Plane Spotting and Pakistani Food
What this foodstroll is
Our guide to NYC’s best plane spotting in East Elmhurst, Queens, and NYC’s best inexpensive Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and North Indian food.
Why this foodstroll works
This is one of our favorite things to do. It’s cheap, quick, and the food always delivers. It’s way off the beaten track, but once you make it to the neighborhood the food and airplane watching spots are just a few blocks apart. The main problem is Laguardia has three distinct landing patterns, and you only get to watch airplanes on one of them. This means the foodstroll only works some of the time, and you won’t want to go all the way to East Elmhurst to stare at grass. We’ll show you exactly how to check the landing patterns ahead of time so you won’t make the journey in vain.
Strolling
LaGuardia Landing Lights are a series of small parks situated directly beneath the landing path to LaGuardia. Our favorite is the patch of grass closest to the runway, which also happens to be two blocks from Starlight.
Landing Lights is ideal if you want to watch planes fly directly overhead, which is the most dramatic vantage point. It can be a bit loud and scary, so siblings hold on tight!
Our two year old has gotten cheated so far with regard to international travel, but she’s still seen her share of planes.
Planeview Park is right next to LaGuardia’s runway #4. The park is set just east of the landing path, so you get great western views ideal for sunsets.
It’s slightly less noisy, but your kids might still want to hang onto each other.
It’s the clearest vantage point if you want to watch planes approach and touch down all the way onto the runway.
Food Spots
Starlight Grill
Starlight Grill may not look like much from the outside, but it’s our favorite Pakistani restaurant in Queens. Why it’s in East Elmhurst and not closer to the South Asian enclave around 73rd Street in Jackson Heights, we don’t know. What we do know is it prepares legit food that’s so inexpensive you’ll think the bill is a mistake.
Garlic Naan, which our kids think is pizza without that unnecessary tomato sauce, is a good way to start.
Other safe orders are any of their snacks, like Shami and Chapli Kababs, or Chikken Tikka.
We’ve never eaten Butter Chicken anywhere that we didn’t like, and Starlight’s version is great. It’s not spicy at all and is a good introduction to South Asian food for kids, or anyone sensitive to spicy foods.
Chicken Biryani would be an option for kids, but the chicken itself is somewhat spicy. We always let our kids try it, but order white rice as a backup.
As far as vegetarian dishes go, the Aloo Gobi is our favorite. It’s basically a cauliflower and potato curry. Beware it’s pretty spicy.
Our favorite thing at Starlight is Chicken Karahi. However it is very spicy, and if your kids put it in their mouths the foodstroll might be over.
Aside from the few things we mentioned, most of the food has a background level of heat, so make sure you have plenty of water handy.
READ THIS BEFORE YOU GO
Open this link before you take the trip to check what the day’s takeoff/landing patterns are.
What you want to see is a steady stream of aircraft approaching LaGuardia from the southwest. Notice the 4 planes circled. That’s what you’re looking for. But to double check you should also notice planes taking off East, like the one circled.
The easiest mistake you can make would be to look briefly at the link, notice planes approaching from the Southwest, and assume you’re good to go. Sometimes planes approach from the Southwest and then circle around from the East and land West. Notice the 2 planes about to circle around and the 1 plane landing from the East.
This one pretty clearly doesn’t work. In this pattern planes land from the North and take off West.
Transportation
This trip is easiest with a car. Streetside parking in East Elmhurst is free and easy, and Starlight Grill even has its own parking lot. If you drive or Uber/Lyft, simply use the address of Planeview Park or Starlight Grill in your GPS/App instead of Landing Lights, which could be one of several parks in the neighborhoods.
It’s also possible to take the trip using exclusively public transportation, and pretty much any subway combination ends with you taking the N train to Astoria Boulevard, and then taking the M60 bus to 82nd St. The 82nd St stop is across the street from Planeview Park and three blocks from Starlight Grill.