Your favorite Chinese restaurant dishes in NY

[slkinsey]

Okay... but, for the sake of clarity, Steven and I can easily eat enough food for four people between the two of us. 

Obviously you haven't yet had the pleasure of going mano-a-mano with JJ and me.

Hmmmmm... if Steven, Jason and I went up against you, JJ and Eric Malson, it would be scary. And, yes, I think the skinny guys would win. YOU BASTARDS!

Okay. I feel better now.

[dumpling]

Hey you guys have to pit yourselves against me- I ate the 4 pound prime rib at El Cid! There still talking about " the little girl" who ate the whole thing.

[Pan]

my queendom for decent garlic sauce.  on anything, but preferably broccoli.  they don't make it right down here.  :(

down where?

atlanta ga.

apparently rather than garlic sauce, they do oyster sauce for everything. and it's sweet. :(

Sweet oyster sauce? Yuck!

[Pan]

Fried pork dumplings at New Green Bo. As much as I enjoy the Fried Dumpling and Dumpling House dumplings -- and for value they can't be beat -- I've got to give New Green Bo the crown.

Really? I've never had these. And I've never been to the restaurant, actually.

I sense an outing in the offing.

Tough to get into NGB at peak hours, though, and I feel pretty sure they wouldn't take reservations, but I could be wrong.

I'm glad to see Bo Ky mentioned. Those Chou Zhou places are excellent values in noodle soups and dishes over rice. Chou Zhou in Flushing is a standby for soothing soup, and there's also Chou Chou (sp?) on Mott near Hester.

My favorite soup at Chou Zhou on Main St. across from the Flushing branch of the Queens Public Library is the Triple Ball Noodle Soup, which is made with beef balls, shrimp balls, fish balls, and fish cakes. I do also like the Cuttlefish Ball Noodle Soup at Bo Ky that eatpie mentioned.

[Fat Guy]

My nomination for best Peking Duck goes to Maple Garden Duck House.

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

[PoorLawyer]

Salt baked squid from NY Noodle Town with a bowl of pork and shrimp dumpling noodle soup

[Suzanne F]

And for simple-but-superb, the Mushroom Noodle Soup at NY Noodletown. As well as the Seaweed Noodle Soup, the Roast Duck Wonton Noodle Soup, the pea shoots, the "chinese vegetable" (HWOE always asks for it with "just a little oyster sauce"), and any of the roast meats on rice -- enough to feed a family of four for a week. (Can you tell we've been trying to "eat cheap" lately?)

Sampan Porridge at Congee. Not Congee Village, but Congee.

And another vote for the roast chicken with fried garlic at Dim Sum Go-Go.

Oh -- I'll get back to you when we've been to A&B Lobster House more; a very promising place, and the closest of all to us.

[Pan]

In Malay, sampan is a type of boat. Do you have any idea why sampan porridge is so called?

[dumpling]

Pork meatball congee at Big Wong

I second the soups at Bo Ky

late night dim sum at Sun Hop Shing

[Ellen Shapiro]

The fresh pea shoots at Grand Sichuan Midtown are one of the best things in the world!

[Suzanne F]

When we've asked, we were told it's kind of a little of this, a little of that. Sort of: whatever there isn't room to keep, goes into the congee. I don't know about that, but I think maybe we just liked the basic congee best at Congee. (We also like the sampan porridge at NY Noodletown, but since we're prejudiced toward the place, I can't say whether or not it really is that good.)

Let's face it: fresh pea shoots are great, wherever we have them! Yummmmmmmmm. All the good things about pea flavor without the possibly nasty texture and off-taste of peas themselves.

[ChowAlf]

Razor clam w. XO sauce, Goose Intestine w. black bean sauce, Salt and Pepper Fried Soft Shell Crab @ Congee

Fried Tiny Buns @ New Green Bo.

ChowAlf

[Pan]

Welcome, ChowAlf! Thanks for your contribution, and I hope to read more from you in the future.

[Achai]

Anyone crazy about "soup dumplings"?

A special "soup dumpling(bun)" event will be held at Yuan Garden by Ding Tai Fong(means wok bountiful) a famed Taiwanese soup dumpling resturant.

Date : 03/03~03/07&

03/11~03/14

Location: Yuan Garden at Sheraton LaGuardia East, Flushing

(718)460-6666 ext. 3025

Famed dishes:

crabmeat soup dumpling,soup dumpling, steam veg. dumpling, stickyrice dumpling,clear chicken broth, clear beef soup, steam buns(meat,veg., sesame, red bean paste)

Warning:

I had been this event last year and year before, very disappointed. They sold out almost everything within 2 hours. Not only quality of food were poor but also very pricing. If you really crazy about soup dumplings and really really want to try it , please try to book a early hour reservation. I will pass this year.

