"Ethnic profiling" restaurants

[anil]

Pan, you probably went to Grand Sichuan in its early days, right? What I remember -- both in Chelsea and Midtown -- was that in the beginning those places were not destinations for the Chinese-American big-table groups. The general New York mostly-not-Asian audience was firmly established first, and the Chinese audience came later. At least that's the way I remember it.

The 9th Ave. GSI was the other way around. There was hardly a round-eye at dinner time. Since it's in our 'nabe we passed by the place as it was being done-up. A colleague of mine for whom the Chelsea one was round-the-corner; mentioned the link between the two. So during the first month "no round-eyes in 9th Ave. " and then hell-broke loose and as they say -- "there goes the 'nabe'

[anil]

Concepts like "best example of cuisine" are somewhat subjective.  (Sorry about that.)  For example, there are many Chinese restaurants in Chinatown that have predominantly Chinese customers.  I've found that my tastes don't necessarily coincide with the tastes of many Chinese, so I wouldn't necessarily choose a Chinese restaurant on that basis.  And in fact, I would argue that some of those restaurants serve down-right nasty food by any standard.    Although there probably is some measure of "right and wrong" when judging a dish as "Chinese Cuisine" for example, when it comes to enjoying the food, it just depends what you like.

Yo !! while you say this from one side of your mouth; on another thread you said

Taste is not subjective. Either you are wrong or the others are wrong. The only way to determine who is right to discuss the issue for approximately 14 pages. Generally, the wealthier diner who spends more money on expensive meals and wine is right.

which is from the other side of your mouth - What is it ? mate ?? Cognitive dissonance or poor grades in introduction-to-clue-101 Or you can take the 5th and say -- "what ever your lawyer says you say "

[jo-mel]

A bunch of us white people went to Hunan Cottage in New Jersey a few weeks ago, and the white-guy-in-chief who did our ordering did such an outstanding job that, when our meal was served, the Chinese-Americans at the surrounding tables were all craning their necks to see what the heck we were eating. You know you've ordered well when that happens.

I haven't been there, but I just did a search. I see they have two menus. What did you all order?

[Fat Guy]

Beats me. I wasn't in charge!

[jo-mel]

Beats me. I wasn't in charge!

LOL!

OK, then ---- what did you eat?

[Fat Guy]

The two dishes that really stick in my mind are 1) a big fat whole deep-fried duck (and I assume there were several other cooking methods applied to it first) that was shredded at the table and served with puffy crispy buns; and 2) a big piece of pork shoulder (or some similar cut of pork), braised to preternatural tenderness. Oh, also this big platter of cold appetizers of every stripe, most of which I had never tasted before. We did not, however, get the blood soup they were having over at a table at the other end of the room -- I wanted it but was overruled by the experts (mostly I just wanted to use the stainless steel heating contraption the soup came with).

[SobaAddict70]

Cold appetizers are on many menus at Chinese restaurants in Manhattan. You have to wonder if these are inherent money losers because, although I don't know about you, I don't see many run-of-the-mill Americans (who aren't Asian -- or even some who ARE Asian) ordering things like jellyfish and duck's tongue for starters.

Soba

[Pan]

Fat Guy:

I think there was probably something of a migration of the hardcore customers from Chinatown to Chelsea, and I think most (but not all) of those customers were Chinese-Americans, but I also think a Chelsea and wider Manhattan audience came to the restaurant thanks to a bunch of white food critics, Chowhound users, word-of-mouth, etc.

And people who just walked in, like me. Yep.

A bunch of us white people went to Hunan Cottage in New Jersey a few weeks ago, and the white-guy-in-chief who did our ordering did such an outstanding job that, when our meal was served, the Chinese-Americans at the surrounding tables were all craning their necks to see what the heck we were eating. You know you've ordered well when that happens.

Cool!!!!

SobaAddict70:

I don't see many run-of-the-mill Americans (who aren't Asian -- or even some who ARE Asian) ordering things like jellyfish and duck's tongue for starters.

I don't like duck's tongue, but gimme some cold jellyfish anytime!

[tommy]

the Chinese-Americans at the surrounding tables were all craning their necks to see what the heck we were eating. You know you've ordered well when that happens.

awesome. the crane necks at Hunan Cottage are the *best*. their soupy-dumplings just don't stand up to C46, though.