When it comes to holiday dining, there are two very simple choices – eat in or go out. Each has their appeal for a number of reasons. To stay in, for the purposes of this article, means to cook. If it is you and your small family, picking a special dish and laying out the good china could be all the difference you need to make a holiday meal special. For a bigger crowd, it can become a real pain in the neck. For many, Thanksgiving is great to do at home, but you hope to be invited somewhere else for the other holidays. So why not invite yourself out to some of the best cuisine choices in the city, right here in Queens? After all, who said you have to have gefilte fish for Chanukah, a roast something-or-other for Christmas or even that sacred Thanksgiving turkey?

Spice It Up
World’s Fair Marina
1 World’s Fair Marina, Flushing, (718)
898-1200

From the Tandoori Shrimp to the Fish Tikka and the Shrimp Biryani, make it a spicy seafood holiday. Lamb do-piazza, not named after the Mets slugger who used to play just a stone’s throw away from Marina, is cooked with a homerun recipe of fresh tomatoes, onions and bell peppers. The lamb sag combines the lean and prepared cuts of lamb with spinach and mild spices, the Sag Paneer also offers fresh spinach, and combines it with homemade cottage cheese, with a mix of onions, tomatoes and ginger.

Stay Rustic
Villagio Brick Oven Pizza & Pasta Café
150-07 14th Rd., Whitestone, (718)
747-1111

Start with a simple test of Italian cuisine – Calamari Fritti or Insalata Caesar. The calamari comes in a huge platter of rings and other pieces, served with lemon wedges and a warm marinara sauce. The salad was well-coated with the dressing – not so much that it was swimming and not so little that it left you yearning for more. Move on to the Scaloppina di Vitello Saltimbocca if it’s on the specials menu or the Pollo Francese. Both are served with your choice of potatoes and fennel or pasta. The highlight of the night may come from the most meager of dishes – the side order of spaghetti. The fresh sauce, with chunks of garlic, olive and tomato was far from the standard red sauce served in an accompanying side dish. The sauce alone is worth going back for.

All In The Family
Applebee’s
61-48 188th St., Fresh Meadows,
(718) 264-1222

How did it happen that the home of entrees with names like Mi Queso, Su Queso and Chicken Fried Chicken has become, “America’s Favorite Neighbor?” Simple: it’s good. Applebee’s is a veritable “house of comfort food” that does not apologize for its desire to offer a reasonably priced, eclectic menu with no pretense. The appetizer menu consists of 13 items ranging from Buffalo wings (with or without bones) to vegetable pizza. The entrees range from an array of dinner- sized salads to steaks, ribs, chicken and seafood – it even boasts a Weight Watcher’s menu – all in the $8-15 range. All of their Queens locations are family friendly and have great service.

A Little Romance
La Baraka
255-09 Northern Blvd., Little Neck,
(718) 428-1461

Get ready to fall in love all over again at La Baraka in Lit tle Neck. From the moment Lucette greets you at the door to the smile on Jean Luc’s face as you leave satisfied, everything about this delightful address for French cuisine will thrill you. Jean Luc and Lucette set up a buffet with two main dishes and a side dish. You’re always likely to find poached salmon, duck confit, braised veal chops, roasted chicken or any number of mouth-watering delights. If you’re lucky, the side dish will be creamed spinach, done without being heavy handed with the cream but cooked well enough to be neither stringy nor tough – and with a pleasing garlic kick. If you’re in the mood for a delightful dinner, La Baraka oozes French ambience when the sun goes down. The beautiful wait staff, the seasoned regulars singing opera to one another and the romantic lighting set the stage for a memorable evening.

Fresh Fish, Anyone?
Waterfront Crabhouse
2-03 Borden Ave., Long Island City,
(718) 729-4862

“This ain’t your Red Lobster King Crab legs,” is how Matt, a bartender, described one of dishes. Glancing over the menu before dinner, it becomes obvious that his description could apply to everything on the menu and under the roof. Tucked away just off the Long Island City waterfront, behind the City Lights building, one of the most opulent high rises in Queens, Water front Crabhouse serves monstrous portions of fresh seafood, but maintains down-home ambiance with cracked peanut shells along the hardwood floor to combine top of the line food with the atmosphere of a favorite uncle’s house.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Omelletes on Hero
Pizzas
Sicillian Pizza Pies
Hot Hero Sandwiches
Cold Hero Sandwiches
Burgers
Calzones
Pasta
Greek Specialities
Desserts

172-14 46th Avenue
Flushing, NY 11358
Tel: 718-353-3637/353-3683

BREAKFAST

1 liter of soda free with 1 large cheese pizza
SAVE $2.00 WITH ANY PURCHASE
OF $10.00 OR MORE
VALID 6:00 AM TO 11:00 AM DAILY
Not to be combined with any other offers.

