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By: Drew Liszt and Nessa Preis The best beverages aren't always on a map. It takes a special partnership and two welcoming hearts to attract customers. (Picture on left is from GoogleMaps, picture on the right is a full picture of the E Smoke andConvenience shop and Juice and Bubbles in the bottom corner- the one with the OPEN sign.Photographed by Nessa Preis.) The two cooks in the kitchen laughed and conversed fluidly together. They speak to and command each other in Spanish

We rode the subway to Jackson Heights expecting buttery, spicy, and milky tea but found iced coffee waiting for us with open arms. The plan was simple: sample Tibetan butter tea and sip cardamom-heavy chai. But the 85-degree heat had other plans—and so did those who live there. While bubble tea was, of course, popular, a fun-loving woman and weed-smoking man pointed us  in the direction of coffee shops.  Jackson Heights is home to every form of liquid; tapioca balls in strawb

Pineapple pizza---a rebellion against the traditional flatbread brought by Italian immigrants.     Jackson Heights is home to a huge number of different cultures including Latin American, Bangladeshi and East Asian. What better way to explore its cultural mashup than with one of the most polarizing foods on the planet: pineapple pizza. Three student journalists set out with a fresh pie from Due Fratelli ($27.05) and a simple mission: talk to strangers about pineapple pizza a

When we first stepped into Maharaja Sweet, an Indian sweet shop open for nearly 25 years, we weren’t expecting to find a dense pastry made with chocolate. But there it was: a square of chocolate burfi, glossy and dense, placed between trays of Indian confections we couldn’t even name. We each picked one up, curious. After the first bite, we paused, looked at each other, and frowned slightly.   “I honestly don’t know how to describe that,” Oscar said after a few seconds. It h

On the corner of 37th Ave and 73rd Street in Jackson Heights, Queens, one might notice an abundance of brightly colored carts, each seeming to advertise itself as the foremost vendor with declarations such as “we are the original,” and the vague “we are real.” These carts represent a prominent yet sometimes overlooked community in Jackson Heights: Bangladeshis. Over the last decade, Bangladeshi immigration to America has increased, concentrating in Jackson Heights. Their foo