NYC Ferry Restaurant Tour, Part II: Kimo’s Kitchen (Rockaway Route to Rockaway Beach)
Well, this is a fine state of affairs, I thought as I returned from my first NYC Ferry ride. My trip to the Rockaways had been beautiful on the way out — and exhausting on the way back. The mechanical failure that forced me to return home on the subway, sweaty and grumpy, also deprived me of the view I’d been intending to enjoy from the other side of the boat. The best solution was another ride on the Rockaway Line. The NYC Ferry Terminal at Pier 11, near Wall Street, was not nearly as crowded for this second excursion.
As I’d gotten to know the system better, I decided to explore buying tickets on the app. The $1.35 one-way senior fare seemed the best option. It’s less than half the cost of a full-price subway fare!
On the last trip, I boarded on the left side of the boat, which provided views of Staten Island, a distant New Jersey, and closeups of the north shore of the Rockaways. Boarding on the right side this time, I got a view of Lower Manhattan as we pulled away from the ferry terminal.
This was followed by dirty-window views of Governors Island and Brooklyn. Here’s a different side of the island than I’m used to seeing from the Staten Island Ferry.
The NYC Ferry was not anywhere near full today. Empty seats abounded. Views of Brooklyn included Red Hook, Sunset Park (where we briefly docked), Bay Ridge, and the seaside communities of Seagate, Coney Island, Brighton Beach, and Manhattan Beach.
This was my third ride on the NYC Ferry and the second to include mechanical failure taking a boat out of service. We evacuated at Pier 4 in Sunset Park and waited just a few minutes, this time, thank heaven, for a second boat to resume the trip.
The ferry didn’t hug the shore, so the view of Bay Ridge was distant, the sky dominating the landscape. The sense of openness and space on the water was liberating. Such moments of peace are what I seek on these little trips.
The view of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge was, if anything, better from this side of the boat.
I have, admittedly, a Verrazzano Bridge fixation.
After the bridge, the guy seated a few rows in front changed into his beach outfit. Here he is with his shirt half off.
It’s all the way off now. Was he going to Rockaway Beach barechested?
No, he added a mesh tank top, pink and green bandana, sunglasses, and baseball cap. He’s armed for bear as we pass the beachfront communities of Brooklyn.
This heavily cropped shot is probably Brighton or Manhattan Beach, just before we pass under the Marine Parkway—Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge.
Here is the bridge from the west.
It looms.
The sweet underside.
From the east.
One for the road.
This is certainly a better view of the approach to the Rockaway pier than I had on the previous trip.
We debark, my beachgoing friend fashionably attired.
On the way out.
There he goes.
Rockaway Beach, the neighborhood, features a comfort-food district adjacent to Rockaway Beach, the beach. At far left you can see the last episode’s dining choice, The Wharf, next to the tiny green triangle of Tribute Park. Kimo’s Kitchen was in the other direction, the faint pink dot below the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge.
Freighter moored in Jamaica Bay on the way to the restaurant.
A couple of guys were at work on the freighter. Here’s one of them.
Zoom of the South Channel Subway Bridge looming in the distance. The last time I was here, following the ferry failure, it carried me over Jamaica Bay to Broad Channel in the Rockaway Shuttle train.
Rockaway Beach Boulevard has a marvelously old-fashioned main street appeal.
Great Beaux Arts municipal buildings house the local police…
…as well as the local firefighters.
Kimo’s Kitchen, far left, is located next to Mara’s Ice Cream Parlor and the Ship & Shore Wine Shop. There you have all the necessities of life.
“Our shaded back yard is open,” the yellow banner says. I didn’t need any further incentive to go in.
View of the front, where I ordered the Mezze Platter, from the menu’s Kimo’s Traditional Dishes section. It includes such delicacies as hawawsha (crispy pita stuffed with spinach and mushroom or lamb and beef), sambusa (pastry stuffed with lamb, chicken, cheese, or spinach and mushroom), and the one most likely to lure me back, fattoush salad (topped with sumac and pomegranate reduction) — to name a few.
