Even though I’ve lived in Queens for 2+ years, I have never ventured out to Long Island City for any food excursions. This time, I finally got to go to LIC Flea, an outdoor market with food vendors and people selling clothing, jewelry and antiques. It is located in an empty lot at the corner of Fifth Street and 46th Avenue. Starting on Nov. 1, the LIC Flea & Food Holiday Market will move inside the warehouse and will run every weekend through December 21 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
This Saturday & Sunday was LIC Flea’s last weekend outdoors, so Yelp invited its elite members to this special event called Beers & Bites, offering free bite-sized samples of food and full-sized beers to elites and their 2 guests.
We checked in at the Yelp table to get a name tag; otherwise, you can pay full price for everything here.
It was a perfect day in October, surprisingly sunny and warm. Puppies were out to play.
I started off with a sample of oconomiyaki, which is a savory Japanese pancake with vegetables and whatever ingredients you want.
Hakata Tonton was a vendor, which was very exciting as they were giving out samples of ramen!
A small shot glass of ramen with fatty pork and broth, mmm. Of course, it wasn’t enough for some people.
My friend ended up buying a full-sized bowl of ramen, $8.
I also decided to purchase the oconomiyaki + yakisoba combo for $9. This was eggs benedict with pork. How could I not?
Beef wrapped in scallion pancake.
This was an amazing and simple item that was the highlight of a lot of people’s day. From the Bao Shoppe, smoked pork bell, daikon, and fluffy bao. So fatty and juicy.
Puppy spotted with a Yelp bandana.
Southern Wheel Eats featured really great fried chicken samples.
Other vendors:
I tried some of my friend’s taro drink (not pictured here) from Tea n’ Milk — made from real taro! Tasted natural and really good.
After this, we decided to get dessert from Cafe Henri.
Cute french cafe with a few outdoor seating. Three of us ordered 3 different crepes and shared.
Crêpe à l’orange, $7: fresh oranges with homemade caramel sauce.
Crème de marrons, $7: chestnut cream, crème fraîche (definitely helped balance out the sweet chestnut)
Sucre et glace, $8: butter and sugar with ice cream.
…and a reminder that it’s almost Halloween.
life on macro. 