Forest Hills Matzo Ball Soup Deli Crawl: Austin St Stops

Zipping up our fleece jackets after a windy autumn tennis set near the historic stadium courts, my doubles partner, her graphic-designer brother, and I launched a Forest Hills matzo ball soup deli crawl to warm our hands before the late-afternoon chill set in. Few Queens neighborhoods pack such an intriguing contrast of soup traditions into a ten-minute walking radius: on the south side of the Long Island Rail Road viaduct, Austin Street holds classic sit-down deli-diners with bustling counter cases, while the blocks stretching across Queens Boulevard blend Ashkenazi comfort staples with Central Asian and Bukharian kosher soup craft. Linking both sides of the tracks turns a simple post-match lunch into a cross-neighborhood broth tasting.

Start your tasting on the Austin Street side of the neighborhood, where the classic Queens sit-down deli-diner format still reigns. Order a bowl of matzo ball soup in one of these bright, mirror-lined rooms, and the server sets down a wide, heavy ceramic dish dominated by a single grapefruit-sized floater matzo ball. The broth here follows the classic New York delicatessen blueprint: golden, clear chicken stock simmered with yellow onion skins for color, sweet carrot rounds, celery ribs, and a generous scatter of pulled white meat and tender dark-meat shreds. Because the matzo ball is steamed until airy and cloud-light, cutting into the center lets the hot stock rush into every crumb.

Walk north beneath the Long Island Rail Road underpass and cross the wide lanes of Queens Boulevard, and the neighborhood soup personality takes a fascinating turn. Several kosher counters and neighborhood kitchens along the northern side streets draw on both Eastern European and Bukharian culinary roots. When you order matzo ball soup on this side of the boulevard, you often encounter a deeper, golden-green broth infused not only with feather dill but also with fresh cilantro stems, cracked coriander seed, and slow-simmered turkey or beef bones. The kneidlach tend to be smaller, firmer two-ball portions rolled by hand with a peppery, savory bite that holds up against the aromatic stock.

Tasting an Austin Street cloud-floater bowl right before a Queens Boulevard herb-and-turkey-bone cup highlights how neighborhood demographics shape comfort food. In the Austin Street booths, the soup is designed as a gentle, buttery-tasting curtain-raiser for overstuffed rye sandwiches; across the boulevard, the bowl stands on its own as a robust, spice-warmed meal that leaves your fingers tingling even after you step back out into the Queens wind. Notice how the northern counters also serve freshly baked round flatbreads or flaky meat pastries right alongside the soup tureen, offering a crisp, sesame-crusted alternative to traditional seeded rye.

Because Forest Hills delis attract everyone from weekend shoppers along Austin Street to commuter families stepping off the E, F, M, and R trains at 71st-Continental Avenue, smart pacing keeps your crawl moving smoothly. When you enter an Austin Street sit-down deli, let the host know right away if your group is just ordering soup and a shared side dish; sitting at the counter stools or the smaller two-top tables near the front deli case gets your bowls out twice as fast as waiting for a large rear booth.

Right after you take your seats, the waiter will usually drop off a complimentary relish dish piled with crisp cabbage coleslaw and briny garlic pickles. Use those sour pickle spears to wake up your appetite before the hot broth arrives, and ask for an extra soup spoon so two people can split the oversized Austin Street matzo ball without filling up before stop two. If you want a small savory bite to compare alongside the broth, order a single stuffed cabbage roll in sweet-and-sour tomato sauce or a crisp potato pancake rather than a full triple-decker club.

When you cross Queens Boulevard for your second stop, consider ordering from the takeout counter if you want to keep walking toward the neighborhood parks. Always ask the counter team to pack the steaming broth and vegetables in a tall quart container and place the matzo balls dry in a separate small cup or foil wrap. Keeping the dumplings out of the liquid during a ten-minute stroll prevents them from swelling up and drinking half your soup before you find a sunny park bench.

One of the most rewarding reasons to stage a matzo ball soup crawl in Forest Hills is the old-world architectural walk sitting steps away from the commercial strip. After finishing your first bowl on Austin Street, walk half a block south to Station Square, where red-brick Tudor Revival arcades, steeply pitched clay-tile roofs, and cobblestone paving surround the elevated railroad platform like an English village green. Even a ten-minute loop around the plaza fountain and beneath the arched brick bridges clears the palate and sets a relaxed pace before you head north.

Continue a few minutes further along the curving, tree-canopied lanes at the entrance to Forest Hills Gardens, where ivy-draped brick walls and iron streetlamps create a serene pedestrian buffer away from traffic. Walking these quiet residential curves lets your first bowl settle naturally before you duck back under the Long Island Rail Road viaduct toward the kosher soup counters north of Queens Boulevard.

If you carry a two-container takeout soup order from your second stop near Queens Boulevard, steer your group toward the landscaped paths of Macdonald Park right along the boulevard median. Shaded by tall oak and plane trees and lined with rows of wooden benches, the park gives you an easy, wind-buffered spot to pop open your quart tub, drop the matzo balls into the piping-hot broth, and compare notes on which kitchen nailed the texture. Having a bottle of plain seltzer or a warm thermos of lemon tea in your tennis bag makes that outdoor bench tasting even more restorative after an afternoon on the courts.

From Macdonald Park, you are positioned right at the main transit hub where the subway lines, Long Island Rail Road trains, and local buses converge, with bakeries and fruit markets lining the surrounding blocks. Pull up the Karpo APP before you wrap up your afternoon to compare nearby Forest Hills soup spots, trace a longer walking route along the leafy perimeter of Forest Hills Gardens, or pick out a neighborhood bakery for almond horns and rugelach on your way home.