Biking for Kebabs & Italian Ice

Biked up to Queens last night with my biking buddy Anna (hereinafter "BBA"). From Brooklyn, it was a cool 11 miles out to Rego Park, where we were met with juicy kebabs at Cheburechnaya. Our waitress was supremely helpful and just as amused by us. When I asked her to recommend something, she said "this is Cheburechenaya, so get the chebureki!" We followed her advice and got the chebureki, which are basically Uzbeki samosas, and lulya, lamb, and chicken kebabs. We were still hungry after that so we got babaganosh to go with the Uzbek bread (right), which looks like matzoh but is slightly less dry and tastier. Although decent, the baba was a little too mayonnaisey for our taste, so next time I'd skip the baba and stick with the more centrally Uzbek food.

Then we biked up to Corona to hit the Lemon Ice King of Corona. Man, Corona is like some quaint little village that was just dropped into the middle of New York. OK, I know that a lot of Queens is like this. But still. You gotta go check it out. As for the ice, I was thrilled with the raspberry but BBA was underwhelmed with the mint chip. My guess is that, per their name, the fruit flavors are the way to go.

Across from the Lemon Ice King is Corona's main park, a small village square with overhanging trees and benches and - most importantly - a very serious bocce court. At 9pm on a Wednesday night, the benches were lined with people feverishly debating bocce calls. After that, we were pretty food-dazed so we picked up some Ukranian beer in Forest Hills for the subway ride and hit the F train.

Grand total: 11 miles, $10 (chebureki, 2 kebabs, bread, baba), $1.25 ice, $1.39 beer. Bocce game: priceless.

About the ride itself - it was really fast getting up to Queens, definitely faster than taking the subway. Myrtle was a little hairy, but aside from that the rest of the route was pretty smooth. The route basically goes Fort Greene -- Bed-Stuy -- Bushwick -- Ridgewood (historically claimed by both Brooklyn and Queens) -- Middle Village -- Rego Park -- Corona -- Forest Hills. Click the map to see it larger, or go to WalkJogRun for the entire cue sheet for the ride.