The Archives

Chinatown, Restaurants

Wontons & Fried Fish Skin at Noodle Village – NYC

A few weeks ago, Hannah (my sister-in-law), told me she was coming to the city and wanted to eat shrimp wontons. Unfortunately, I was stumped. I didn’t know of one restaurant that had good wontons. So when in doubt, what do you do? You appeal to the twitterverse and hope someone comes through. In this case, twitter friend Kathryn Yu came to the rescue with the suggestion to go to Noodle Village. Supposedly, it’s the only place her aunt will go for wontons. The following week, I ate wontons every day at a different restaurant in Chinatown. After much “research,” it seemed Kathryn and her aunt were right. For wontons, only Noodle Village warrants repeat visits. MORE »

Cliffside Park, Restaurants

Petite Soo Chow & Turkeyless Thanksgiving – Cliffside Park

11.27.10 | Permalink | 8 Comments

For the longest time, my family didn’t have a go-to Chinese restaurant in New Jersey. In New York, yes, but in New Jersey, no. There was one place in Fort Lee we went to a good number of times for dim sum, but after several unwanted encounters of the creepy crawly variety, it was time to stop giving the restaurant a chance. Finally, about a year ago, my brother discovered Petite Soo Chow in Cliffside Park, and since then we’ve been slowly eating through the entire menu.

We even ended up at Petite Soo Chow this Thursday. For the first time since I can remember, I did not have one bite of turkey this Thanksgiving. I’m not sure exactly how it happened. I know a few weeks prior there were a few rumblings in the family of not having turkey and only having ham, but never did I imagine a turkeyless Thanksgiving would happen. But it did, and although I b*tched and moaned a fair amount, I made do, and then some. MORE »

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 »

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Bought mussels and monkfish instead. Dinner was quinoa and seafood in white wine and garlic sauce. Key was butter & basil at the end.

The Archives

Chinatown, Restaurants

Wontons & Fried Fish Skin at Noodle Village – NYC

Cliffside Park, Restaurants

Petite Soo Chow & Turkeyless Thanksgiving – Cliffside Park

Chinatown, Restaurants

Offal and Country-Style Duck at Bo Ky – NYC

Chinatown, Restaurants

Hot Crunchy Bits at A-Wah – NYC

Bakery, Chinatown

Coconut Balls at Lung Moon Bakery – NYC

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