Skip to content

Posts from the ‘Chinatown’ Category

Jan 11

Sweet n Tart

I used to imagine there was an impossibly shaped shared back kitchen between
the cafe and restaurant, but I know it can't be true. It strikes me as
strange that there'd be two versions of the same eatery on the same curving
street, but that's Chinatown for you.

When I'm not in the mood for Noodletown, dim sum or S.E. Asian food (my
three favorites), Sweet 'n' Tart is where to turn. Actually, they serve dim
sum type snacks to order and that's part of their beauty. Seeing the
numerous choices in print rather than passing by on a cart, gets the mind
reeling. You could spend countless visits working your way through their
three(!) menus, sampling oddities like the Malaysian sweet roll or Italian
spring roll. Me, I'm addicted to the turnip cakes.

I've yet to try the congee, tong shui or mysterious bowl of inky black
goo I've seen others downing…there's always next time. (1/11/02)

The latest in my Tues. night, kill time before class, Chinatown solo
ventures. Dim sum type items are always more fun with larger groups, as you
get to sample more varieties. I restrained myself with three choices:
stuffed eggplant, turnip cakes and fried pork vegetable buns. The buns had
the sort of filling you'd see in a noodle type dumpling rather than roast
pork like I'd expected. I think I prefer the dumpling to the bun. I'm also
still curious about the Malaysian sweet roll, but that'll have to wait.
(7/23/02)

It seems classic, but I've never done the Chinatown Christmas dinner. In
fact, I don't usually do anything except mope around the apartment on
Christmas day eating junk food. This year I managed to rustle up one in-town
friend and two friends of hers for Mott St. fun. While Carroll Gardens was a
ghost town, the restaurants below Canal St. were bustling, lines out the
doors, dueling parallel parkers. Luckily, S&T wasn't too bad.

Not to be a control freak, but I do have strong ideas about dining in
groups that I never voice so its not surprising when they go unheeded. I
have a fantasy that one day Ill befriend a dream team to share dining
excursions with. I'deally, four people would get four things (or more) and
everyone could share and have variety. But with vegetarian and/or picky
eaters this becomes impossibility.

No one really wanted what I'd ordered: turnip cakes, salt and pepper
shrimp (all had shrimp issues, exacerbated by the head on presentation) and
scallion pancake. Then two of the party ordered the exact same thing (pet
peeve—and not only mine, it was mentioned in a recent Time Out
NY article about how to annoy waiters), a bean curd and vegetable mix.
To be fair, the fourth member went on a limb and ordered an expensive random
dish of seafood and what seemed like egg or custard in a thick clear sauce
that barely even got eaten. It was a little oddball, I didnt understand the
extreme egginess, and I was already full since I ordered more dishes than
anyone else.  I'm not complaining, it sure beat sitting alone in
Brooklyn. (12/25/04)


Sweet'n' Tart Restaurant * 20 Mott St., New York,NY

Email, RSS Follow
Pin It
Share on Tumblr
Email

Dec 8

Singapore Cafe

I've been all obsessed with Singapore lately so I really wanted to try out
this new Chinatown restaurant and I really wanted to like it. But it was
just one of those bad Friday nights where time gets away, no one can decide
what to do and moods sour. By the time I met James for dinner it was already
10:30pm, fine for some places, but not this particular one. A serious pet
peeve of mine is going to a restaurant that's closing in half an hour. If
possible, I'd prefer to be seated at least one hour before closing. But this
isn't James's way so he doesn't understand my annoyance with being the last
ones in an establishment. Not to get all Meyers-Briggs on you, but it's a J
vs. P thing.

