Tonight was another venture out to the area around Vernon Blvd. There are so many restaurants here to try. This one here is an Italian restaurant near Gantry park. There are a lot of cars for some reason compared to other parts of Long Island City. The restaurant was able to accommodate us as a pair of walk-ins at around 6:30 PM on a Saturday evening easily. In our second visit, we were able to walk in at 6:30 PM on a Friday evening very easily.

Tony’s Di Napoli is a NYC Italian American restaurant that has been around for a number of decades. It’s probably comparable to Buca Di Beppo or Maggiano, but it is less of a domestic chain than a NYC chain. They serve family style portions, and they have both half and full sizes of many of their pastas. This particular location is located in Times Square, and normally I shy away from this.

Carne Mare is an Italian chophouse restaurant from Andrew Carmellini. He has opened a number of restaurants in NYC already as well as other places in the U.S. The thing that attracted mem to this restaurant was I was craving for prime rib, and then I noticed they had this gorgonzola cured strip-loin that people have been raving about. To add to this, they also offer baked alaska which is basically one of my favorite desserts of all time.

We were around the Bloomingdales area running some errands back and forth around the Midtown East area and decided to take the risk of looking for a restaurant without making reservations since we normally eat dinner fairly early. This Quality Italian seems to be from the same owners of Quality Meats and Quality Bistro which are on my list. Quality Italian is a modern take on the Italian American steakhouse tradition, and the prices are probably on the mid to high range.

We’ve visited most of the Long Island City restaurants around the Vernon Blvd area. We had stopped by Blend on the Water hopefully for a walk-in, but there was already a wait. We’ve walked by Manducatis Rustica several times, and we figured it was worth a shot to see if they can take us. When we arrived, there was hardly anyone there. They told us that they had garden seating, so we opted for that.

Astoria has a lot of nice gems for affordable prices. My partner wanted to do a nice walk and try out this restaurant per recommendation from their friend. At first glance at the menu, I was thinking this seems kind of ok. I had already done the artisan pizza several times, so my expectations were pretty low. I read many reviews, but I was skeptical because they were all pretty positive.

A new Trader Joes opened up in Long Island City, and I was hoping to make turkey tacos with guacamole. Unfortunately, the avocados were not ripe enough yet, so I mentioned to my partner we can eat out. The first thought that came to their mind was this place because it’s one of the few nearby restaurants we have not tried yet but have seen a lot of people standing outside.

This restaurant had been on my peripheral for a while because of the lasagna dish. I didn’t decide to try to book a reservation until I learned it was awarded its first ever Michelin Star. I had tried a few times on Resy, but always missed it. Fortunately, I was able to land a reservation on a weekend at 5 PM EST. The restaurant itself is in West Village and felt like a typical trendy cafe in the area.

Today was our second anniversary, and it’s somewhat difficult to find a decent restaurant that has an outdoor garden that is away from the crowd. After staying up till 4 AM looking for one, I finally found one that was decent. The garden seating area is actually in the back of the restaurant, so there’s very little foot traffic from random people. Luckily the weather wasn’t hot at all.

It’s been difficult to restart eating out again. Usually we just resort to delivery or takeout from various places nearby. However, it seems that many restaurants that are trying to outlast the pandemic by coming up with ideas to do the outdoor dining experience. Some restaurants don’t have a real patio, and you’re seated outside on the sidewalk within reach of people. And some restaurants like this one have a legit patio experience away from bystanders without worry.