Local Legend: Joe DiStefano's Foodie Haven Is Forest Hills

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — Joe DiStefano, the Queens-centric food writer who once ate live octopus with Anthony Bourdain, would like you to know that the food in Forest Hills is anything but boring. His proof? Juicy Georgian dumplings, molten cheese pies and an Uzbeki meat skewer handed down from the balcony above his Forest Hills home.

DiStefano, whom Edible once described as "the most gung-ho, ride-or-die Queens food fanatic there is," has been exploring the borough's vibrant culinary scene for more than a decade, detailing his adventures on the blog CHOPSTICKS & MARROW.

Queens' favorite foodie may be best known for championing the culinary havens of downtown Flushing — like the beloved Golden Shopping Mall — but it's the Forest Hills-Rego Park area that he calls home.

The so-called "Guy Who Ate Queens" shares his favorite Forest Hills eateries as part of Patch's Local Legends series, where people who make New York City great discuss the neighborhoods they call home.

(Does your neighborhood have a Local Legend we should feature? We're taking nominations here.)

Last week we spoke with New York Attorney General Tish James about her Clinton Hill blackout adventures and next week we'll talk Washington Square Park concertos with Colin Huggins, the "Crazy Piano Guy."

Here's what DiStefano had to say about the neighborhood he calls home.

Describe Forest Hills in three words.

Historic, cozy, delicious.

What do people get wrong or misunderstand about Forest Hills?

That the only thing going on is Queens Center Mall, which is actually in Elmhurst, and that the food here is boring.

What food can you only find in Forest Hills, or what food does Forest Hills do best?

Forest Hills is unique in that it's home to the only Burmese eatery in Queens: Asian Bowl, where you can find everything from lahtphat thoke, or tea leaf salad, and crunchy fried beef with chilies to the national dish, mohinga, a savory fish soup. As for Rego Park, it's home to Marani, the only kosher restaurant in New York City, housing a dairy kitchen and a meat kitchen both cooking up Georgian food. Khinkali, giant juicy dumplings packed with beef and lamb, are the specialty upstairs and the decadent molten cheese pies known as khachapuri are the downstairs delicacy.

Describe your perfect day in the neighborhood.

My perfect day in the neighborhood starts with an espresso from Roast N Co and then a walk over to Rokhat Kosher Bakery for a freshly made samsa, or Uzbek lamb pie, plucked from a blazing hot tandoor. From there I like to take a walk over to Forest Hills Gardens and get lost amidst the picturesque tudors. I like to cap it off with a visit to Eddie’s Sweet Shop. The ice cream sundaes with hot fudge are great, but my weakness is the orange freeze, a blend of vanilla ice cream and orange sherbet.

What's your best, quintessential neighborhood story?

I once asked my landlady what the wonderful aroma coming from her kitchen was. In short order I was seated at her kitchen table tucking into a plate of bakhsh, or green plov. It’s a beef and rice dish, whose grains are stained green from a mix of cilantro, scallions and green tea. I live right on the border of Forest Hills and Rego Park amidst many Uzbeki immigrants who like to grill shashlik — skewers of beef, chicken, and especially lamb — over charcoal. One day my neighbors were have a shashlik-fest on their balcony and my friend called out to them that it smelled really good. Sure enough, they handed us down a skewer.

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