Achai(a person who brought 50 steam pork and veg. buns back to NYC form Ding Tai Fong L.A. branch and finished they in a week)

**Some people say L.A. branch actually is not genuine, but it's good enough for me.

[scamhi]

adding to my favorites

at Dim Sum a Go Go

Shrimp with edamame and chinese bacon

[eatyououtofhousenadhome]

New Wonton Garden's ( 56 Mott St ) 'tender beef stew' (with or without curry or tripe, on noodles, in soup or on rice) might be favorite dish at any place in new york, chinese or otherwise

(and yeah I know my name is messed up, not a good start I guess)

[Pan]

I'm not familiar with that place at all! Any other dishes you like there?

[Pan]

I love the cold cucumber dish at Laifood on Prince St. in Flushing. Unlike the Shanghainese and Sichuan-style versions I've had, this one is pickled (and pretty strongly, at that). It also has a strong dose of little bits of dried hot pepper and cloves of powerful raw garlic. Not for the faint of heart, but I keep coming back for more.

[enrevanche]

At Grand Sichuan/Chelsea (I'm in the minority, I know, but I like the 9th Ave/24th St location best):

cured pork with garlic shoots

tea-smoked duck

At Wu Liang Ye on 48th Street:

dan dan noodles

beef tendon

hand-shredded chicken in sesame vinaigrette

scallops with chili cucumber

I'd also like to state for the record that I really, really miss the dear departed Sun Lok Kee. I still daydream sometimes about their whole fish (catch o' the day) cooked with fresh ginger and bitter greens. Mmmmm.

[Pan]

Welcome to eGullet and to this thread, enrevanche!

I've never been to Wu Liang Ye. You like their Dan Dan Noodles better than Grand Sichuan's, I take it?

By the way, if you're out that way, Spicy & Tasty and Sichuan Dynasty in Flushing make delicious Dan Dan Noodles!

[enrevanche]

Thanks for the welcome, Pan.

Wu Liang Ye (the 48th St branch near Rock Center -- dunno about the other ones) is absolutely worth at least one visit. Like Grand Sichuan, they are a small chain, but if I have my information right, the Wu Liang Ye chain is actually based in *China*, and these are the NYC outposts. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong.)

Both GS and WLY have good dan dan noodles (and for that matter, good tea-smoked duck) but somebody's got to be the ultimate winner. On the dan dan noodles, I give the edge to WLY... it's almost indefinable as to why, but I just think that the minced pork and chili oil have a little better texture when combined and that the whole dish just hangs together a little bit better there. For the duck, gotta give the nod to GS.

A food-tasting/extended restaurant-crawl to Flushing has been on my culinary to-do list for quite some time. Eric Asimov's ecstatic review of Spicy & Tasty the other day in the Times has just redoubled my resolve, as have your comments.

[Pan]

One word of caution about the Sichuan restuarants in Flushing: Even before Asimov's latest review, dinner at Spicy & Tasty without reservations is not something I seriously considered: Long lines. And at Sichuan Dynasty, don't think of going there as a solo diner for a weekend dinner, as they won't give you a table (and I don't blame them - there are too many larger parties waiting and the room is too small for that to make sense for them).

[Majra]

If you all don't mind a small tangent, there is something I've been wondering about. After living in the San Francisco area for a long time, where Chinese food is called Chinese food, I have moved to Florida. Here, I keep seeing restaurant signs advertising "New York style Chinese food." What does that mean?

[irongut]

Any of the clay casserole rice dishes at Yummy Noodle on the bowery.

Congee with pork and preserved duck egg, beef tendon noodle and wonton soup at Wing Wong on Mott.

Pepper and salt squid at Congee Village

Any of the Dim Sum at oriental seafood palace on elizabeth st.

Pat

[Pan]

If you all don't mind a small tangent, there is something I've been wondering about. After living in the San Francisco area for a long time, where Chinese food is called Chinese food, I have moved to Florida. Here, I keep seeing restaurant signs advertising "New York style Chinese food." What does that mean?

Sounds like P.R. bullshit to me. I was born in New York and have lived here for most of my life, and I haven't the vaguest idea what that odd phrase means. I guess they think that by using "New York," they can imply that they serve really good stuff. Maybe it's something like restaurants in areas of Manhattan outside of Chinatown claiming they serve "Chinatown-style food," which is also bullshit. Any restaurant outside of Chinatown that serves really good Chinese food doesn't have to make any claim like that. Believe me, you won't see phrases like that in the menus at Grand Sichuan on 9th Av. and 50th St. or 24th St. People from Chinatown go uptown to those restaurants because they know how good they are. And I'm willing to bet that no good Chinese restaurant in Florida claims they're serving "New York style Chinese food."