It’s A Celebration Of Flavor At Maspeth’s Newest Café

Celebration Cafe's new decor makes it a site to behold at its Grand Avenue location in Maspeth. A new fun and festive restaurant has recently opened its doors in Maspeth to provide residents with a complete assortment of breakfast, dinner and lunch alternatives at reasonable prices in a warm and cozy atmosphere along the Grand Avenue shopping strip.

The Celebration Café is owner Louie Salmat’s renovated and enhanced version of the old New York Burger Diner (NYBD) that goes way beyond the options of typical burger shops and casual eateries by presenting customers with a whole world of choices.

Located at 65-35 Grand Ave., Celebration Café’s menu offerings include sautéed dishes, steaks, chops, paninis, salads, chicken specials and loads of seafood entrees in a new remodeled setting featuring 16 private booths, soothing music and a relaxing vibe that gives patrons a very neighborly home-away-from-home feeling.

As an added bonus, Salmat’s newly refurbished eating destination has enlisted the services of three former members of O’Neill Restaurant’s cooking staff, who were left out of work after the Maspeth mainstay burned to the ground in a five-alarm inferno last month.

The new employees have brought their special buffalo wing recipe with them, which Salmat hopes will spur many of O’Neill’s regulars to stop in and enjoy the tasty finger food.

“Hopefully, we can create a buzz here,” he said. “I know people love the wings. It will be a good appetizer to have when you come in with friends or come in on a date. We try to bring a nice festive atmosphere to the community. I’ve expanded the menu. Everything that we did, we do even better now because we have a good crew of workers. It’s a different group, a better working group who knows the business better.”

The overall dining experience at Celebration Café is tough to beat, as customers are greeted with a fresh bowl of tasty popcorn brought by a courteous and attentive waiting staff.

But what makes the establishment unique is its wealth of seafood and pasta options, starting with seafood combo ala diavola, which includes sautéed calamari, mussels, shrimp and scallops in spicy tomato sauce over pasta. The pasta entrees, on the other hand, include rigatoni Bolognese in a rich meat sauce and tortellini alfredo served with a mouthwatering double cream, grated Parmigiano cheese and butter. Although the dishes sound luxurious, most of them are well under $20.

Scrumptious oven-pressed panini and gourmet hero sandwiches are also something to try, especially the panini verde that comes with grilled chicken, provolone cheese, roasted peppers and onions in focaccia bread; or the chicken Francese hero sandwich.

The dessert menu is a real treat for ice cream lovers, as they’ll have their pick between a variety of ice cream sundaes, banana splits and ice cream sodas. Those with a sweettooth can also dig into Celebration Café’s New York-style cheesecake, layer cakes or pie a la mode.

In addition, children have their own separate menu offering a selection of hot dogs, grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken fingers and hamburgers. For $6.95, each kid’s meal comes with French fries, a scoop of ice cream and a soft drink.

Serving the Maspeth community for the past year has made Salmat very appreciative of his local clientele who are very loyal to their neighborhood restaurants and shops.

“I’ve learned that the people of Maspeth are a very tight knit community. They know what they want and you’re not going to pull the wool over their eyes. It’s not like in Williamsburg or Manhattan, where you get a lot of people from out of state or tourists that you could just hit over the head, give them whatever you got and then they’re gone,” he observed.

Celebration Café is now open seven days a week from 7 a.m. until midnight. The restaurant accepts all major credit cards and provides free local deliveries. For more information, visit www.mycelebrationcafe.com.