E & I Deli, Vernon Blvd @ 50th Ave, Hunters Point

If you’ve been reading this blog for five minutes, you know that there’s a grocery store issue… as in we don’t have one. And I’m tired of hearing that C-town counts as a grocery store. Fine, technically C-town is in Hunters Point, but if you live in Queenswest or Vernon/Jackson, two of the other sub-neighborhoods of HP (which is a sub-nabe in and of itself), that C-town is as far away, if not further than The Garden in Greenpoint. Or really, let’s just leave it at that it’s far away. And my question is: is it a good grocery store? It’s too far for me - I just go to The Garden, lug my groceries from the city, or I go to the E&I Deli, aka the Korean deli on Vernon.

Surprisingly, E&I has a really savvy buyer. The deli is definitely stocked with some ‘yuppie’ vittles. You know, overpriced and organic. It also has a great selection of Asian foods as well… which is very much in line with the theme of our burgeoning restaurant scene.

Thank you E&I deli. If it weren’t for you, we’d have to walk the 5000 miles to C-town (aka 15 minutes).

C-town grocery store on 21st St, Hunters Point, LIC

We at liQcity have enjoyed lamenting about the lack of grocery store in Hunters Point. As it turns out, we were wrong - as has been frequently pointed out by a regular commenter. (You know who you are.) We were in denial! Or we just actually never visited the C-town at the corner of 44th Drive and 21st St, in Courthouse Sq, which as we all know, is a part of Hunters Point.

All that’s changed now. We went there. It’s a bona-fide grocery store folks. It’s small, but they have all the basics. The produce section is decent. There are both yuppy and hipster vittles, though somewhat limited. Mostly mainstream, commercial products. But it was decently clean, and much more gently priced than the E & I Deli on Vernon Blvd.

It’s located right next to a subway entrance for the E,V,G trains, which is convenient, but it sort of serves a limited geography. It’s still not very accessible for Vernon-Jackson residents, and Queenswesters might as well go to Astoria or Greenpoint for fancier stores that are just as far. Courthouse Square residents who are off Jackson Ave also are probably more easily served by Greenpoint. Oh yeah, and the hours are relatively limited. Didn’t see any officially posted, but they don’t seem to be open past 8pm or so.

Overall, C-town in Hunters Point gets a B/B-. The hours could be longer, some of the buying could be improved, but the prices are reasonable, and it’s relatively clean and maintained. So, we’ll be busy modifying our battle-cry for a grocery store in Vernon-Jackson and Queenswest. Long Island City and it’s subneighborhoods! Sheesh.

For more of a peek inside C-town »