The Park Bake Shop 112NY-25A Kings Park, NY 11754

The Park Bake Shop

Route 112NY-25A

Kings Park, NY  11754

(631) 269-3825

https://www.facebook.com/ParkBakeShop/

Open: Monday-Saturday: 5:00am-7:00pm/Sunday: 5:00am-6:00pm

My Review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48001-d933880-Reviews-Park_Bake_Shop-Kings_Park_Long_Island_New_York.html?m=19905

I have been to many bakeries over the years and The Park Bake Shop in Kings Park, NY is one of the best. It really brings me back to my childhood bakeries in Somerset County going to Raritan and Gaston Avenue Bakeries as a kid. The selection is excellent and they have all sorts of treats for every sweet tooth.

I have been here many times because of a friend who lives close by who loves pastries and cookies and this is a store that I don’t mind visiting. It is close to her house and luckily two doors down from the Dragon House Chinese Restaurant (also reviewed on DiningonaShoeStringinNYC) so I am able to make one trip and while the food is cooking at the Chinese restaurant, I am able to make my selection here for dessert.

There is no limit to the bakery items they have in the cases and everything I have ever tried here is delicious. The bakery was recommended on TripAdvisor when I was looking for a place to pick up a small cake (see my reviews on TripAdvisor) and I was very lucky to come across this bakery.

The inside of Park Bake Shop

I have tried their version of the Cronut (half doughnut and half croissant dough) in glazed, glazed, jelly and in cream filled ($1.50-$2.00) which all have a nice chewy consistency and filled with either fresh vanilla cream or their homemade jellies. They also have a zepolli version that is new and the Boston Cream version looks great as well. The glazed version is excellent. Indulgent and loaded with sweet confectionery sugar glaze on top.

Their regular jelly doughnuts ($1.25) are soft and pillowy and loaded with a sweet current like jelly topped with both cinnamon and power.

Park Bake Shop doughnuts are delicious!

Their apple turnovers ($3.00) are always delicious. A puffed pastry baked until golden brown filled with a sweet combination of fresh apples and cinnamon. They are then loaded with a thick powered sugar glaze.

The blueberry and apple Danishes ($2.50) are made of a sweet dough that is loaded on top with fresh fruit and then topped with a thick powered sugar glaze. These are a nice combination of sweet and savory in taste and make a perfect dessert with coffee or tea.

Their small cakes and fruit tarts ($3.50-$4.00) are nice for just a small dessert to share. We have tried the cream filled cake with fruit topping, a mini-linzer fruit tart and large decorated cupcake for the Christmas holidays, elegantly decorated with designs made with icing and colorfully arranged.

I recently ordered a strawberry shortcake for a birthday cake for my friends 100th birthday and she really enjoyed that. The strawberries were so fresh and sweet and it was a light dessert for us after a big meal. They also put a little ‘Happy Birthday’ plastic sign on it for me.

I always leave my friend with a tray of their Italian butter cookies (trays can run from $12.00-$20.00) and during the holidays come in many festive containers. I know she and her aides really enjoy these (especially the aides). These rich butter cookies come in all shapes and sizes with sprinkles, glaze and chocolate toppings. These are beautifully decorated and packaged for the holidays.

The Park Bakery Shop also has Kosher items so please ask the staff to point them out. The baked goods are a combination of Italian, German and Kosher treats with more twists, rolls, cakes and pies to choose from. Since I plan on visiting my friend more often this year, there will be a lot to try along the way.

The service here is very personal and friendly and the ladies could not be more engaging and pleasant especially so close to the holidays when things really get busy. The Park Bakery Shop is a step back to a time when people really talked to one another and parents spent their Sunday mornings going to the bakery and picking up the paper. It still feels like the 70’s here!

The Dragon House 118A Main Street Kings Park, NY 11754

The Dragon House

118A Main Street

Kings Park, NY  11754

(631) 544-5438

Open: Monday-Thursday: 11:00am-10:00pm/Friday & Saturday: 11:00am-11:00pm/Sunday: 1:00pm-10:00pm

Free Delivery with a minimum of $10.00 purchase.

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48001-d10641889-Reviews-Dragon_House_Chinese_Restaurant-Kings_Park_Long_Island_New_York.html?m=19905

I have visited The Dragon House in Kings Park, NY many times due to a friend of mine who lives in an Assisted Living facility near Kings Park and request Chinese food when I come out to visit her (she doesn’t get much authentic Chinese eating there).

I have been impressed by the quality of the food the four times I have eaten there, the portion sizes on their lunch specials can feed two people comfortably and the prices are very fair. Their lunch specials are served with either white or fried rice and you can get a choice of a can of soda, an eggroll or choice of soup (Wonton, Egg Drop or Hot & Sour).

My friend and I have shared many dishes here. The General Tso’s special ($6.99) is loaded with well fried chicken pieces is a sweet/spicy pungent sauce that is not overwhelming and it was served with white rice that was sticky enough to support my chopsticks. It also has a hint of orange from the peels that accompany the dish.