The first strike came when I was told it was too late to order the
laksa, the one thing on the menu I definitely wanted. Fine. The roti canai,
chow kueh teow and jumbo hot & spicy shrimp sufficed, but the overall vibe
was dour. And when the waitress asked for a different $20 bill because the
print was too pale, James nearly lost his shit. I'd be willing to give the
place another try, possibly during lunch time, but there's no way I'll be
able to convince James to accompany me. (12/8/01)

When staff at an Asian restaurant tries steering you away from menu
items, you usually suspect it's a rare delicacy they're afraid to offer to
fussy Americans. At least I used to believe so. I also used to proclaim my
love of laksa. I know there's two breeds: Singapore (which I like) and Asam
(which apparently I'd never had). This was Asam, I was warned and I paid the
price. I have an extremely high tolerance for pungent, strong flavors, but
this was too much. It was like murky swamp water filled with twigs, stiff
leaves, fish bits, beef? and an underlying liver taste offset with sour,
minty notes. I hate to admit defeat, but my stomach honestly couldn't handle
it. I took half home to try the next night, and could only down a few
spoonfuls. The only other flavor I haven't been able to deal with is malta.
Those beverages are completely intolerable.


SingaporeCafe * 69 Mott St., New York, NY

Email, RSS Follow
Pin It
Share on Tumblr
Email

May 18

Vegetarian Paradise 3

This is one of those restaurants that sits quietly in Chinatown, never
crossing my radar. It'd only occur to me to pay a visit when my sister is in
town. Chinatown can be very meaty, really (not that I usually complain). I
agreed to check out this vegetarian place, and was especially tempted since
my quest that day was really to find the new Aji Ichiban candy store,
and it happened to be a few doors down. What luck.

The menu consists of lots of mock items, which I enjoy from time to
time. It's a brown rice sort of place with bottles of Braggs Liquid Aminos all over the place,
which cast this weird health food brainwashy cloud. The Braggs freak me out.

I had tofu prepared like sweet and sour pork, really tasty turnip cakes,
and a seaweedy soup. The $4.95 lunch special is quite a deal, but the
confusing part were the Chinese or American style choices. The only
difference appeared to be that American came with an eggroll. Was I missing
something?

Fill up on brown rice and liquid aminos, but save room for salted plum
and coffee cake flavored gummies at Aji Ichiban up the street.


Vegetarian Paradise 3 * 33 Mott St., New York, NY

Email, RSS Follow
Pin It
Share on Tumblr
Email

Mar 7

Jaya Malaysian

Urges are weird and unpredictable. Right in the middle of lifting weights, I
got the strongest craving for laksa, not even real laksa, but this odd
semi-authentic version I used to eat all the time in Portland. Laksa
thoughts continued to pop up in my head for days afterward, but it wasn't
until the following week that I was able to seek out my fix. This craving
prompted a conversation where I was asked if I had food urges even when I
wasn't hungry. Well, of course. Isn't that normal? Not that I'll always
follow through. A giant piece of cheesecake may sound good, but that doesn't
mean I'm going to go out and eat some every time it crosses my mind. I'd
like to hear from you freaky types who only crave food when you're actually
hungry.

Anyway, Nyonya is usually my first choice Malaysian, but you've got to
branch out sometimes. I've walked by Jaya enough times and not gone in that
it seemed worth a try. They didn't have the turnip cake or mee siam like I
was hoping for, but they did have a good, cheap roti canai, a whole section
separate from soups devoted exclusively to laksa and a rambutan beverage. I
always have to check for the rambutan on the menu (not that I order it, but
I've gotten a kick out of the demented fruit ever since I first laid eyes on
the prickly beasts in Toronto).

The main thing is that my laksa craving was temporarily sated. And it's
not every day that you can wolf down a bowl filled with spicy oil and
coconut milk without thinking of your arteries just a little bit. Gone are
the days of yore ('95-'97) when I could eat a bowl or two a week without
even blinking an eye. The weird thing is that I'm so used to the fake laksa
that I think I prefer it. Jaya's had thick yellow egg noodles when I'm used
to rice vermicelli (actually this is the only difference that I really
miss). Jaya's broth was much spicier and yellower–more curry or tumeric, I
guess. Now that I think about it, the fake laksa's broth was more like the
roti canai gravy, minus the potatoes. Gravy? Broth? It's all the same. I do
that I ate a bowl filled with a satisfying liquid, left stuffed (but not
ill) and in a pretty good mood.


