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Chinatown

Chinatown, Restaurants
Offal and Country-Style Duck at Bo Ky – NYC
11.12.10 | Permalink | 5 Comments

A few months ago, Bo Ky was closed by the DOH. Some people get scared when things like that happen. Me, I pretty much accept it’s part of the restaurant game. Restaurants screw up, they clean up their act (literally), and then they open again. Dwell on the details too much and you’ll never be able to eat out again.

Other people get mad at the DOH. I’m guilty of that too. I get annoyed when I’m denied food, but sometimes Big Brother means well. For example, before Bo Ky closed, there were signs all was not right. I remember on one visit before they closed, the Curry Chicken with Flat Noodles that I loved so much and wrote about two years ago tasted off. The chicken didn’t taste fresh and the soup was incredibly salty. Another time I was filled with dread throughout the meal because my waitress was obviously sick. By the way, one of Bo Ky’s citations was “food worker prepares food or handles utensil when ill with a disease transmissible by food, or have exposed infected cut or burn on hand.” Yikes! But again, you can’t dwell on these things too much. You just hope when the restaurant reopens, most of the problems will have been fixed. MORE »
Chinatown, Restaurants
Hot Crunchy Bits at A-Wah – NYC
10.15.10 | Permalink | 16 Comments

I love crunchy rice. Not uncooked rice, but that wonderful golden crust that forms at the bottom of a hot pan or pot when making rice. Korean people call it nooroongji (누룽지), and it’s delicious in any form, Korean or not. Nooroongji is key in dolsot bibimbab (돌솥 비빔밥, bibimbab in a stone pot), paella (nooroongji is referred to as soccarat in Spanish), and also in bo zai fan, Chinese clay pot rice. Recently, I had some really great bo zai fan with lots of crunchy browned rice at A-Wah, a tiny restaurant with only a handful of tables in Chinatown. MORE »
Bakery, Chinatown
Coconut Balls at Lung Moon Bakery – NYC
10.11.10 | Permalink | 5 Comments

Sometimes the simplest desserts make me happy. Take for instance the coconut balls ($1.50 for a bag of eight) at Lung Moon Bakery, an old-school Chinese bakery on Mulberry Street that sells mooncakes all year round. The chewy, slightly sweet orbs of toasty coconut aren’t made with much more than sugar and shredded coconut, but sometimes that’s all you need. Some people will buy these and complain they don’t taste like macaroons, so before you do, let me tell you now, these aren’t macaroons. There’s nothing cake-like about them. These are for when you pig-out somewhere in Chinatown and are at the brink of exploding, but still want something sweet to eat. Not much, just a little something. And since there’s eight in a bag, after you have your fill, you’ll still have some leftover when afternoon munchies hit the next day. MORE »
Chinatown, Small Shops
Cheapo Lunch at Lunch Box Buffet – NYC
04.28.10 | Permalink | 4 Comments

Ying Du, especially without roast duck, gets old after a while so when work load permits, I change it up with some Chinatown steam table action at Lunch Box Buffet. The first time I went a few years ago, I went after work and it was godawful. Everything tasted old, and the free soup tasted exactly what you imagine free soup to taste like: tepid water with salt. Lunch, however, is a different story; complete night and day. Two weeks ago, I actually went two days in a row. I would have made it three days had something not happened on the second. MORE »
Chinatown, Restaurants
Dim Sum at Golden Unicorn – NYC
03.29.10 | Permalink | 14 Comments

I don’t do it enough, but I love dim sum on the weekends. Even if the dim sum offerings in New York aren’t too imaginative, it’s still a nice change of pace from the typical brunch. (I mean really, how many eggs can you eat every single weekend?) In Manhattan, as of now, 88 Palace is my favorite, but I’ve recently started liking Golden Unicorn. It’s one of the more well-known spots and for good reason. The food is good (albeit greasy), the restaurant is cleaner than other dim sum joints (if you’re into that kind of thing), and you don’t have to share a table (sharing is not caring). Usually I don’t mind sharing a table at Chinese restaurants, but some days, especially in the mornings, I don’t want to get up close and personal with my fellow New Yorkers. That’s what New York subways are for. MORE »