The General Tso’s Chicken is really good

We also have tried their Lo Mein a couple of times ($4.89 pint/$8.09 quart) that was delicious. We tried the Roast Pork Lo Mein and you get a lot for your money. The noodles are perfectly wokked and served with a large portion of rich roast pork chopped into it and crunchy vegetables.

Try the House Lo Mein

We tried the Sweet & Sour Chicken with fried rice ($6.99) which was loaded with white meat pieces that were fried in a type of tempura batter with the red sweet/sour sauce served to the side. The pieces of chicken were were nicely sized and we could pour the amount of sauce that we like on it. The fried rice was nothing elaborate but it is still flavorful with small pieces of roast pork and vegetables in it.

The Sweet & Sour Chicken with Pork Fried Rice.

The Chicken with String Beans with white rice ($6.99) is done with a brown sauce that tastes like a combination of Hunan and Soy sauce. It has a slight taste of garlic and ginger to it which combines nicely with the sauce.

The chicken and string beans is good

The eggrolls ($1.69) are plump and filled with a nice combination of vegetables and roast pork and cooked to a nice brown crisp. They have a nice bite to them and taste great with the packet Duck Sauce.

The egg rolls are so good.

The service has always been friendly and welcoming to me when I have ordered there especially since I am usually the first customer walking through the door when I visit there and always have the food done promptly.

It is a nice take-out restaurant to visit when you are in Kings Park, NY.

Dining on a Shoestring in New York City and Beyond: Finding reasonable meals and snacks for around $20.00 and under

Blogger and Culinarian (and Firefighter) Justin Watrel of DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com

*Bloggers note: prices have changed since many of these posts were created and since COVID have gone up a few dollars but are still fairly priced.

Hello everyone! Welcome travelers to New York City and the surrounding suburbs!

My name is Justin Watrel and I created ‘Dining on a Shoestring in New York City’ (DiningonShoeStringinNYC.wordpress.com) as an extension to the blogs: ‘MywalkinManhattan’ (MywalkinManhattan.com) along with ‘VisitingaMuseum’ (VisitingaMuseum.com) and “LittleShoponMainStreet” (“LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com), in search of a delicious meal for $20.00 and under.

It is difficult in an area as expensive as Metropolitan New York but many restaurant owners are paving the way with small, innovative menus at a fair price.

Sweets Bakery in Chinatown, NY

I created this blog when I discovered all these wonderful small restaurants, bodegas and bakeries that were fantastic both in that the quality of their food and the prices that they cost. I also looked at atmosphere and cleanliness of the establishment. Most cost under $20.00 (USA) for their main food items and provide small places to sit down and eat.

Since the COVID pandemic though, many of the places mentioned on this blog have either closed up shop (I have noted the months and years they closed up) or the prices have risen, in some cases significantly so please be aware when you visit these restaurants. I have tried to revisit many of them since the pandemic and prices have gone up by three or four dollars. I still continue to look for restaurants in the $10.00-$20.00 range that are of high quality and fair portion sizes.

Here and there  I found these eating establishments tucked in corners of the City, hiding on side streets or across from the schools where they were populated by students looking for a quick bite. I also found them near public housing or near the hotels where people were looking for a quick meal or a reasonable snack.

NoHo Juice Bar & Deli in Greenwich Village/NoHo

The signs I looked for where they accepted EBT (Electric Benefits Transfer) cards or where I saw the doormen, construction workers and cabbies eating. They always find the most reasonable places to eat and this is a group that will not tolerate food that doesn’t taste good. They would be too vocal about it (As I found on several trips to the same establishment where people would be talking about why they keep coming back and how bad the local competition was around the corner).

With everyone on a budget, I thought this would cater nicely to the traveler or NYC resident, who is looking to save some money while enjoying a quick meal or a snack when in New York City. I have extended the blog to outside New York City to all the surrounding places I have traveled on my blog, “MywalkinManhattan.com”. So you will see places in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Delaware now.

Blue Sky-Harlem Taste Deli/Grocery in East Harlem, NY “Home of the Chopped Cheese”

In the era of COVID, I am finding that many of these places are either changing hands or are closing permanently. Please call ahead or Google the establishments to see if they are still open. It has amazed me how many of these once vibrant businesses closed their doors due the lack of customers. The pandemic has wreaked havoc on our industry.

Please share with me on the blog posts your insights on these establishments and let me know your recommendations. Please join me on the travels as I walk all the streets and avenues of Manhattan in my quest to walk every street of the Island of Manhattan in ‘MywalkinManhattan.com’. In many cases, I have cross-referenced these reviews to my TripAdvisor reviews so you can get other people’s opinions as well.

Cheesy Pizza on Upper Broadway in the Upper Upper West Side

I hope you get a chance to travel to some of these locations and try these delicious and reasonable restaurants. Since the Pandemic some prices have gone up but for the most part all of these restaurants are still reasonable and under the now $20.00 limit that I put on them. There are still many on this list that are under $10.00 but that is getting harder to find.

Dining at Barcelona’s Restaurant & Bar in Garfield, NJ

So join me as I make my way around the City and to surrounding areas to find delicious food that can meet a limited budget.

Happy Dining!