Jaya Malaysian Restaurant * 90 Baxter St., New York,NY

Email, RSS Follow
Pin It
Share on Tumblr
Email

Jan 7

Dim Sum Go-Go

Dim Sum Go-Go is one of those new-school Chinatown restaurants that's hard
to pin down. Modern, cute, boldly color-schemed. Eschewing the tendency
towards garishness while hanging on to the requisite fish tank. The red and
white design almost evokes a fast food joint, but the table cloths and
non-generic dishes imply something else altogether.

I'll admit that I was a little baffled as how to order. There's a
regular menu and a dim sum one (it's not the sort of place with carts
wheeling by) and I wasn't sure which to pay attention to. I was really
hankering for a turnip cake, but all the dim sum appeared to be dumplings,
which didn't make sense since you'd think with dim sum in the name, there'd
be more variety. (And then there's Excellent Dumpling House, with barely a
dumpling to speak of.)

However, the dumplings they offered weren't run of the mill. Fillings
included shark fin, crisp duck skin, jicama and pink dough made from beets.
ordered a combo with one of each (10 total) and then realized that didn't
make sense since wouldn't get to taste everything, so ordered a second. It
was tricky because you had no idea which one you were getting, though you
could narrow choices down through a process of elimination. The freakiest
one looked liked a frizzy ball of fried bean curd, but had a crunchy gritty
bite. My guess was shark fin because what else would have that
cartilage-like quality? The four dipping sauces were a nice change from the
usual soy sauce. They had a ginger scallion, garlic, "Chef Guy's," and
vinegar with pickled ginger. It was tough deciding which to dip into.

We also tried soups, which were simple, came in cute clean-lined
crockery and had names like Song of the Sea and Wise Man's Broth. But I but
I was most excited by the tiny airplane portioned piece of Shanghai bread
that comes with each bowl. Akin to a bland, greaseless donut–I could eat a
whole plate of that stuff.

Upon leaving, I couldn't help but notice a plate of turnip cakes on a
table by the door. What?! How could that be? I also picked up a menu and
there was a whole section of fried dim sum that I swear I didn't see on the
real menu, but then, it was early for me and my deduction skills weren't up
to snuff. They also had a Chinese New Year menu at the register, which put
all sorts of ideas in my head. $365 for ten seemed like a good value,
unfortunately I don't even know ten people and the ones I do know are a
bunch of babies who wouldn't want to do it anyway. Bastards. But me? I'm
definitely going back to get my turnip cakes and try out the entrees. I
suspect that on second visit, I'll be forced to give up their two shovel
rating for three.


Dim Sum Go-Go * 5 E. Broadway, New York, NY

Email, RSS Follow
Pin It
Share on Tumblr
Email

Dec 16

Excellent Dumpling House

After a hectic day of Christmas shopping, a nice warm bowl of soup seemed to
be in order. I was on the fringes of Chinatown and not in the mood for major
walking so popped into this place that seemed to have a tourist vibe. Like
people had travel guides out and none of the clientele were Asian. That's
not usually a good sign, but I wasn't scared.

I tried to find something outside of the hot and sour, egg drop soup
vein and chose a beef stew. It was actually pretty good, similar to a dish
I'd had at Sweet 'n' Tart Cafe before, very home-style with big chunks of
meat and lots of preserved vegetables and thick noodles. Like something
you'd expect someone to make for their family. also ordered dumplings since
they were in the name of the place. I wouldn't necessarily say they were
excellent, but there wasn't anything wrong with them either.

The only disturbing part of the meal concerned the group of people in
the corner who ordered fish and obviously didn't expect it to come whole
with the head on. That wasn't the disturbing part. It was later when I had
to use the bathroom and waited for a good 15 minutes for the disgruntled
fish-head lady to get out. I couldn't stand it anymore and jumped into the
men's room. One probably would do well to steer clear of a bathroom that's
been occupied for that length of time anyway. For some reason, I kept
envisioning a giant fish being in the toilet. There's nothing excellent
about that.


