If I could do only one outing every summer in New York City, I would go to the Queen’s Night Market, an event that takes place every Saturday during the summer, where you can eat food from what seems like every culture on earth.
For an average of six dollars cash per meal, a person can get a sizable amount of food from just about anywhere.
I had Burmese, Fujianese, Venezuelan, Senegalese, and Egyptian food, none of which I’d ever tried before.
So who took me to this event? Valentina, of course, along with her friends David and Sebastian.
Hosted where the World’s Fair had been eons ago, the event takes place at a large, open field with music, so you can spread out with your friends on the grass, like we did. We bounced from one food stall to the next, eating whatever looked good.
And a lot of food looked good.
Nothing was without flavor. I had noodles with spicy sauce from Senegal, corn-based arepas from Venezuela, and many other well-sauced finger foods that were tucked into doughy, little pouches.
Fujianese mochi with purple yam sauce was the perfect dessert.
If the Queen’s Night Market sounds fun to you, be sure to check the times and get plenty of cash from the bank for this cash-only event. It puts a fun spin on going out to dinner with your friends.
After watching the sun go down on the Queen’s Night Market, we all went out to a nightclub in Brooklyn, a sentence that I never thought I would be casually saying back when I lived in South Georgia. Basement, not The Basement, sounds like the name of a nightclub from any TV show. Living up to its name, Basement is a pitch-black underground nightclub made entirely of concrete. Dancing your way into a cinder block pillar is pretty much a given seeing as how you almost can’t see your hand in front of your face. This is nothing compared to the fact that you can barely hear the person beside you either, with the music poised to destroy your eardrums.
Photos and videos are strictly-prohibited so they cover up the camera of your phone with a sticker when you enter. It was like I finally had the nightclub experience I’d been told about my whole life: waiting in a line for 45 minutes in the middle of the night while others who were on the list got let in by the bouncers. Then, when you get inside, you can enjoy a $15 drink until you’re ready to call it a night. I called it a night shortly thereafter, satisfied that I’d gotten my fill and that my rideshare Uber was worth it.
It was a good night of food, drink, friends, and music; a good night’s sleep could happen another time. And I will be returning to the Queen’s Night Market next summer, hungry for more.
The Tragic Queen,
Raquel
The Tragic Queen 