Good places for Orange Flavor Chicken/Beef in NY?

[Pan]

This thread on Orange Chicken on the China/Chinese Cuisine board got me to thinking: I haven't had good orange flavor chicken or beef for a long time. As I said on the linked thread, it's usually hideously over-breaded and fried to a stomach-turning oiliness. In other words, sweet, pasty glop that will make me regret eating it all night. Is there any good Chinese restaurant in the Five Boroughs that also serves delicious orange flavor chicken or/and beef?

[Pan]

No leads, everyone?

[mjr_inthegardens]

It seems unlikely but I recall liking the Orange Beef at the Noho Star, a place that hardly screams authenticity.

-MJR

[Pan]

Yeah, that really is a surprising answer.

[JennyUptown]

Spices (here in good old Washington, DC).

Sorry, Pan. I realize that's not very helpful. But their tangerine peel beef is a favorite of mine.

[danger_doug]

Pan: Sweet-n-Tart has the best Orange Chicken/Beef I've ever eaten. It's one of my favorite dishes in the city... lightly breaded, with a flavorful, tangy orange sauce...

Edited May 19, 2004 by danger_doug (log)

[Fat Guy]

That's a good example of the skills theory of Chinese restaurants: that a really good Chinese kitchen will generally do a good job with the old-style Chinese-restaurant dishes too. The thing is, most eGullet types wouldn't think to order such dishes at really good Chinese restaurants. That sometimes turns out to be a mistake. One of the biggest discoveries of our dining partnership was when Jason wanted to order kung pao chicken at Grand Sichuan. I tried to talk him out of it, but he wanted kung pao chicken. So I grudgingly let him order it, and the rest was history.

Not exactly an answer, but in my experience the best dish in New York in this genre is Wu Liang Ye's tangerine prawns. I imagine they'd do pretty well with the orange beef and chicken as well, but I haven't actually done any sampling.

[Pan]

Thanks for the recommendations, guys.

I may also look into Flushing Sweet 'n Tart. A guy who was eating at Spicy & Tasty today reminded me of the place.

[amunoz13]

hello,

no.1 chinese in the esat village (avenue B and 4th street) has a great orange (tangerine, actually) beef dish. the tangerine pork is not too shabby either...

alex

[Pan]

Have a look on my report on No. 1 Chinese.

[Fat Guy]

Just had the tangerine beef from Wu Liang Ye on East 86th. Great stuff. It's presented as large crispy slices of beef perhaps 3-4" long on average (unless you are an absolute whiz with chopsticks, you need to eat the dish with a knife and fork), the sauce is not to sweet (it's a sweet dish, of course, but not over-the-top), and it has a great pepper kick.

Wu Liang Ye, while not rock-solid consistent, is in my opinion an underrated Sichuan resource. It's firmly in the number 2 spot after Grand Sichuan, and has some dishes that are better than or not available at Grand Sichuan. And since I'm in the UES branch's delivery radius, it's nice and convenient.

[KatieLoeb]

Though I know that many of you New Yorkers look down on Empire Szechuan with disdain, I had some very tasty Crispy Orange Beef at the one on the 200 block of West 72nd Street on Christmas. My friend (who lived in the building right above the restaurant for years and had them on speed dial ) tells me it's the Crispy Orange Beef, not the regular Beef with Orange Flavor (and gloppy sauce) that is so good. I thought it was one of the best renderings of that dish I'd ever had.

[Fat Guy]

They have some great stuff at the various Empire Szechuans, including a whole new menu of modern Sichuan cuisine meant to compete with the Grand Sichuan/Wu Liang Ye axis. The problem is that Empire is such a huge machine -- cranking out gazillions of meals 'til the wee hours -- that it takes a lot of effort to master and, even then, it struggles with major consistency problems. You've got to know which dishes they mail in and which ones they care about, and you've got to know the real chef's shifts and days off. Even then, you can get screwed.

[Pan]

I gave up on Empire Szechuan quite some time ago, after a number of absolutely inedible meals in a row. And the only reason I gave it that much rope is that my parents live a block away from the original one at 97 St. and Broadway. I don't ever plan on going to any branch of that chain again.

[bpearis]

In this week's NY Press, Adam Heimlich say that 10 Pell (across from Joe's Shanghai) has great orange-flavor beef.

... perfect fried-batter crispiness housing morsels of tenderized steak. Orange Flavor Beef retains its shocking crispiness throughout the 20 or so minutes it takes to consume its generous entirety.

The sauce that saturates but does not soak conveys the same quiet poignancy as the Three Cups broth. This time it's orange juice and soy, fresh scallions and dried red peppers in sturdy proportion—a graceful, sweet/hot A-frame. I'd bet this is the best under-$10 dish in Chinatown.

[Pan]

A couple of cousins and I started out on an orange beef quest today. Stop number 1 (for me, anyway -- he went somewhere else a few weeks ago but can't remember its name or location ) was Sweet 'n Tart. I expected their Orange Flavor Beef to be great, because their Orange Flavor Chicken and Shrimp have been really excellent. As you've already guessed, our experience was disappointing. The beef was good meat and had a good texture, but the dish was too sweet and had a kind of off taste. It seemed like they might have used marmalade, which could be a good thing except that the sauce, though present in a moderate amount, was somehow gloppy and just kind of weird. The other dish we got, mock chicken with various vegetables, was quite good, but our quest for a fully satisfying dish of orange flavor beef will continue. I've proposed Wu Liang Ye next, so stay tuned for another exciting episode of the Orange Flavor Beef Quest.

[juuceman]

I used to hit a restaurant in Brooklyn, Kar, for Chinese with my parents that had wonderful orange beef.. this is going back a while now, but it did kick ass..

recently had the orange flavor beef in Toronto and it had an oddly chocolatey taste..

I've not had the orange beef, but the sesame chicken at Shun Lee is great..

[Pan]

I used to hit a restaurant in Brooklyn, Kar, for Chinese with my parents that had wonderful orange beef..  this is going back a while now, but it did kick ass..

←

The place still seems to be around:

[courtesy of www.superpages.com]

Kar Restaurant AV N

5908 Avenue North, Brooklyn, NY 11234

(718) 531-8811

That is, unless you mean:

Kar LUK Restaurant

437 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215

(718) 832-4500

[k43]

They have both chicken and beef at the original Grand Sichuan, 125 Canal Street, across from Chinatown, just north of the Manhattan Bridge exit. I continue to like this place (which is no longer associated with the other GS restos). The dishes are listed under "Westernized," but they were quite good, if rather sweet.

The kitchen is VERY slow, but the results are worth it. I love the whole crispy sea bass.

Parking is easy around the corner along the extremely shabby area on Chrystie Street.