Report: New Year Celebration at Lucky Garden

[Chris Amirault]

Ten of us are waddling about the southern New England area right now after a wonderful feast at Lucky Garden in N Providence RI to celebrate the Lunar New Year. We were Steve, Julie, Catherine, Ted (Catherine's cousin -- apologies if the name is wrong!), Paul, Keith, Shelley, Laura, and Christopher. We ordered a lot of items from the usual dim sum menu as well as several from the New Years menu.

We started off with these tasty little char siu and puff pastry items that none of us had seen before:

Swell har gao:

Char siu bao:

Conpoy congee:

Fried baby squid:

Shu mai:

Rice noodles with dried beef:

Soup dumplings:

Pork ton bor:

They had fresh whole bass, so we had to get that, of course, and it was excellent:

Vegetables included pea pod leaves:

Garlic chives:

Then we dug into the New Years dishes. First, a fine version of shrimp with sea moss and Chinese broccoli. I've found that sea moss has tasted a bit off when I've had it in the past, but not this time. It was great:

Broccoli with egg white and crab, which I adored:

An amazing braised pork dish described as "foot" on the menu and "head" by the waitress, which was served on lightly braised lettuce, which I also adored:

Shrimp with duck feet, the cartilage which had been removed and placed under the shrimp to steam:

Turnip cake:

The New Years cake, with sweet red beans, coconut, and egg. This is our house's favorite part of New Year!

We finished up with some sesame balls and dan tarts, which I didn't snap. Here's the gang:

Thanks to everyone for making this event such a success, and for supporting the eGullet Society!

[NewEnglandSteve]

Julie and I had a great time today. It's always nice to meet up with other EGers. It was really a great group of folks today. The food was really fantastic as well. Most of the dishes were things we've never had an opportunity to try before. Quite a treat to have so many new experiences! My top 3 were :

Shu mai

Shrimp w/ duck feet

Garlic chives

(honorable mention goes to the pork ton bor)

It was nice seeing everyone and thanks for a great time!

[Lapin d'Argent]

Ten of us are waddling about the southern New England area right now after a wonderful feast at Lucky Garden in N Providence RI to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

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Waddling is right; that was a truly wonderful feast! Everything was fresh and tasty and beautifully prepared.

My absolute favorite favorites:

Soup dumplings

Garlic chives

Christopher votes for:

Rice noodles with dried beef

Pea pod leaves

Broccoli with crab

We also both loved the fried chive something-or-others that you can just see in the background behind the baby squid. And we liked the congee quite a bit as well as the pork ton bor. And the...oh never mind, it was all good.

The company was delightful as well -- so nice to meet fellow eGulleteers.

A special thanks to Chris for organizing this event...it was perfect.

- Laura (and Christopher)

[eynkiora]

I really wish I could have come. It looks like it was awesome.

[Chris Amirault]

Sorry! I omitted the fried tofu wrapped shrimp and chives, which Laura mentioned above. The worchestershire sauce lurking behind a few dishes was served with those.

[Catherine Iino]

That was over the top--almost too many different tastes to savor. (But what would we have forgone? I liked even the turnip cake.) Thanks to Chris yet again.

To tie up one loose end in the conversation:

"The origin of the name Braintree is obscure. It is believed by some scholars that the name of the River Brain came later, and so was named after the town, rather than the other way round. One theory is that Braintree was originally Branoc's tree, Branoc apparently being an old personal name. Another theory is that the name is derived from that of Rayne, which was actually a more important settlement in Norman times. Braintree was called Branchetreu in the Domesday Book. Other scholars say the "Brain" element in the word is accepted to be derived from "Brid/ Brigantia/ Bride/ Bigit/ Britain". This is the ancient Celtic, and possibly pre-celtic name for the Goddess of the land of Britain. She is the reason the Romans called these islands "Britannia". She was worshipped all across the North of Britain in Roman times. The River Braint in Anglesey is another one of these names. "Tree" comes from the Saxon suffix, more usually spelt "try", denoting a big village."

That's from Wikipedia.