DC Chinatown

[DTBarton]

We will be staying in the Chinatown/Verizon Center area for a night next week. I know Chinatown in DC doesn't have the reputation of New York or San Francisco as a dining destination.

Still, I wondered if any of the DC folks out there had some favorite spots for Asian food in the neighborhood. Chinese would be the first choice as our local area (Annapolis) has some pretty decent Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese restaurants, but we're pretty challenged in the Chinese department.

Thanks for any ideas.

[skipper10]

We will be staying in the Chinatown/Verizon Center area for a night next week.  I know Chinatown in DC doesn't have the reputation of New York or San Francisco as a dining destination.

Still, I wondered if any of the DC folks out there had some favorite spots for Asian food in the neighborhood.  Chinese would be the first choice as our local area (Annapolis) has some pretty decent Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese restaurants, but we're pretty challenged in the Chinese department.

Thanks for any ideas.

←

Most of the really good Chinese restaurants left Chinatown DC. They were replaced with all sorts of restaurants, many of them very good, but, not Chinese. If you insist on Chinese food in Chinatown try Full Kee. Their duck and fish are pretty good.

If you have never seen a Chinese chef stretch dough into noodles by waving his arms over his head go and stand in front of the window of the Chinatown Express on 6th street, NW. I do not recommend you go inside. The food is dirt cheap, and, as they say, you get what you pay for. My last lunch there was awful.

There are plenty of really good restaurants in the area. In case you don't have it, here is Tom Sietsema's most recent Dining Guide.

Bon appetit!!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/cityg...8/dining-guide/

[ast13]

We will be staying in the Chinatown/Verizon Center area for a night next week.  I know Chinatown in DC doesn't have the reputation of New York or San Francisco as a dining destination.

Still, I wondered if any of the DC folks out there had some favorite spots for Asian food in the neighborhood.  Chinese would be the first choice as our local area (Annapolis) has some pretty decent Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese restaurants, but we're pretty challenged in the Chinese department.

Thanks for any ideas.

←

Full Kee, as mentioned above, is your best bet. Also, I have heard good things about the New Big Wong which has recently re-opened. Generally though, the Chinese in the neighborhood is pretty terrible (as is most of the other ethnic food around there). If you want a good meal, I would recommend Rasika (indian) or Proof or PS7 which are all very close to the Verizon Center.

[DTBarton]

Based on ast13's comment and this Washingtonian review from 2005 http://www.washingtonian.com/restaurantreviews/856.html we went to New Big Wong last night. Should go based on the name alone, but those jokes are too easy.

We had an excellent meal. Basically followed the reviewer's suggestions. Don't know if this is the same group as 2005, but the recommendations were good ones. The place was full of mostly round eyes as there was a concert at the Verizon Center and they were pretty much ordering the American type stuff. The shrimp dumpling soup was not on the regular menu. When I ordered it, the waitress lit up a little and then was interested in helping us get some good stuff. They have a tank with live shrimp, so we had a half pound of steamed shrimp. Small, sweet, heads on, delicious. Served plain steamed with a little dish of soy sauce with some scallions in it. The shrimp dumpling soup was outstanding. The broth was rich and complex and shrimpy, dumplings tender and shrimpy also. We put some of the steamed shrimp in with the soup to finish them off.

Next was crispy roast duck and baby bok choy with garlic. The duck was the best I've had in a LONG time, including at the Peking Duck house on Mott street in NYC. Most of the ducks out here in the hinterlands are deep fried, not roasted. Now deep fried duck is tasty, but the fat gets sealed in and it's often overcooked. A lot of people give lip service to roasting and rendering the fat, but this duck nailed it. Fat all gone having made for moist, succulent meat and paper thin crispy skin, fantastic.

The bok choy was a great raw ingredient, tiny with vibrant green leaves simply sauteed with a little garlic. Perfect foil for the rich duck. I ordered the bok choy with oyster sauce (like in the review), but our helpful waitress said "get it with garlic".

Good call.

Anyway, I'd go back there in a second, 604 H Street. I guess you'd have to call it expensive by Chinatown standards ($50 for the whole meal), but if I could get that kind of quality for 50 bucks every time I went out, I'd love it.