Butcher Juice Bar and Hookah Cafe, 49-16 Vernon Blvd, Long Island City

We got wind of a hookah bar opening above the Butcher Deli at 49-16 Vernon Blvd (corner of 50th St next to the parking lot) a while back, and didn’t hear anything again until recently, when signs have emerged announcing the Butcher Juice Bar & Hookah Cafe.

Located upstairs from the deli »

LIC Corner Deli is no more. Vernon Blvd, Hunters Point, LIC

In case you were wondering what happened to the LIC Corner Deli »

Mario’s Deli, 4723 Vernon Blvd, 718.937.3193

Sometimes things and places are right under your nose, but you miss them entirely until one day you see a video about your neighborhood and shots of a deli with amazing looking home-cooked food right on Vernon that you noticed but wrote off as just another deli. Oops. Well luckily, the loss is only mine and it’s righted now. Mario’s Deli has been on Vernon Blvd forever, and clearly there are many in the know because every time I go in there, it’s hopping with hungry people.

Mario’s deli achieves pure excellence »

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).