nostalgia, irish coffee and dutch kills

It’s pretty nostalgia-inducing to do a piece about Long Island City.

When I lived around the bend from PS1 in 2002 there was only one local grocery store, where a cute cat roamed the premises. Less cute was the fact that the owners stowed open boxes of eggplants and tomatoes on the floor, with a box of cat litter in between them. Also, I’m pretty sure the people who lived above my apartment wore rollerblades in their home all day long, such was the hue and cry they raised.

At any rate, it’s great to see a local– Richard Boccato, who hails from Queens– gently helping transform that neck of the woods with a small, hidden bar called Dutch Kills. It got a ton of hype when he, Karin Stanley and Sasha Petraske opened the venue two years ago, and it continues to deserve it now. I didn’t have a bad drink on my visits, and I really did love this simple Irish coffee. Jameson can have a slightly bitter aftertaste, so to soften it with sugar, cream and coffee makes everything copacetic, whether you’re at the bar or making one at home.

Check it out, if you please, and long live LIC. (Many thanks to Alex Lisowski for his expert shooting and editing, and to my pal Christy Harrison for keeping me company!)