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Op-Ed
Dawa Bhuti, Dawa’s Restaurant
It’s been almost three weeks since Dawa Bhuti has served a hot bowl of authentic Himalayan noodle soup.
An untimely gas leak in the Woodside business has left the eatery with a limited menu after being closed for 10 days.
Bhuti, who has run the business with her father since 2016, says she hopes to have a full menu and kitchen running at full speed by Thanksgiving. In the meantime, she’s had to make due with electric appliances inside the restaurant as temperatures start to fall outside.
“There’s not a lot of hot food,” she said. “We’ve had to get creative. But since it’s gotten colder around the same time, people are coming in and wanting some of the dishes we usually always have.”
The co-owner of the restaurant says she was notified of the gas leak on November 2 by her landlord. Eventually 311 was called and the Fire Department arrived shortly after. Con Edison was also notified and the gas was subsequently shut off.
Bhuti says she purchased an electric flat top for $600 to prepare hot food like Thenthuk soup and Himalayan-style dumplings. She says she is still paying her employees, insisting the problem is not their fault.
Nonetheless, when Bhuti checks her recent sales reports, she ponders whether it is worth staying open as the bureaucratic process continues, with a permit from the Buildings Department waiting to be filed and processed.
The restaurant closed temporarily last year due to the pandemic. Its reopening in May 2020 featured the addition of an outdoor dining option.
“To be honest, we got hit worse from this than during the pandemic,” said Bhuti. “In the pandemic, I can be creative and I at least have gas, an oven and I can still bake. But when there’s no food, there’s no customers.”
Dawa’s is located at 51-18 Skillman Avenue in Woodside. The restaurant has temporary business hours of 1 to 11 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
Suozzi considering joining Adams at City Hall
Northeast Queens might be looking for a new congressman.
Mayor-elect Eric Adams revealed this weekend that he has asked Congressman Tom Suozzi to join his administration at deputy mayor.
Suozzi, who before being elected to the House of Representatives served as Nassau County executive and mayor of Glen Cove, campaigned hard for Adams before the Democratic Primary in June.
Suozzi says he will give the offer serious thought over the Thanksgiving holiday.
It would be a raise for Suozzi, at the very least. According to the Post, as a congressman he makes $174,000 a year. Dean Fuleihan, the current first deputy mayor, makes nearly $300,000. You’re probably thinking the same thing we are…Dean who?!
It’s not the only post that Suozzi is eyeing. He also said that he would decide by the end of the month if he plans to run in the Democratic Primary for governor next year. He would join a crowded race of bold-faced names, including current Governor Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Oh yeah, and maybe Mayor Bill de Blasio, who formed an exploratory committee to determine whether he would have a viable shot at competing.
If Suozzi decides to accept Adam’s position, it would likely help Hochul’s chance at earning the governorship from the voters as opposed to being gifted it by Andrew Cuomo’s ego and busy hands. Hochul and Suozzi would likely be competing for the same suburban voters.
In a recent Zoom call with reporters, Suozzi said he would run a moderate campaign, and distance himself from some of the rhetoric coming out of the far left.
Suozzi recently took a stand against the more progressive factions of the party when he endorsed the write-in campaign of Byron Brown for mayor of Buffalo after he lost in the Democratic Primary to Democratic Socialist India Walton.
Many progressives were upset that Brown was even continuing to campaign.
It looks like Monday is shaping up to be a big day of decisions for Suozzi.
Give Thanks…
…for an NFL season of absolute uncertainty
St. John’s improves to 3-1 on the year
St. John’s topped Fairleigh Dickinson, 87-74, on Saturday night inside Carnesecca Arena to improve to 3-1 on the season.
All five Red Storm starters recorded double figures, including team-high 17-point performances from both Julian Champagnie and Posh Alexander. Champagnie also grabbed 10 boards for his first double-double this season and 12th of his career.
“There are things we can work on both defensively and offensively,” Champagnie said. “We did have some positives along with the negatives. We are going to come back as a group to work on what we need to work on.”