Offer expires 11/30/05
exp. 11/30/2005
E XTENSIVE M ENU I NCLUDING
Catering For All Occasion
Serving 1-100
Full And 1/2 Party Trays Are Available

FAMILY DINNER
Not to be combined with any other offers.

Offer expires 11/30/05
$25.00 + TAX
1 Large pie with 1-Regular Topping Pizza
8 Buffalo Wings
1 Large tossed salad
1-Souvlaki stick
1-Chicken kebab stick
2 Pitas
1 Liter coke

Dish Detectives Track Down China

Is the set of dishes you inherited from your grandmother missing a gravy boat? Or perhaps a plate from your wedding china was broken last Thanksgiving. Maybe you lost an entire place set ting during your last move.

Trying to track down those missing pieces can be aggravating and time consuming, especial ly if the china pat tern is no longer made. We all want to make our Thanksgiving tables as beautiful as can be, but too often we are stuck mixing Waterford with Mikasa, Wedgewood with Lenox, Kosta Boda with Orrefors.

Freya Shaffer knows that frustration all too well. She spent an amazing 41 years looking for dishes from her wedding set. “My kids love my dishes and I wanted to pass a complete set of eight place settings on to both of my daughters,” said Shaffer. Lit tle did she know how difficult tracking down the dishes would prove to be.

Shaffer, who lives in Johnstown, Penn., estimates that she has scoured antique stores and malls in 25 to 30 states looking for her dishes. “We’re retired, and our kids live al l around the country, so we travel a lot,” she said. But despite her best efforts, Shaffer never came across any of the dishes she was searching for.

On one of her scouting trips, an antique dealer suggested Shaffer contact Replacements, Ltd., a company that specializes in locating hard to find tableware. Shaffer was skeptical until she logged on to www.replacements.com and almost immediately found her pattern.

“We have over 10 million pieces in stock,” said Replacements, Ltd. spokesperson Liam Sullivan. “It is like Christmas every day around here because we are locating pieces of history for families they thought were lost forever.” The company uses a network of Dish Detectives to search missing pieces. “It’s like a giant scavenger hunt,” said Sullivan. “We take your request and put our team to work.”

Shaffer has just about completed one full set of dishes and is working on the second. She buys pieces as they become available and appreciates the e-mails she gets from Replacements whenever a new piece of her pattern is in stock.

Customers who are searching for a specific pattern can simply call (800) REPLACE (737-5223) or visit the company’s Web site, where they’ll find over 200,000 digital images that make it easy for people to identify their china.

“If they know the manufacturer and the name of the pat tern, that makes it really easy,” said Sullivan. However, the experts at Replacements can also research china using a photo or a photocopy of the front and back of a dinner plate. “We have the world’s largest inventory of china, crystal, and silver, so if uncle Fred dropped a fork down the garbage disposal or you dropped a piece of you wedding crystal we can help you out. We replace the irreplaceable.”

In addition to looking for pieces from her wedding set, Shaffer has also turned to Replacements for help collecting pieces from her mother’s china pat tern as well as completing sets of Seneca glasses to pass on to her sons. She and her husband purchased the glasses originally in West Virginia in the 1960s. Before discovering Replacements, they even took a trip back to West Virginia to see if they could purchase glasses from the original manufacturer, who was no longer in business.

Shaffer also helped a friend find a piece she was looking for through Replacements. Although she enjoys the thrill of the hunt, and still visits antique stores on her travels, Shaffer is glad to know that she can rely on Replacements to help find the pieces she needs.

For more information, or to find your china pattern, contact Replacements at (800) REPLACE (737-5223) or visit www.replacements.com. -Courtesy of ARA Content