All language subtitles for Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown S09E04 Queens (1080p x265 10bit Joy)

♪

♪

♪ I took a walk through this ♪

♪ Beautiful world

♪ Felt the cool rain
on my shoulder ♪

♪ Found something good in this ♪

♪ Beautiful world

♪ I felt the rain
getting colder ♪

♪ La, la

♪ Sha la, la, la, la

♪ Sha la, la, la, la

♪ Sha la, la, la

♪ Sha la, la, la, la

♪ Sha la, la, la, la, la

Hi, how are you?

Good morning, my friend.
How are you?

This mine?
Yes.

♪

I start my day;
I wake up at 2:00,

come to the garage around 3:00.

Get ready to go

on my way to take
the Queensboro Bridge.

♪

♪

Okay.

Showtime.

Just across the East River
from Manhattan,

where I live,

just over there,

is an enchanted wonderland,

an international crossroads,
a stewpot of neighborhoods

filled with the languages,
cultures,

traditions, and flavors
of many lands.

Hey, how you doing?
Morning.

My morning ritual
goes something like this:

regular coffee and a doughnut;

maybe a cruller,
I'm feeling wild and crazy.

But just across the river,
the options are endless.

♪

The next stop is Court Square.

♪

The 7 train
winds over and through Queens

like a main cable.

Every stop can seem like
another country,

another region.

♪

Get off at Roosevelt Avenue,

and you are gonna eat well
for sure.

Example: this cart sells
Ecuadorian food.

Hornado: roast pork
with sublime crispy skin

straight from heaven.

Crunch, cru... Oh, that's the
sound of victory right there.

Morcilla: blood sausage
with potato cakes.

Oh, man.
That's looking really good.

Gracias.

This is a working-class
neighborhood.

People coming to and from work.
Yep.

How often do you think
the average person

eats at one of these things?

Lot of, like, the day laborers,

a lot of the men that are here,
they might live in

these tiny apartments
with a tiny shared kitchen.

They can't cook.
Right.

They're not gonna
go into the restaurants.

They don't have time for that.

So it's... for them,
it might be even more

that they're eating
on the streets.

Sean Basinski is the director
of the Street Vendor Project.

Prior to going to law school,
he built a pushcart

and sold burritos on the corner
of 52nd and Park.

He founded SVP
with a small grant

from Yale University Law School.

He lives in a tenement walkup
apartment in Manhattan

with a bathtub in the kitchen,

you know, like most lawyers.

So if we did,
like, a mile in here.

Yeah.

What would my options be
nationality-wise?

It's incredible.
I mean, you can have Tibetan

street food, and then there's
Colombian arepas.

If you go up into Flushing,

and then there is
the Chinese barbecue carts.

I don't know of
anyplace in New York,

maybe even the world
or the country,

that you can have
such diversity on the street.

Matt Shapiro is another
lawyer who represents

street vendors
when they need legal help,

which in our nanny state
current reality

is all too often.

Now, generally speaking,

to open up a cart on the street,
you need a license?

You have to have a license
for yourself,

and then you have to have
a permit for the cart itself.

That's the problem.

And any spot?

Generally speaking, yes,

although there's lots
of restrictions.

Manhattan is very much
the, you know,

"not in my backyard"
neighborhood in a lot of ways.

I mean, for this reason,
Manhattan, in my view,

is a lot less interesting
than Queens.

- Right.
- This is a wonderland.

Yeah.

I mean, look what we got here.

You know, they're trying to
change it, though.

And the more it does change,

the more the vendors
are threatened, you know?

There's all this talk about
"cleaning up" Roosevelt Avenue.

You know what that means.

If you get higher rent,
nicer buildings,

they're not gonna want
a street cart out in front.

That's sometimes the problems
that vendors face.

Even if the spot
is completely legal,

and we see it all the time,
where there's building managers

that come out and say,
"Hey, you know,

you gotta move;
you can't be here."

They even call the police.