Stef Smith added 14 points and went 8-for-10 from the line, Montez Mathis chipped in 13 points going 6-for-10 from the field, and Joel Soriano finished with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting for the Red Storm.
The win marked the 13th straight non-conference victory at Carnesecca Arena for a St. John’s squad that was playing without injured freshman guard Rafael Pinzon and graduate student Tareq Coburn, who missed the contest with a non-COVID illness.
“We were missing two of our guys that were key from our bench,” said coach Mike Anderson. “I always think our strength is going to be our bench. We didn’t have those guys, and we didn’t have a great shooting night.
St. John’s led by as many as 22 points and kept a double-digit advantage for the majority of its wire-to-wire victory. The Johnnies outscored Fairleigh Dickinson (0-3), 46-24, in the paint and converted 22-of-29 attempts at the free-throw line.
Aaron Wheeler and Dylan Addae-Wusu gave the Red Storm a spark off the bench finishing with eight and six points, respectively. The duo combined to shoot 3-for-5 from distance while Addae-Wusu also handed out a game-high five assists.
St. John’s helped turn the Knights’ over 23 times in the contest and converted the miscues into 27 points. It marked the most turnovers by a Red Storm opponent since DePaul coughed up 24 on February 20 at Carnesecca Arena.
Still, Anderson said there was room for improvement on that side of the ball.
“I always think we can score,” he said. “To me, it was the defense [that was the problem]. Coming into this game, what were our defensive goals? One of them was to, hopefully, keep them in the 50s or 60s and we didn’t get that accomplished,
St. John’s was scheduled to return to action on Tuesday, playing host to St. Francis Brooklyn at 7 p.m.
St. Francis falls to another Big Ten foe
For the second time in the first three games this season, the St. Francis men’s basketball team traveled to a Big Ten city.
The Terriers opened the season with a battle against Wisconsin in Madison, and on Thursday night, they made their way to University Park to face the Penn State Nittany Lions. St. Francis would come up short, falling 74-59.
Just like their game against Wisconsin, St. Francis was able to take a lead in the first minutes. After trapping the Nittany Lions under the basket on the opening possession, Rob Higgins was able to secure the loose ball as Penn State attempted to pass out and drove the length of the floor for a contested layup, opening the scoring with a 2-0 lead.
The next time down the floor, Patrick Emilien and Vuk Stevanic keep the Terriers second possession alive with a pair of offensive rebounds, Stevanic putting his back up to give St. Francis a 4-2 lead, and forcing the Nittany Lions to take a timeout.
SFC kept it to a single digit deficit through the majority of the first half, dropping it to a one possession game on back to back trips down the floor in the first five minutes.
First, it was Jack Hemphill spotting up on the wing for a three on an assist from Higgins to make it a 11-9 game. Then, on the next trip down, Trey Quartlebaum hit a long jumper off his left foot just inside the arc for two, cutting the deficit to 14-11.
Penn State would settle in from there, extending its lead out to as many as nine points. St. Francis would fight its way back in the final three minutes of the first half, as a Larry Moreno fast break three cut the PSU lead to 30-25 with 2:55 to play.
The Nittany Lions would extend their lead to 40-27 by half, and carry that lead to the final horn.
Just like their last time out against the Big Ten, transfer forward Patrick Emilien would lead the team in scoring, finishing with 16 points, adding a team-high six rebounds, as well as two steals and one assist.
Tedrick Wilcox Jr. notched a season-high nine points in 16 minutes, adding one steal and one defensive rebound. Fellow transfer Bahaïde Haïdara also got his most time on the court this season Thursday night, contributing 9 points in 18 minutes, adding one assist.
Larry Moreno matched his season best with eight points (3-4 FG, 2-3 3PT) with one assist in 20 minutes off the bench.
Higgins matched his career high mark for steals in a game, notching five. That matches his previous career high, recorded against LIU on Jan. 30, 2021. He added eight points, four rebounds and three assists on the night.