Excellent Dumpling House * 111 Lafayette St., New York, NY

Email, RSS Follow
Pin It
Share on Tumblr
Email

Oct 27

New York Noodle Town

fourshovel

I don’t feel as if I have much to say about Noodle Town since I’ve gone on about it many times before in other places. I first discovered it on Chinese New Year, which I didn’t even realize was Chinese New Year until I got down there and was overwhelmed by the crowds. But I’m not sure that the crowds were indicative of the holiday since I’ve never seen the place empty. Even at 3 am (it stays open til 4 am, which can be a godsend on some nights) the tables are filled, which is saying something.

You may have to share a round table, which is really hit or miss. Sometimes it’s a scowling, lone, elderly Asian woman, sometimes it’s a middle aged couple who read about Noodletown in Zagat or if you’re really lucky you’ll get obnoxious college-kid foodies who think they know all the best items on the menu and feel the need to share their knowledge with the Dutch folks on your other side who’ll end up befriending each other and passing food over you the entire meal. But most likely, you’ll just get some non-offensive people who’d like to enjoy their soup in peace just as much as you would.

I’ll admit that my breadth of knowledge concerning the menu is small since I order the same items almost every time. Remember soup and roasted meat and you’ll never go wrong. I get the roast pork wonton noodle soup and it hasn’t disappointed yet. It’s full pork slices, substantial wontons, bulging with two shrimp each, thin noodles, and broccoli (last time it was gai lan, Chinese broccoli, which was an even bigger treat). I’ve been to places where the soup is like water. This sad state won’t occur here–even the broth is packed with flavor. The soup is a meal in itself (I
never realized how large the portion was til I got an order to go and it filled up my bowl two and a half times), but try and save room for some roast duck. You can get an order on rice for $3.25 that won’t bust your gut. Of course, larger sizes are available if you’re in the mood. The salt-baked soft-shell crab is also a winner. They’re not overly greasy, and the salt is off-set by a sprinkling of sliced chili peppers that I swear are jalapenos, even though I know those are not Chinese and my dining companion refuses to believe me.

A lot of Asian food aficionados say you’re only supposed to order off the special menus. Noodletown has one with “fancier” things like meats served with snow pea shoots, sandy pot casseroles and things made duck’s feet, but I’ve always stuck with the basics. I know, you don’t want to be all fuddy duddy and order things like chow mein or egg rolls at a place with amazing regional food, but nothing’s wrong with their regular menu, which you’ll find displayed under glass right at your table for easy viewing. It’s not that I don’t want to try the frog congee, God knows I do, but my stomach is only so big. Maybe I’ll get a batch to go next time. Roast duck at 3 am and congee the morning after sounds like a good plan. Rice porridge is for breakfast, after all. (10/27/00)

Soft shell season—we had to go. Actually, I don’t understand the season because I swear they always have soft shell crabs on the menu at Noodletown. Maybe its just the difference between fresh and frozen? I love that salt and pepper preparation on fried seafood. It’s light and barely battered, which doesn’t induce the usual gut wrenching trauma I get from things like fish and chips. Oh, and the jalapeno slivers also are a nice spicy contrast. But I am a little baffled about the use of jalapeos in Chinese food, I don’t see it in other dishes. Is this traditional? Even Sichuan food gets its heat from peppercorns, not chiles. I will have to look into the Cantonese connection. (5/15/05)

Yay, Noodletown. It’s an oldie but a goodie that I haven’t paid a visit to in probably a year. I didn’t stray from my routine and had roast pork wonton noodle soup and shared a plate of roast duck on rice. We even got our own table during prime Saturday dining time after only waiting a few minutes. That doesn’t happen with any regularity. All the right planets must’ve been in alignment. (3/25/06)

NewYork Noodle Town * 28½ Bowery, New York, NY

Email, RSS Follow
Pin It
Share on Tumblr
Email
Newer Entries »