Holy Scorpion Bowl! Actual Pictures of the Actual Dragon Seed!

My two-month-old obsession with long-gone-but-sorta-still-there Jackson Heights tiki restaurant The Dragon Seed has been given a very happy ending. Back in February, I posted something about the still-warmly-remembered place at 86th Street on 37th Avenue in Queens, a tropical wonderland owned by Charles Bow and favored by Louis Armstong. Then, in March, I visited the space, which is now a Columbian restaurant, but retains much of the original decor, including the elaborate fountain at the entrance, and two tiki figures out front.

Owner George Bow, still alive and well, contacted me after that post, saying "For more interesting photos of the Dragon Seed Restaurant, visit George Bow on Facebook. I owned and ran the 86th street Restaurant since the 1960's. My family opened that Restaurant in 1949." Holy pu pu platter! I went directly to the site, and what a treason trove of images.

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The Legend of the Dragon Seed

I was doing a little research on the above building, number 83-22 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights. It used to be an old Italian restaurant called Luigi's. Sometime back in 2002, I passed by the place. I liked its looks. Old leather booths, curtains on the windows, formal but homey. I vowed to pay a visit soon. But the next time I walked by, it had closed. Presently, it's a Mexican restaurant called Las Margaritas, that boasts that it serves the "best margaritas" in town, which I very much doubt.

I tried to find out something about Luigi's, but didn't come up with much, other than some people are still sad it's gone, one waiter named Vinny supposedly became maitre d' at Four Seasons, that the Thursday special Osso Buco was good and that they had to leave because the landlord raised the rent.

But while looking for Luigi's, I stumbled upon evidence of another bygone Jackson Heights restaurant, a much more legendary one which the fantastic name of Dragon Seed.

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Inside the Dragon Seed!

A few weeks back I blogged about the lost Jackson Heights tiki restaurant The Dragon Seed Restaurant, which once sat at the corner of 37th Avenue and 86th Street. It closed in the 1980s, but the legend of the funky place, a fav of Louis Armstrong and sport car enthusiasts everywhere, lived on.

One reader told me that, even though it is now a Colombian joint, two tiki figures still stand on either side of the entrance. This is true. But a couple other readers mentioned that the Dragon See tiki decor remains intact inside! Including an elaborate fountain. I had to go see.

And Shazam! It's all true. The Dragon Seed still exists, at least in form! Except you can only eat Columbian food (and fries and fried chicken) there now. No Mai Tais. There are more tiki figures inside, and bamboo hut-like booths. The bar is also a vision of tropical escape. And the lighting is very dim.

Best of all is the tiered, sculpted fountain which greets you on the right as you come in. It depicts, in great detail, what I take to be a rural Chinese landscape. There are houses, people, a fishing hole, bells, cliffs, trees. I couldn't take it all in in one go.

The waitresses are not dressed as tropical maidens. But their costumes are something else, and worth a trip in itself. The owner has them in a sort of South-American version of St. Pauli Girl laced-corsets and extremely short skirts. It's very sexist, quite hilarious and the women don't seem embarrassed at all. I'm sure they get plenty of tips.

This Week on Lost City

Totonno's Finally Reopens; Jackson Heights' Cavalier Restaurant Calls It a Day; We Learn About the Legend of the Dragon Seed; We Ask "Who Goes To Suzie's Chinese Restaurant?"; It Snows a Lot; Winn Discount Finishes Its Remodeling; Village Paper Goes Up in Flames.