Residents of Queens know to stay in the borough to find good eats and apparently some Manhattan restaurateurs have also realized that Queens is the place to be.
“Arriba Arriba,” a Mexican restaurant that opened 25 years ago in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen and also has a location on the Upper East Side, branched out six-months ago with its first location this side of the East River.
“It’s nice because the restaurant has a city feel but you don’t have to go to the city to enjoy a good drink. So, we decided to bring the city here,” said manager Chris Perez, about trendy Sunnyside. “We would come to a lot of restaurants around here and we liked the people we saw go to those places.”
Arriba Arriba’s co-owners Peruvian Gerardo Sarmiento and the Mexican Chef Luis Muñoz not only brought the city feel but also a new menu filled with high-class Mexican cuisine inspired by the state of Puebla located southeast of Mexico City.
Right from the start, the appetizers showed a departure from the usual Mexican fare. The Black Bean and Avocado Leaves Tamale, a perfect vegan dish made with homemade cornmeal topped with pumpkin seeds, has a light and earthy rustic taste. The spicy and sweet Tacos Árabes – flour tortillas stuffed with roasted cumin, oregano marinated pork served with a chipotle and chocolate dry fruit sauce – are flavorful and memorable and will have you licking your lips.
And, the savory Flautas, crispy rolled corn tortillas stuffed either with the Mexican cheese queso fresco or with shredded chicken, melts in your mouth. A resounding “mmm, mmm” echoed around the table.
A smooth and lime-flavored guacamole accompanies most of the appetizers and the folks at Arriba Arriba want to accommodate all types of eaters so they will make your guacamole to order and give you control over the level of heat and the ingredients. Now that’s service!
According to Perez, since the restaurant opened, the most popular entrees have been the salads, the Churrasco Ranchero Salad – a grilled skirt steak served mixed greens, Oaxaca cheese and Spicy Pico de Gallo Dressing – and the Grilled Pear & Apple Salad with Spicy Shrimp with mixed greens, grilled asparagus and tomatoes in a blueberry vinaigrette.
The perfectly presented and flavorful grilled shrimp smothered in the blueberry sauce is a pleasant departure from other summer salads.
The Mama Burrito – a tomato tortilla filled with roasted eggplant spread, spinach, roasted vegetables, wild rice, black beans, broccoli and three cheeses mix – and the California Burrito have become a hit with local vegetarians.
New additions to the menu included a pan-fried trout topped with spinach and sliced almonds – the moist and meaty trout was not overpowered by the tomato-and-wine-based crunchy almond sauce – and a grilled wild striped bass, served over corn relish and tomato salad.
For all of this great food, Arriba Arriba has a nice cocktail drink list that includes regular and flavored Margaritas, Mojitos and Coladas. But please try the amazingly refreshing traditional non-alcoholic Mexican drink, Horchata – a rice milk, cinnamon and vanilla flavored ice tea – that tastes and smells like a walk through a fresh blossoming meadow.
The owners of Arriba Arriba have managed to make the restaurant feel hip and cool by opening up sidewalk doors that give passersby a glimpse of the large canvass of indigenous art on the wall. And if the brooding red eyes from the stone masks in the painting don’t lure people in, they hope the lounge and bar music will.
Arriba Arriba closes its kitchen at midnight on weekdays and 1 a.m. on weekends. On Fridays and Saturdays, a disc jockey keeps revelers entertained until 4 a.m.
If you seek to expand your knowledge of, improve you palate for and still get hearty servings of delicious Mexican food, visit Arriba Arriba in Sunnyside. You won’t be disappointed!
Arriba Arriba
40-15 Queens Boulevard
Sunnyside, NY 11104
718-349-5999
No. 7 train to 40 Street;
Q60, Q32 bus to 40 Street
All major credit cards except Discover
Hours/Kitchen schedule
Monday – Thursday: noon to midnight; restaurant closes at 1 a.m.
Friday: noon to 1 a.m.; restaurant closes at 4 a.m.
Saturday: 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.; restaurant closes at 4 a.m.
Sunday: 11 a.m. to midnight; restaurant closes at 1 a.m.
40-15 Queens Boulevard
Sunnyside, NY
