The Archives

• Flushing, Restaurants

  Dinners at Nan Xiang – NYC

  04.02.11 | Permalink | 11 Comments

  Two weekends straight, my family and I made a trek to Flushing — my family from Northern New Jersey and me from the East Village — for xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) and more at Nan Xiang. My last post was all about Community Food & Juice not being worth an hour trip from the East Village. In this post, I present to you a restaurant worth the trip from the East Village, New Jersey, and beyond. 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 »

• Events, Flushing

  Best Bites at Asian Feastival 2010 – NYC

  09.13.10 | Permalink | 12 Comments

  Long time readers know I was a huge fan of the Singapore Chilli Crab Festival. Last week, Wendy Chan (the same woman behind the Singapore Chilli Crab Festival), along with daughter and food blogger Veronica Chan, brought to Flushing Asian Feastival, and I was invited to cover the event. As can be imagined, it was a great event with several small panels, some thought-provoking (Bun Lai of Miya’s Sushi spoke about the differences of sustainable eating versus eating locally during the Sustainable Seafood Panel) and some a little more light-hearted (In the Asian American Cuisine Panel, upon asked where he gets inspiration, Akira Back of Yellowtail responded that sometimes inspiration comes from “a stupid flower.” Hilarious.). But most importantly, there were a lot of tastings from Asian restaurants all around Queens. I made sure I did a lot of “research,” and my favorites of the day were the xiaolongbao from Nan Xiang, fish cutlets from Bownie, kimchi mal-ee (김치말이) from Hahm Ji Bach (함지박), and miang kana from Ploy Thai. MORE »

• Chinatown, Restaurants

  Exploring Across the Street at Famous Sichuan – NYC

  02.22.10 | Permalink | 6 Comments

  Whenever my family comes to visit me in Manhattan, we usually go to Joe’s Shanghai because we’re all addicted to their soup dumplings. Yes, I know everyone likes to hate on Joe’s Shanghai these days, but we still love their xialongbao. Sure, it’s not as delicate as the crabmeat buns at Din Tai Fung in Hong Kong, or as cheap as a million other places in Taiwan, but I have room in my heart and stomach for all kinds of xialongbao. Fill it with soup, and I will eat it. Last month, however, I told my family I wanted to go somewhere else, somewhere completely different… the place across the street from Joe’s Shanghai, Famous Sichuan! They didn’t seem very excited, but I promised them if it was bad we could always go to Joe’s, and they begrudgingly relented. I don’t believe in democracy when it comes to food. MORE »

• Bite vs. Bite, Hong Kong, Restaurants

  Din Tai Fung aka Dumpling Heaven – Hong Kong

  10.25.09 | Permalink | 8 Comments

  I love xiao long bao (Shanghainese soup dumplings). It’s one of my favorite foods in the world. When I first discovered Joe’s Shanghai in Flushing, for about a year, if not longer, I would go there at least once a week for their famous soup dumplings. Once, I went four times in one week. So when planning our East Asia trip, xiao long bao was ever present in my thoughts. For a few days, I even considered making a detour to Shanghai just to eat xiao long bao directly from the source. Luckily for my bank account though, my brain overruled my stomach, and Shanghai was nixed. However, that didn’t mean xiao long bao was out of the picture. I was in Asia after all, xiao long bao were to be mine! So on our final night in Hong Kong, David and I made our way over to Din Tai Fung, or as I like to call the place, “xiao long bao heaven.” MORE »