The Queens Kickshaw is a great, simple concept. They serve specialty coffee, fancy grilled cheese sandwiches and craft beers. I love the hipster décor inside and I love the real neighborhood feeling that they’ve been able to create here. And if I lived in Astoria, I’d be far more inclined to stop by again. For me it’s the extensive beer (and wine) list and coffee menu, with the grilled cheese sandwiches that makes for a nice, neighborhood joint. But since I don’t live in Astoria, I can’t imagine ever making the return trip; not when I think I can make a better grilled cheese (or at least a grilled cheese the way I like to eat it). I also really hate that everything on the menu automatically comes with a side salad or soup. I think you should be able to get the sandwiches or mains a la carte.
Food Rundown:
Cheddar and Mozzarella: This comes on brioche with a side of tomato soup. When you take the first bite into this grilled cheese, you say to yourself wow that’s a good, standard grilled cheese. But it was nothing I couldn’t make myself and by that I mean I think I make a better standard grilled cheese. If I’m going to order the basic grilled cheese I want you to blow me away with cheesiness. I shouldn’t feel like the cheese got lost in the bread. The tomato soup was very good though. While I prefer a creamy tomato, I was very surprised with the spice and flavoring that this soup had.
The Gruyere: This comes with pickled and caramelized onions on rye with a Napa cabbage-caraway slaw. Though I enjoyed the grilled cheese and ate the whole thing, I felt like the flavor of the pickled and caramelized onions was so prevailing to a point of overpowering the taste of the Gruyere. Traditional grilled cheese or not, the cheese is supposed to be the star and it just wasn’t here. As for the slaw, I loved discovering that caraway seeds were incredibly similar to rye seeds really connecting the sandwich to the side. However, I did think that the slaw lacked a lot, if any flavor. I would have liked to have seen an apple slaw; I think that would have been a nice complement to the grilled cheese and would have given the slaw the flavor I felt that it lacked.
Mac & Cheese: Made with cheddar, Gruyere, smoked mozzarella and French beans, it is one of two mains on the menu and is also served with a salad. This was the best dish of the night and probably the only one that I’d specifically want to eat again. It had a really great cheesy flavor and texture. My only complaint is that the mac & cheese is only offered as an entrée with a salad and not as a side. My friend and I ordered the mac & cheese to split between the both of us, so I felt like it was a small portion for splitting and we were stuck with an additional salad since we each already had one from our grilled cheese orders.
Brownie ‘Affogato:’ On the menu this is described as Godmother Rozzie’s walnut brownie with 3x strength cold-brewed coffee and cream. Somehow my friend and I missed the “cold-brewed” coffee part, and ended up being rather surprised by what we were served. This was a pretty good, but room temperature, brownie served in cold coffee, and while it wasn’t terrible, something was just off. Perhaps this would have been salvaged had at least the brownie been served hot to contrast with the cold coffee. I even think this dessert would have been good if the coffee were hot. But the dish as it was just left me confused and dissatisfied.
Next Time: If there ever is a next time, I want to try the Egg & Cheese: ricotta, gruyere crisp, thyme maple hot sauce on brioche.
The Queens Kickshaw: 40-17 Broadway Queens, NY (Astoria) ($-$$)
9PM, Jan 26 2012