So what happens if that...
When that occurs?

When it was me, you know,
the young kid out of college,

I was ready for that.
Right.

But if you're an immigrant
who doesn't speak any English

and is realistically scared,

and they tell you to move,
well, you're gonna move.

♪

In a perfect world, how many
of these would there be?

I think the more diverse
street food

we could have, the better.

The more pathways
we can provide for people

to come and start a business
and hopefully, you know,

after five or ten years,

maybe they'll have a restaurant,
right?

I mean, we don't say there are
too many restaurants, do we?

So why too many food vendors?

Too many affordable
restaurants, goddamn it.

Hey, what's up, New York City?

How y'all doing?

♪ Inshallah, mashallah

♪ Hopefully no martial law

♪ Hai Allah, yo yallah

♪ Let's rock a show
in Ramallah ♪

♪ Kick it with my homie
when I'm out in Haifa ♪

♪ Kick it with Muhammed
when I'm out in Jaffa ♪

♪ Oh, no, we're in trouble ♪

♪ TSA always wanna
burst my bubble ♪

♪ Always get a random check
when I rock the stubble ♪

♪

♪

♪

Himanshu Suri
is better known as Heems,

half of the rap duo
known as the Swet Shop Boys.

He was born and raised
in Queens,

a living, breathing example

of the glorious mash-up
that is this borough.

♪

So it seems just right

that a first-generation
Indian dude

takes me to a Chinese
dumpling spot

close to his Hindu temple.

Yu Garden Dumplings is
everything you need in life.

So born and raised, Queens?

- Yep.
- What neighborhood?

Most of my life
I've been in Glen Oaks

and Bellerose, which is,
like, further east.

Largely or mostly Indian?

Our neighborhood
is mostly Punjabi

and then there was Christians
from Kerala, Malayali,

and Pakistanis.
Those three.

And next non-Indian
neighborhood over?

More like Guyanese,

still Indo-Caribbean.
Right. Right.

And then the other neighborhood,

like, whiter but still Indian.

So it's hard to escape us
in Queens,

which is why I like it here.

♪

Spicy beef and tripes:

boiled pig tongue and tripe
marinated in sugar and soy,

served cold with chili oil.

Traditional Indian food at home?

What about outside the house?

Because the food's
so good at home,

we don't really go out
to eat Indian food,

'cause it would just be my mom
going, "Pssh!"

I could make
better dal than this."

- Right.
- So...

I'm in New York, man;
it was, like, lo mein

and pizza when we weren't
eating Indian food.

Lion's head meatballs:
pork, ginger, soy.

So we used to come to Flushing

even when we moved out
further east

because they didn't have
grocery stores there.

My temple is over here,

and so even as we moved further
out to Long Island,

we always end up coming back
to here or Jackson Heights,

which are like these
first places you come.

Sometimes I joke, I mean, Queens
is so great and so diverse,

but it's also 'cause
the airports are here.

So it's just like
you get off of a 16-hour flight

with no money in your pocket
from India,

and you're like,
"Where am I gonna live?"

Well, I'm already here.

"So let's start with this place."

♪

Soup dumplings:
piping hot

and filled with ground pork
and near boiling broth.

This is why I come here.

Yeah, this is dumplings.

Oh, yeah.

So when you were growing up,

what was
the ethno-national breakdown

of a typical class in school?

My high school
was a public high school,

but it was maybe 70%
East and South Asian,

mostly Chinese and Korean.

And all those kids
end up going to Harvard.

All those kids
end up going to NYU

and those types of schools.

And, you know,
if the American dream is alive,

I think it's alive
in places like Queens.

What do you mean by that?

That there still are people
coming here with nothing

and making something out of it.

And as I kind of lose hope
in the idea of,

like, diversity
as a positive thing

or the idea of America
as an open place,

I think in a place with so much
race and diversity,

it gets in the way less here
than it does in other places.

Will America as a whole look
sooner or later like Queens?

