafelbar.com