Prince Restaurant (in Flushing)

[Pan]

I had a tasty dim sum lunch at this place this morning, arriving around 11:15. There was some room and I actually had a large table to myself, but most tables were at least somewhat occupied and the sound of convivial conversation permeated the room. All the customers except me were Chinese. I was lucky enough to be seated near the exit from the kitchen, so I got to see what was being put into the carts.

I ordered the following:

Beef Short Ribs with Black Pepper Sauce (unsurprisingly, a little fibrous but very tasty and definitely worth ordering again)

Beef Muscle in a sauce of pleasant sesame oil fragrance (a little difficult to pick up with chopsticks, but so what?)

Chicken Feet in Black Bean Sauce (average quality for NYC dim sum)

Fried Leek Dumplings with shrimp and scallops (quite good and very leeky)

Broad noodles of the type usually filled with beef or shrimp that weren't filled with anything but had a pleasant sauce that included soy sauce, sugar, and rice wine; they were also topped with shredded cilantro and sesame seeds. Those were very tasty but perhaps a bit too much unfilled starchy stuff to be ideal. I'd order them again, though, if I'm hungry. A headwaiter was impressed that I ordered it and said that they never put those in the carts (this time was clearly an exception).

I wasn't able to finish the broad noodles or the chicken feet but was stuffed. Charge? $9.50 plus tip!

Prince Restaurant

37-17 Prince St. (near 38 Av.)

Flushing, NY 11354

Tel: (718) 888-3138, 888-3139

Any Mandarin words you know are helpful, as the waitresses rolling the carts speak very limited English. I picked up a copy of their takeout menu, which includes some of the dim sum plates I ordered and others, as well as larger dishes, which also look interesting. Opening hours aren't listed.

[Pan]

I should add that, for those who'd prefer to drive, there is a pretty large parking lot directly in front of the restaurant.

[mascarpone]

How would Prince stand up to the other top Dim Sum establishments in Flushing/Manhattan?

[Pan]

It has some interesting stuff I've never seen in Manhattan (the short ribs, the beef muscle dish, the broad noodles with sesame seeds and shredded cilantro) and which helped make the meal a very nice one. Larger parties were special-ordering some big dishes that looked interesting, too. Otherwise, the fried leek dumplings were on the same level as Jing Fong; same with the chicken feet. My schedule hasn't allowed me to go for dim sum often enough in Flushing to compare it to other dim sum-specialist places there.

[mascarpone]

How about in terms of bang for your buck?

[Pan]

Stuffing yourself with good dim sum for $9.50 plus tip? Pretty cheap, don't you think? I'd imagine if I could have had the same meal at an eating hall in Manhattan's Chinatown, it would have cost around $4 more. But I don't think I could have had the same meal.

[mascarpone]

Why do you think the dishes at Prince Restaurant (the short ribs, the beef muscle dish, the broad noodles with sesame seeds and shredded cilantro) were different that those typically found at dim sum halls in Manhattan ?

[mascarpone]

Why do you think the dishes at Prince Restaurant (the short ribs, the beef muscle dish, the broad noodles with sesame seeds and shredded cilantro) were different that those typically found at dim sum halls in Manhattan ?

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Or, should I say, was the kitchen staff or chef particularly innovative or were they serving a Taiwanese or other-than-Cantonese variation on traditional dim sum ?

Is the chef at Prince particularly notable? This is an interesting issue, as at many high end French (Daniel Boulod), Japanese (Nobu), and Italian (Batali) eating establishments there are celebrity chefs, while at many excellent Chinese restaurants, the kitchen staff is virtually anonymous.

[Pan]

You've asked great questions and brought up interesting issues, but I don't know the answers to your questions. The feeling I got was that the cuisine there is generally Hong Kong-style, with considerable overlap with what you can get at more or less Cantonese-style eating halls in Manhattan like Jing Fong, Golden Unicorn, and Grand Harmony, but there are some particular specialties at Prince. Examples of overlapping dishes include the fried leek/shrimp/scallop dumpling I had, the chicken feet, siu mai, broad noodles stuffed with shrimp or beef, shrimp dumpling soup, spare ribs in black bean sauce, etc. Whether the non-overlapping dishes show Taiwanese influence though, for example, I just don't know. It would be great to have some dim sum expert chime in here.