I guess 2042 is the year
that people of color

become the majority
in this country.

Yep.

Seems like
a long, long time away.

But yeah, that is the hope.

♪

♪

Get lost in Flushing
for a while,

and behold the awesomeness.

♪

♪

♪

♪

If you're looking for
amazing Chinese food

or Korean just like home,

well, Flushing is the place.

♪

This joint is high on the list,
Geo Si Gi.

Cheers..

Josh Smookler and Cosme Aguilar

are both chefs and restaurateurs

operating in Queens.

Josh, a Korean man
who was adopted

and raised by a Jewish family

owns the wildly popular

Long Island City restaurant
Mu Ramen.

Did it take off right away?

It was successful right away?

Yes, pretty much immediately.

You know, I was cooking
out of my house.

Then we were transporting all
to this bagel shop.

We served from 7:00 to 9:30,
ten seats at a time.

It was me in the kitchen;
my wife out in the front.

And one day, somebody texted me,
goes, "Congratulations."

I go, "For what?"

They go, "Pete Wells
just gave you"

number one ramen
in New York City."

So "New York Times" loves you.

And I saw the article,
and I started crying.

♪

Cosme is the owner
of Casa Enrique,

also in Long Island City.

It's the only
Mexican restaurant in New York

with a Michelin star.

You didn't even do
the smart thing.

The smart thing, of course,

would be to make
shitty Mexican food

because we know that Americans

will always buy
shitty Mexican food.

You started making
really sophisticated,

really interesting Mexican food.

Well, why?

My brother come up with the idea

to open a Mexican restaurant.

And I told my brother, "Come on",

I'll never cook Mexican food,
like, for restaurant."

So I started cooking for six
months at home every single day,

trying to do different things,

and finally
we open a Mexican restaurant.

But then you got
a Michelin star.

Yeah.

For three years in a row.

Nice.

Both are fantastic,

but tonight we're eating Korean.

Gamja Tang: pork neck bone soup

with rice cakes, pork belly,
kimchi, and spicy radish.

And kimchi and oysters.

So this dish right here,
the Gamja Tang,

was the dish I had,
like, three years ago.

It literally transplanted me
back to Korea.

Yeah, but how old were you
when you left?

When I came to America,
I was six.

Were you raised observant Jew?

- Orthodox, yeah.
- Orth...

You were raised Orthodox.

You still with the program?

No, not at all.

I'm eating pork right now.

Yeah, that's tough.

I mean, 'cause, you know,
Koreans are pork crazy.

Korean food,
where I didn't have much of it

growing up at all...
In fact, kimchi was, like,

shunned from our household

because it stunk up
the whole house.

Well, it's just not kosher too.

And it's not kosher either,
so they...

- With the shellfish in there.
- Yeah.

But now I still make
Korean-style ramen

and then I have
a matzo ball ramen.

Being raised Jewish,
can't help it.

I think as cooks, we always go
gravitate to what our DNA is.

So when are you opening
a Korean restaurant?

I don't know anything
about Korean food.

I just know I like it.

I gravitate
towards those flavors.

♪

Galbi: short ribs
marinated in soy,

garlic, and sesame oil.

Then grilled.

Meat candy.

♪

You ever investigate
other neighborhoods?

The number of immigrants
all over the world,

I mean, is, you know,
extraordinary.

This funny thing.
I was...

I have Caucasians
working the line.

Yeah.

And then the Asians come in,
they go,

"Oh, this isn't good.

You got a bunch of white guys."

I'm like, "What?"

I'm racist like that too.

- Really?
- Yeah, I'm totally like that.

If I walk into
a sushi restaurant,

I make racist assumptions
about the place

if they're not Japanese.

Do you do the same thing
when you go to a restaurant

and you see, like,
let's say a Korean restaurant,

and if you only see
white people,

then what do you think,
it's not legit?

Eating at the Korean restaurant?

- Yeah.
- You want the truth?

Yeah.

Of course I want the truth.

