Forest Hills BBQ Gifted To Mayor As Thank You For Queens Upgrades

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — Queens Borough President Donovan Richards had a message for Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday, as he wrapped up a Queens-focused week: If you keep bringing the bacon to Queens, you get the ribs — specifically the ribs from a Forest Hills-based barbeque restaurant.

“Because of all the bacon you brought home to Queens we are going to give you some ribs from Queens Bully,” said the borough president at a Thursday news conference, alluding to the millions-of-dollars worth of projects that the mayor committed to during the past week, when he kicked off his borough-based “City Hall in your Borough” initiative from Queens Borough Hall.

Richards applauded the small businesses across his borough — including Queens Bully in Forest Hills, which he says makes “some of the best barbecue in the world” — and also celebrated the financial investments that the mayor has made in Queens during the past several days.

Specifically, the borough president thanked the mayor for his contributions to the long-awaited 116th police precinct, which the city broke ground on this week, as well as his investments in the borough’s museums and parks.

Richards said that these borough-wide upgrades will help move Queens to a stronger place than it was going into the pandemic.

“Normal was never good enough for the residents of Queens, that’s why we were the epicenter of the epicenter of this crisis,” he said, adding that these investments in Queens’ infrastructure, safety, arts, and parks are about “building back better.”

The mayor, who has been singing the praises of Queens all week, said that he understood what Richards was saying loud and clear: “Bring the bacon and you get ribs, that's the message,” he said.

In addition to hashing out monetary commitments, the borough president and mayor have been eating their way across Queens this week, including a stop at The Door, a Caribbean restaurant in Jamaica that de Blasio said has “excellent jerk chicken.”

Queens Bully is located at 113-30 Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills. Learn more here. The Door is located at 163-07 Baisley Boulevard in Jamaica. Learn more here.