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Some restaurants aim for the stars, like John Glenn and Alan Shepard in the early days of NASA. Others just try a few new tricks, like a pilot doing a barrel roll. Beebe’s, on the other hand, sticks closer to the earth - and, as a result, it’s the sort of place where you can eat on a weeknight and have no regrets.
Beebe’s is a restaurant in the bottom of a small hotel in Long Island City, and, while it technically isn’t anything new or groundbreaking, it’s pretty adept at keeping you happy. Most things cost less than $20, the space looks like an Ikea showroom, and the soundtrack consists of some perfectly enjoyable songs that you could pump into an airport lounge or a parent-teacher conference. Think “Heart of Gold” by Neil Young, or anything ever written and performed by the Electric Light Orchestra.
The menu is equally crowd-pleasing, with things like pasta, a kale salad, and a few mains like steak and a chicken milanese. None of this food is going to make you want to start worshipping a deity made from your leftovers - but they’re all pretty solid, and the pizzas are great. They’re thin and crispy, and they come with toppings like hot honey, stracciatella, and other things that reach their full potential when placed on flat dough.
If it’s nice out, have a pizza on the back patio. There are plenty of tables, and, with all the planters and umbrellas, it feels kind of like the common area of a condo where everyone works in tech, owns a dog, and goes to bed at 9pm. And the best part is: it never gets too crowded.
You could get a table here tonight - and, if you live nearby and need something easy, you should. Beebe’s isn’t anything revolutionary, and it isn’t going to make you feel like you just witnessed the birth of a space program that will one day inspire such films as Apollo 13, Aliens, and Muppets from Space - but it’s safe and reliable, and sometimes that’s all you need.