♪

♪

I'm an usher now
for the Metro Christian Center.

♪

Some people say
it's the most famous place

you've never heard of.

That's where we are.

Well, when you start getting out
to the detail of it,

this is historic Neir's Tavern.

Back in the 1820s,

when Queens
was still mostly farmland

and livestock
rather than the 7 train

was what rumbled down
what became Jamaica Avenue,

the manager of a racetrack
called the Union Course

opened a nearby tavern
to accommodate the gamblers

and layabouts
who frequented his track.

It was called
the Blue Pump Room.

In later iterations
it became the Old Abbey,

the Union Course Tavern,

and finally Neir's Tavern.

The Neir family, German émigrés,

added a bowling alley,
a ballroom, and a hotel

after the racetrack closed
in 1898

and renamed the place
Neir's Social Hall.

Today it's owned by this man,

lieutenant Loy Gordon
of the FDNY.

You were born in Jamaica?

That's a funny thing.

I'm from the island of Jamaica,

and I moved to Jamaica, Queens.

Why, uh... why Jamaica Queens?

Well, my mom was here.

What did your mom do
for a living?

What kind of work was she doing?

You know, she was...
Didn't have

all the education in the world.

Uh, so you just had to do
odds and ends,

had to clean floors
and, uh, just do

whatever she had to do
to get things going.

I think it's pretty
much the similar story

of immigrants that
come to the United States.

They come and work hard because
it's the land of opportunity,

and they find a way to kind of
make it out of the rut.

Yep.

Or at least using that
platform to have

someone like me...
Like their offspring

become a little bit more,
right, than they were.

♪

Ordinarily, the story is,

"I'm a regular beer drinker
at this joint,

"and the thought of it
disappearing

"is, like, unbearable to me.

Where am I gonna drink now?"

But you're not that...
That's not your story.

I knew that this place was
important, you know?

I just felt something special.

And being someone
that's from Queens,

something that's special
like this shouldn't disappear.

♪

It was three days
from closing down

when I walked into the place.

Wow.

The way it's located, someone

has to tell you
about Neir's Tavern.

Someone has to say, you know,

"It's around the corner,
to the left, to the right."

And if someone
tell you about it,

I think they think
you're worthy enough to discover

such a historic, you know,
cool little place.

Now, it's historic
for a lot of reasons,

not least, in my mind,

because the greatest
American film

ever made was shot here.

A lot of it was shot here.

I mean, it was...
About 15%.

Okay, so what was shot...
Which scenes were shot here?

It was a very pivotal moment
of the movie.

Okay, that's the...

Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Let me... let me...

Let me remember it.

He's... Is he right there
or is he right here?

- Where you're sitting.
- He's right here.

And he just looks over
at Morrie,

and you know he's decided
Morrie's going.

And if Morrie's going,

might as well just
knock everybody else...

Well, no, Morrie was a problem
from the beginning.

I think any reasonable
businessman would have...

You know, here's a question that
has nothing to do with anything.

You're working for the mob,
and you've been having

some disagreements
with your business partners.

Why would you ever
get in the front passenger seat

when somebody else
is sitting in the back?

I mean, Paulie made the same
mistake in "The Godfather."

It's always like, you know,
"That's a bad seat to sit in."

Yeah.

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

It is tempting to think,

when reflecting on
Jackson Heights,

of India.

But Queens is always changing,
always in flux,

a landing spot for people
from all over the world;

new arrivals from Tibet
being an example.

♪

Sandwiched between
two cell phone stores

and a couple of jewelry shops

is Lhasa Fast Food.

This particular neighborhood
we're in now, Jackson Heights,

has historically been the first
stop for the newest immigrants.

It's a big Latino neighborhood,

but the South Asian community's
presence is pretty well known.

And it's, I think, very fitting

that now this huge Tibetan
community, which is very new,

looking for a home;
where they gonna go?

They're gonna go
near the Indians, right?

So you guys grew up together?

Yeah, we grew up together
in Queens.

