Day Tripper: Sunnyside

Between keeping within your budget and scheduling time off from work, planning a vacation can be stressful.

If you find you have too little time to travel and not enough money in your bank account, there’s no need to fret.

Each Thursday, Douglaston Patch will profile one of the five boroughs’ unique neighborhoods, where you can sample some local culture and culinary delights.

This week’s pick is Sunnyside:

Noon

Stop by Gray Point Thai Restaurant, located at 42-02 Greenpoint Ave., for lunch.

The Asian fusion eatery offers curry entrees, salads and soups, vegetarian selections, fried rice dishes, fish noodles and duck.

Click here to view Gray Point’s very extensive menu.

2 p.m.

Visit the Flux Factory, an artist collective that was previously housed on 43rd Street in Sunnyside before moving to its current locale at 39-31 29th St. in nearby Long Island City.

The factory provides studios for as many as 30 artists and space for up to 150 exhibitions. Each year, Flux hosts workshops, salons, lectures, film screenings and receptions.

This weekend, the site will host the 72-Hour Urban Auction, which will offer public planning workshops with city officials, and the Everyone’s A Winner Party, which will include prizes and entertainment by several local DJs.

The factory’s fall programs will include Back to School: Learn Something New, which will incorporate elements of art and technology, and “Be There for Me,” a play performed by LaGuardia Community College students that will run from Sept. 20 to 24.

Stop by the Flux Factory’s website for more information.

5:30 p.m.

For dinner, stop by Quaint Restaurant, a popular New American bistro located at 46-10 Skillman Ave.

Its appetizers include everything from calamari and steamed mussels to a variety of salads and macaroni and cheese. For its main courses, Quaint offers salmon, pan seared catfish, pasta, cheeseburgers, shell steak and roasted chicken.

The eatery also serves dessert and after dinner drinks. On Mondays, patrons can try the all-you-can-eat mussels and fries dinner for $18 between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Click here to view the full menu.

7 p.m.

Take in a show at the Thalia Spanish Theatre, the borough’s only bilingual Hispanic performance site.

The Thalia hosts Spanish theater, operettas, folklore music and dance. On Sept. 30, the theater will kick off its first program of the fall – “Colombia en su Salsa,” which will include curullao, porro, cumbia, mapale and salsa music.

Later in the season, the theater will host a flamenco music and dance program that will pay tribute to the poet Garcia Lorca as part of the 75th anniversary of his death.

For more information, visit Thalia Spanish Theatre’s website.