Kimo’s Famous Dishes have irreverent names. They include The Thick Chick (fried chicken and more with choice of pomegranate harissa or white sauce), The Fatboy Pita (fries, meat, and sauce in pita), and The Stacker (fries with chicken, banana peppers, pickled onions, white sauce, and chipotle mayo). I’ve omitted a few details — check the menu here. Let’s head back for that shaded yard, shall we? But first, a trip to the restroom.
A sign suggested the restroom was not available but I was assured that this was just to keep it clean for paying customers. As a paying customer, I approved.
The Kimo’s banner flies proudly at the back yard entrance.
The view as you enter the shaded back dining area.
To the left, multicultural spirit with American, Greek, and Egyptian flags.
More flags and a nice mural. So much love and care in evidence here. This is someone’s dream writ large and colorful. It is a privilege to just walk in and eat a meal in a place like this.
The net effect is stunning. That’s my table at lower right. Sitting there gave me a sense of well being.
View from my table, looking to the front of the place. The shaded yard is an indoor/outdoor hybrid, combining the best of both. Experiences like this are why I do these trips.
And we haven’t even gotten to the food! My Mezze Platter came with hummus, baba ganoush, tabouli, grape leaves, a cup of tahini, and zaatar pita bread — a middle eastern blend of spices with prominent notes of thyme, sumac, and toasted sesame seeds, though it may also contain other spices.
The hummus and baba ganoush were coarser than what I’m used to, and that was a good thing. Instead of creamy blandness, it offered a slightly grainy complexity.
I don’t know what was in that recipe, but it tasted different and better than what I’m used to. There was less lemon-juice acidity — though a slice is served on the side if you want more of that — and a more subtle taste than anything I’ve bought in a supermarket. Maybe fresher ingredients were what made the difference. It might have been made hours (or minutes?) before I ordered it.
The falafel balls were big, and while anything fried will never have as vivid a taste as the hummus, it was still a cut above. The zaatar pita bread was fresh and warm and liberally olive-oiled on the side you can’t see. I used it to dip into the soft foods and wrap the falafel. Mediterranean-food heaven.
I had plenty of time to reach the ferry pier. So much that I improvised a detour to Rockaway Beach, which beckoned under that little arch in the distance.
I must be out of my mind, I thought, especially after all that bitching and moaning about mechanical failures on the ferries.
But I couldn’t resist. My tummy was filled with magic and I wanted more magic, as I followed this mom and two daughters past beachfront residences — including housing projects in the distance — out onto Rockaway Beach. They were having an animated discussion.
Study of family, sun, surf, apartment blocks, and thumb covering the camera lens. Drunk on image capture and dreading possible imminent return-trip disaster, I wasn’t thinking straight.
But, as I turned 180 degrees — well, what a view!
When I return here — probably on a cooler day, with transport and hydration carefully arranged, and full of Kimo’s sambusa and fattoush salad, the small portions, so I can have both — I doubt if the view will be better.
While the bus wasn’t part of my plan, the curving concrete shelter, with scuba diver, caught my eye. It needed a coat of paint — but that would have covered up the beautiful art.
There was an octopus on the other side. Also a speed bump, presumably to protect beachgoer pedestrian traffic.
Skinny view from the pier.
In the previous Rockaway Route blog, I didn’t do justice to the rolled tower top of the Marine Parkway—Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, but on this second one, my phone-cam reflexes redeemed themselves. When I return to the Rockaways, it may be for pleasure, or it may be to take a closer look at Jacob Riis Park. But the next leg of the NYC Ferry Restaurant Tour will pick a different destination, and of course a different restaurant. It should be an interesting and challenging summer.
Previously on the NYC Ferry Restaurant Tour:
Part I: The Wharf (Rockaway Route)
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