I remember we were
in the same Little League.

What position did you play
in Little League?

Oh, they put me in the outfield.

I was terrible.

Which outfield?
That matters.

Oh, yeah,
usually the right side or...

- Right field?
- What do they call it?

Okay, see, I don't know.
I don't know.

Heems joins me for dinner

along with his friend
and neighborhood advocate,

Ali Najmi.

Right now I'd like to call up

a close friend of mine,
Mr. Ali Najmi.

Thank you.

I'm really involved in politics,

local elections,
empowering new voters.

Mm-hmm.

And then advocating for
particular issues that come up.

Mr. President, I know you're not
too good at listening.

But you're gonna
have to hear us now.

Muslim Americans
are not going anywhere.

Latino Americans
are not going anywhere.

And we contribute
to this country.

It turns out, we pay more taxes
than you do.

Why give a [...]?

I have a sense
of what I think is right

and what needs to be done.

And I can't sit back and let
people who are being underserved

continue to be underserved.

You're gonna have your work
cut out for you

the next four years.
We are, but you know what?

Dude, we have to organize.

There's no other way to do it.

America wouldn't be
as great as it is right now

if people didn't organize.

It's both unique and disturbing
that you're also from Queens.

Because the values
that you have been running on

are not the Queens values
we know.

And I guarantee you one thing:

we, all of us, will make sure

you don't forget
where you came from.

How much traction are you
getting within the community?

Is there a hunger for that
or is it taking some convincing?

There are definitely a lot of
people who are just...

Because it's such
a new community,

they're just trying
to make it in America.

They're trying to maximize
whatever they have,

even space.

"We have a cell phone store,
a phone card store.

"We have a little bit of space;
let's put a restaurant here

and maximize everything we can."

But then there are other people
that get it,

that believe
in the promise of America;

they believe in their rights.

♪

ThenThuk: hand-torn noodle
soup with chilies and ginger.

♪

I mean, do you think
it's only a matter of time

till you're replaced by yet
either another incoming group

or, you know,

uh, hipster apocalypse?

Look, I mean,
the story of New York

is that the neighborhoods
are constantly changing.

And everything's in flux.
Nothing is static.

And even all our communities
that have come in,

you know, we've transformed
these neighborhoods

that we've moved into.

It's hard to make a claim
for ownership

when my parents moved here too,
you know?

So there is that constant, like,

"I don't want this neighborhood
to be gentrified,

but am I gentrifying it?"

Shaptra, or chili fried beef:

thin panes of beef
with chili oil

and soy and Sichuan peppercorns.

Sha momo: steamed dumplings
stuffed with beef.

♪

For a lot of people,
you see this community,

but for them, it's like
the nightmare scenario.

What's the best things about
Queens other than diversity,

just as an everyday
practical matter?

You wake up every day in Queens,

and you're allowed to be
who you are.

You can't say that
about every place;

maybe not even the places
our parents come from.

♪

Further out in Queens,
the somewhat forlorn looking

but still beautiful Rockaways.

♪

This is Rockaway Park.

Further down,
you'd call it Far Rockaway.

There's also Rockaway Beach.

That's why they call it
the Rockaways

and not just Rockaway sometimes.

Right.

There's a lot of
different parts of it.

Josmar Trujillo,
a writer and local activist.

You from Queens originally?

I was raised in the city,

but I lived in Queens
for most of my adult life now.

And Rockaway now?

No, so I left here a little...

About a year
after Hurricane Sandy,

'cause the way Sandy hit
and the way

it kind of shook people
out of the way they were,

and you didn't want to
put your family

through that again,
the risk of that.

How bad it get hit out here?

This was, like,
something out of a movie.

Hurricane Sandy
pounded the East Coast in 2012,

and many communities suffered.

But the Rockaways were hit
with particular ferocity.

How was the response?

Oh, you know, the response
from everyday people was good.

