Your favorite Chinese restaurant dishes in NY

[enrevanche]

Really just idle/uninformed speculation on my part, but:

Since many NYC Chinatown restaurants are or at least once were Cantonese (much more regional diversity in recent years), could "NY-style Chinese" be a sort of code-phrase for "Cantonese/American style cooking"?

Edited to add:

My always perspicacious wife offers an even simpler explanation: since Florida is crammed with ex-New Yorkers (both snowbirds and retirees) this may just be an attempt to signal "Chinese food like you used to get back home" (instead of the blander, more Americanized stuff all too often on offer.)

Edited April 25, 2004 by enrevanche (log)

[irongut]

Since many NYC Chinatown restaurants are or at least once were Cantonese (much more regional diversity in recent years), could "NY-style Chinese" be a sort of code-phrase for "Cantonese/American style cooking"?

What a cheesy way to advertise Chinese food. If it's good chinese food then there should be no need for the categorizing. Besides, San Francisco cantonese population out numbers New York. You don't see " San Franicsco - Style Chinese food" ..

When I went to Toronto, the chinese restaurants there were advertising about there Hong Kong Style food. I do have to say that many hong kong'ers have immigrated in Toronto. I guess when they advertise Hong Kong Style, they are trying to signify that they are on the cutting edge of cantonese cuisine like that Iron Chef China.

[Felonius]

At Grand Sichuan (51st and 9th Ave. loccation).

Sichuan dumplings in chili oil

Cold spicy sichuan noodles

Kung Pao Chicken (ask for the "fresh chicken")

As noted in other posts, I'm addicted to these three.

[Pan]

Also on my list, lion's head meatballs (though I think they're just called braised meatballs) at Yang Tze River in Flushing.

Say, where is that?

[Pan]

I had another fantastic dish at Spicy & Tasty for the first time tonight: Mild Spicy Chicken. Fried hacked chicken that had had a wonderful spice rub on it, with lots of garlic, the top branches of celery as an herb, some moderately spicy (or Bell? hard to tell because of the hot oil) green peppers in small sections, diced ginger now and then, a few pieces of minced scallion, and plenty of hot oil. The chicken skin was crispy and some of the bones were cooked enough to be eaten. Just amazing. As I was eating it, I was thinking "This is not your Colonel's chicken!" Also, I could have paid a lot less to get Xinjiang-style chicken kebabs up the block and down the street, but why do that when you could pay more and get an exponentially tastier dish?

[SobaAddict70]

I second all of the GS comments.

In addition...

the steamed oysters with black bean sauce, the blanched "live" shrimp with rice wine and scallions, and the fish soup with Chinese greens, all of which can be found at Oriental Garden in Chinatown

the salt-and-pepper shrimp at Phoenix Garden

dim sum at Dim Sum Go-Go or Golden Unicorn

and don't forget New York Noodletown...

Soba

[Pan]

I got a great dish for delivery from Grand Sichuan St. Marks that I'm eating now:

Diced Chicken w. Red & Green Pepper (No. 114 on the menu, in the "Traditional Hunan Sauteed" section). Aside from chicken, this dish includes sliced fresh long somewhat spicy green peppers, dried red chili peppers, large slices of garlic, small branches of celery, ginger, and scallions, and it was fried until nicely crisp around the edges in hot oil. Unusually tasty dish! It will be part of my rotation from now on.

Edited September 9, 2005 by Pan (log)

[Sethro]

Grand Sichuan on 9th:

Ahzou Chicken (I know I'm spelling that wrong)

Dry Sauteed beef with bean curd

Dan Dan Noodles