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Fans of the local Sichuan restaurant Ma Lala Chinese have something new to look forward to now that Nice Day Chinese has moved into the space, continuing its initiative to save small-owned Chinese American restaurants from shuttering. The restaurant, located at 42-02 30th Ave. Astoria is the brand’s first Queens expansion, preserving many of the restaurant’s most popular dishes with the original founder and chef still in the kitchen as part of the Nice Day team, while offering elevated takes, house-made dim sum, and made-to-order dishes prepared with fresh ingredients. “The uniqueness of [Ma Lala] is that it served a lot of authentic Chinese food dishes,” said Yong Zhao, who founded the brand with his wife, Wanting Zhang. “It’s been loved by the neighborhood for so many years, but we will make sure it’s served right, so the dishes are prepared with fresher ingredients and we keep the menu organic. Nice Day Chinese was founded in 2014 by Zhao and Zhang while they were still students at Yale University. Their landlord, who was also the owner of a local Chinese restaurant, was grappling with the future of his business when his daughter, who had recently graduated from college, wasn’t interested in taking over the restaurant. When the pair observed a dilemna popping up for small-owned family Chinese restaurants who were either retiring with no one in the younger generation to pass the business down to, or struggling to stay open due to rising costs of running a small owned business, the couple felt inspired to start their own brand, which gives owners the option of staying on board at the restaurant with less obligations than running the business if they’d like or handing it over, knowing their most popular dishes will be preserved while adding new ones. “When people first came here in the ‘90s, China was very poor, so they came here for the American dream, but after 2015, the development in China made the new generation of immigrants, so they don’t come her to work in restaurants anymore,” said Zhao. “A lot of restaurant owners’ kids went to Harvard, Cornell, and they’re not coming back to work front of house, but the restaurant’s been loved by the neighborhood for so many years, so we started to think about the future of Chinese food as my generation changed.” Since their first storefront in New Haven, they’ve expanded to owning five more restaurants including their newest one in Astoria, which they learned about through a mutual friend. The restaurant has been popular for authentic Sichuan dishes, such as spicy Sichuan crispy chicken, double-cooked pork belly, and mala dry pot, as well as American Chinese dishes like chicken with broccoli and sesame chicken. Nice Day has added an assortment of dishes as well from boiled fish with green peppercorns, handmade soup dumplings, and starters like their cheeseburger egg roll, housemade crab rangoon, and Sichuan French fries. They also serve milk tea in five flavors including brown sugar, jasmine, and taro, and offer desserts like mochi rice balls and pumpkin pancakes, emphasizing creating each dish with the best ingredients, made fresh, for customers to enjoy their meal and still feel good afterward.

Jake Borelli directed last night's episode.

Loved tonight's episode. Earlier this year Mrs. Julian guest starred and tonight Mr. Olympia made a brief appearance.

Tonight's episode of Law and order was fairly interesting and contained a major miracle… Jane Lynch managed not to be completely obnoxious in her role. There was a very bad mistake in the closed captions in the closing moments of the episode. Somebody was sharing at an alcoholics anonymous meeting and said "but today is easier than yesterday" and the captions said "yesterday was easier than today", so the complete opposite meaning of what was actually said.

HBO Max will host a series of fre theatrical screenings of the Season 2 finale of "The Pitt" to honor healthcare workers on Monday, April 13. The screenings, taking place at Alamo Drafthouse locations across the country, invite "healthcare workers to come together for special communal viewing experiences celebrating their steadfast dedication to their communities."

The same actor played the bad guy on 911 last week and RJ Decker last night. His parents must be so proud!

I always liked Amanda but absolutely HATED her in these last two episodes. Even her voice was driving me up the wall. As usual this season only Angie and Ormwood were worth watching, although I also liked Faith. It's amazing how a show that was so good for three seasons has been SO bad, although I can say the same about GHOSTS and ABBOTT ELEMENTARY.

Thanks to the institution of the ABS pitch challenge system in Major League Baseball this season, 225 of the 430 hitters listed on Opening Day rosters are now listed at shorter heights than they were in 2024 and 2025. According to Sam Blum of The Athletic, six players saw their official heights drop by three inches, 48 by two inches and 171 by one inch. Meanwhile, 45 hitters gained one inch and two hitters gained two inches of height in MLB's effort to institute the most accurate strike zones possible.

Well, with one I wouldn't know how to use the stick.

https://apple.news/ABnkj33B3QNuGNL8MAXOjeA She Owed Her Insurer a Nickel, So It Canceled Her Coverage Last summer, Lorena Alvarado Hill received a series of unexpected medical bills. A teacher’s aide in Melbourne, Florida, Hill is a single mom who works shifts at J.Crew on the weekends to send her daughter to college. Hill and her mother, who lives with her, had been enrolled in an insurance plan through HealthFirst. Hill paid nothing toward the premiums for the government-subsidized plan, which previously had covered her scans and other appointments. Then the bills came.

8 Old-School Gardening Hacks That Still Work Like a Charm, According to Pros These simple, tried-and-true methods are all you need for healthy plants https://apple.news/AmmYf2a1yQRa-_kRksE7zpA

CANCELED

This pitiful piece of trash has been canceled

This weekend, the stars of two ’90s teen icons are set to align in the heart of Astoria as Andrew Keegan from “10 Things I Hate About You” and Diana Uribe from “California Dreams” are taking to the stage at The Thespis Theatre in the Hellenic Cultural Center in “Once Upon A Time On…Clarantino’s Pilot.” The off-broadway play is directed by Andrew Cristi and produced by Carlos Leon (I wonder if that's Madonna's ex) and is their 13th play from the Cristi’s Case Crackers murder mystery series, offering a spoof on Agatha Christie style murder mysteries centered around celebrity headliners. The special event, located at 25-02 Newtown Ave. in Astoria, plays on themes from Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” with plenty of fun, surprises, and the chance for the audience to try to figure out who the murderer in the story is, while connecting Keegan and Uribe’s experiences in the ups and downs of Hollywood with plenty of tongue in cheek moments poking fun at some of their experiences paired with the ultimate ’90s nostalgia factor for a unique and unforgettable evening. “A lot of the characters are based on different characters in Tarantino movies and [Andrew Cristi] was able to weave in aspects of our careers, so we’re playing right into some of the stories from our own lives,” said Keegan. “It’s a great play, it’s a lot of fun, a lot of laughs, very provocative, with really very talented New York actors. It’s a humbling experience to be amongst this talented group, and we’re really excited to put it on stage.” “I’m half Colombian and half German and it was very clear at that time, that you were either going in as a Latino character or a white character, and I’m right in the middle,” said Keegan. “We were very early in representing the Latino culture and being a Latino at a time when every role was so stereotypical, but things didn’t start to open up until I did “10 Things. As a lead character in a film like that, it became more okay for the industry to accept that these kinds of roles work, and that’s interwoven into the play.”

The last few episodes have been really good. The show is one of my favorites.

Regular or decaf?

This American hero just donated 1000 American Airline miles to military members and their families to keep the rest of the miles he'll never use active for 24 months. It feels great to be such an exemplary person.

I like the fact that the detectives are not chafing at the idea of working with her anymore lately.