Like, one of
the best things about

what happened right afterward

was the way a lot of people
came together who lived here,

but also how a lot of people
kind of came in,

pitched in, brought food,
brought generators.

But, you know, officially, with,
like, government,

the semi-governmental groups,

they dropped the ball.

What was the problem, though?

They weren't ready for it.

The Rockaways, by design has
never been a place

where there was a lot of
good investment

or infrastructure anyway
to begin with.

Why?
Look.

This is what you would call
prime oceanfront property

not far from New York City.

What's going on?

This was a place historically
where the city

and Robert Moses in particular

really used as, like, a dumping
ground for undesirable groups

that the city didn't necessarily
want to deal with.

Back in the day,
the Rockaways were

a summer destination
for middle-class New Yorkers

until better roads
and an improved rail system

lured them to the beaches
of Long Island.

They threw a bunch of
public housing projects in here.

They sent a lot of the
low-income people of the city

out here,
and it just wasn't a place

that historically
the city ever took seriously.

You know, since then,
we've always had

a lot of working-class whites
move in,

into more kind of
the western end,

and so you've kind of seen
in the Rockaways

just kind of shape out
along race and class lines.

And the one dynamic
that's changed after Sandy

was that a lot more, like,
young urban professional types,

like, were really coming out
here, you know,

maybe looking
intentionally or not

to, like,
Brooklynify the Rockaways.

Right.

Or gentrify the Rockaways.

Rockaway's called,
like, the Brooklyn Riviera

or the Williamsburg Riviera.

Who gets the shaft
in a situation like that?

If you're a person
who's not a homeowner;

if you're a person
that's struggling to pay rent,

the plans are generally,
history has told us,

gonna leave you behind.

It's interesting
because I don't think

a lot of people thought that
that would happen here.

When you're on Rockaway, you had
this kind of sense of security

that you kind of were
out in this lazy beach town.

And, like, I would love to come
out here and walk on the beach,

and it'd be just me
and maybe two other people

for miles and miles,
and that was great.

Where you won't have that
anymore.

Where there won't
be a place in the city

for you to be able to have that.

You know,
some people may be for it,

and then I think
that might be shortsighted,

'cause I think that this might,
uh, not necessarily

involve the same
people who are here.

It never does.

♪

What's a perfect day
in the Rockaways?

Oh, a perfect day?

Obviously, hit the beach,
but you don't want to

find a place where there's,
you know, no sand.

You know?
Right.

You want to find a place

that's kind of
off the beaten path.

Grab a bite to eat.

You maybe, you know,
have a couple of drinks at night

and watch the waves crash.

We're near the airport,

so you watch some of the planes
fly over.

And it's just, you know,
it's a different feel.

You don't feel like you're in
New York when you're out here.

♪

When I first came here, I was...
I was a city kid.

I was used to living with
the hustle and bustle

of the city that never sleeps.

When I got here,
there's, like, this tranquility.

There's this feel
that you're not in the city,

and it's great,
because it makes you feel like

you can sit back
and be with your thoughts.

You know, as a city kid,
it gave me a lot of perspective.

So anytime you can come out here
and kind of be away from stuff

and kind of be, you know,
with the water,

with your thoughts,
is a great day.

Yeah.

♪

♪

♪

Is that a $100 bill?

Yeah.

I feel dead inside, Laurie.

This is gonna bring me around.

Keep telling yourself that.

Hi.

Uh, all of it on number two
to win first.

- All of it?
- Yeah.

Thank you.

Gotta be in it to win it,
Laurie.

All right.

Can I get $5 on number five
to win, please?

It's the middle of winter,

and there are only a few

hardcore racing enthusiasts
here;

also me and friend and author
Laurie Woolever.

Here they come.

And a winner.

All right,
you won your first race.

You know, you didn't
win anything, but...

Not quite good enough.

♪

I love this place:

the ponies, the beer,

the looming sense of despair
and melancholy.

Did I mention they have
Jamaican beef patties?

