Shauna Eats Sunnyside

Car Fire and Hearty Stuffed Cabbage

I got off of the local 7 train at the 46th St. stop today just in time to witness two firetrucks and a handful of New York’s Finest crowbarring the crap out of a flaming vehicle under the bridge. ohhhh shit…PHOTO OP!

Initially, I felt kinda bad standing by and snapping shots. But as soon as the engine inferno engulfed the interior dashboard and peeked out menacingly from the passenger’s side tires (see above), I turned into frickin Dorothea Lange in a room fulla Depression-era migrant mothers. Thirty photos and a good dose of gawking later, I got bored and turned my attention back to the subject of neighborhood snackage.

To give ample credit where credit is due, it’s a good thing the Sunnyside hazard control force was in full effect. Didn’t take the fellas too long to bust open the sedan on all sides and gut it of blazing remnants; the unit rocks out on the job and not just on the softball field. Be sure to buy the boys a boilermaker next time you’re at their local haunt, the Firewater Inn (on Skillman Ave. at 39th Place).

As any good adrenaline rush works up the appetite, I sifted for loose change in my bottomless (yet awesomely rust-colored) purse, then headed over to the Euro Shop (on Queens Blvd. b/w 42nd and 43rd Sts.), where new window signage touts homemade stuffed cabbage for $7.50. Upon entry into the bizarrely sparse (or feng shui fabulous, depending on how you look at it) market, I realized there was no way I could handle a full $7.50 tray of cabbage, sausage and rice hocks pre-dinner (that’s right, B and I still had dinner plans). I told the owner that I wasn’t feelin’ the four-cabbage serving size, but rather than let me leave hungry, he graciously offered to cut the helping (and price) in half. SCORE!

I was presented with a generous container of steaming homemade cabbage topped with sauerkraut for $3.25 to go, only I wasn’t ready to head home and nosh just yet. Your narrator was hankerin’ for some flaky pastry and cheese, so I darted into oncoming traffic and past a new panhandler (“SPARE SOME CHANGE FOR S’M FOOD!” he growls, almost presumptively, from the corner of 41st and QB) to Superior Market (Queens Blvd. b/w 40th and 41st Sts.) for a ginormous brick of spanakopita for $2.50.

Euro’s homemade stuffed cabbage made me happy. Vinegary, sauerkrauty, and hearty for a fall night, delicate thin sheaths of cabbage cradle (light!) ground meat and rice logs, and pungent sauerkraut is abundant as a dressing. A bit oily (par for the course, as far as i’m concerned), but not nearly as gut-busting as it would appear. The homemade aspect ups its street cred; I ate one and a half and had to slap myself to avoid scraping the container clean.

The spanakopita was less exciting (though more fun to say). It was a little wet underneath, and the feta was moist and weirdly textured. I dug the taste, but consistency was a bit off. Spinach was relatively flavorless; could’ve handled more flake on top, as every other flavor was pretty much pounced on by tangy wet cheese. B was put off by its lack of refrigeration (spank sits in a case on the counter all day), but the jumbo portion still quenched the pre-dinner craving before I sauntered my sauerkraut-and-feta breath seductively into B’s cuddle realm.

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Euro Shop Meat Market and Bakery
42-07 Queens Blvd (b/w 42nd and 43rd sts)
Sunnyside, NY 11104 
718-786-6026 

Superior Market
40-08 Queens Blvd. (b/w 40th and 41st Sts.)
Sunnyside NY 11104