LIC Market: An Organic Café in Long Island City
Alex Schindler arrives at LIC Market at 5 a.m., when the rooster rises. He’s there, hours before the doors open, to warm up the ovens and begin baking the homemade cookies, croissants and pastries he will serve his customers that day.
I first discovered Alex on a Sunday afternoon, when I peaked in the window of LIC Market and noticed all the happy customers enjoying delicious fare in a space seemingly assembled by hand. A little research revealed that LIC Market only uses fresh ingredients and local produce. The environmentalist in me was intrigued.
The produce and dairy products Alex uses comes from the tri-state area. His eggs are supplied by the Farm at Miller’s Crossing in New York’s Hudson Valley. He integrates natural ingredients into his constantly changing menu and weekly specials, without sacrificing quality.
Not only is the food made with an awareness of the environment but the interior of Alex’s café was built from local materials. Along with his wife, LIC artist Lisa DiClerico, and their families, Alex designed and hand-built the entire interior over the course of a year. Everything was created from reclaimed materials, from the café bar faced with salvaged doors to the tables built with materials from Build It Green! NYC, a non-profit retail outlet for salvaged and surplus building materials. All the baseboards, countertops and shelving are repurposed remnants from a forgotten home in Flushing. When the large house was torn down, Alex also salvaged the antique metal front doors, which now serve as an elegant entrance to the café. The doorknobs are a bit lower than expected, because about 8 inches was cut off the bottom of the doors to fit them into their new home.
After confirming that LIC Market was a local merchant I’d be happy to support, I was ready to learn more about the man behind the café. Alex is humble and kind, and free with his words and baked goods. A native Queens resident, he’s been cooking for over 15 years. He began as a waiter and prep cook, but blossomed from there. He attended the Culinary Institute of America in Poughkeepsie, NY, and after graduating, continued to learn from master chiefs and business owners at such places as Dean & Deluca and Zabar’s. He soon began consulting for start-up restaurants in and around NYC.
One day he was hanging out with his wife and some friends, chatting about every chef’s dream—opening a restaurant. Alex and team came up with the concept for LIC Market. They put their plans into action shortly thereafter. And after a year of planning and building, LIC Market was open for business.
The café fills a much-needed niche in Long Island City—a quaint café that isn’t a deli or diner but also doesn’t price locals out of house and home. Residents stop by for their morning coffee—an amazing, fair-trade roast Georgio’s Coffee Roasters out of Huntington, Long Island—and a fresh egg sandwich or pastry.
All food is baked or prepared on-site each day, using fresh and simple ingredients. “It’s all about the integrity of the food,” says Alex, and “a high quality of service.” Like BORO Magazine, LIC Market’s food is made and distributed in Queens, by people who live here. We are proud to recommend LIC Market, a great place for breakfast, brunch, lunch, and eventually dinner.
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