So people like it here because

you can get your emotional
feel for the horses

and you can look down
into the paddock,

and people like to sort of
see how the horse is behaving.

All right.
I smell victory.

Or is that horseshit?

♪

Fourth race, number two to win.

Come on, number two!

Come on!

♪

Oh, no!

Smoked.

♪

I need to win
in a long shot now.

I need to get well.
I gotta come back.

♪

Built near the site
of a former conduit

for the Brooklyn Waterworks
that brought water

from eastern Long Island
to the Ridgewood Reservoir,

Aqueduct Racetrack
opened in 1894.

The glory days of horse racing
are long gone,

but for those few proud
remaining degenerate gamblers

with a few bucks and a dream,
Aqueduct is still there.

It's a judgment-free zone here,
though.

Totally.

It's kind of a "come as you
are" situation.

I think that's true of Queens
in general.

And you can kind of fly
under the radar, you know?

You have not been harassed
too much today, right?

No, a guy came up to me.

He says, "Hey, you look like
Anthony Bourdain."

I said,
"I wish I had his money."

And he said, "Yeah, right.
That asshole."

It was great.

It was like
the perfect encounter.

Yeah.
That's Queens.

Nobody gives a shit.

♪

- Oh!
- All right.

Two, right up on top.

Yes.

Come on, number two.

Keep it.
Keep it.

♪

It's a close race.

Close it up.

It's a nail-biter.

Dropped like a stone.

Way to suck.

So promising.

No braces for my little girl.

It's not over.

There's always another race.

I'm Ray.
I'm from Guyana originally.

My father raced birds,
so I end up with the same hobby.

It's called bird racing.

Instead of, like,
a running race,

it's like a singing race,
you know?

The first bird to chirp to 50
won the prize.

♪

It's worth a lot of money.

And if he become a champion,

he win a couple of races,
the price goes up.

$10,000, $8,000.

♪

Gotta be as gentle as possible.

♪

So I just hold it in my hand.

If you hit bumps,
I rattle him, you know?

I want him to be
as calm as possible.

We'll find a parking as close as
possible to where we going

so the birds don't be exposed
to the cold weather.

♪

Right now we trying to
warm up the birds.

And sometimes
you bring a bird today,

and he's not in the mood.

Nothing happens.

We just gotta another day.

All right, you ready?

♪

♪

The whole world is in Queens,

and like the world as a whole,
it is constantly changing.

♪

Here in
the Jamaica neighborhood,

a growing number of immigrants
from Africa put down roots,

and with them, restaurants
catering to their tastes.

Like here at Africana
restaurant.

How your day?

My name is Blessing Osegara.

I come from Nigeria.

And this one
a Nigerian restaurant.

We started in 2000.

The first three years were
really, really tough.

But thank God were still alive,

we're here
and we're [indistinct].

♪

My mother had a restaurant
in Nigeria

for 20 years before I came here.

I love to cook.

When you come in here,
you feel at home.

It feel like the mother's land,
you know.

♪

Mmm!

This food is really good.

It is very good.

And she was worried about it
being too spicy.

I don't think it's too spicy.
Oh, no.

Never a problem for me.

Sara Khan has made it
her mission to find

and write about
some of these great little

off-the-grid places
throughout the borough.

You're studying the intersection
between food and culture.

How did you get to that point?

So I kind of cobbled together

a way to travel,
learn languages, and eat.

Do you ever worry
that by celebrating

these communities,
you are helping to destroy them?

Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.

I worry about it.

But you know,
those stories need to be told

through what they do,
through how they survive.

♪

♪

Every meal,
every dish has a story,

often a very personal one.

Often a story of hardship,
separation, difficult times.

But when somebody cooks for
you, they are saying something.

They are telling you
something about themselves,

where they come from,

who they are,

what makes them happy.

A whole hell of a lot of
people in Queens,

the people who
make the borough what it is,

who make it such a great place
to eat and explore

are very far from the places
they once called home.

♪

But Queens is home now.

♪