Posts from the ‘Chinese’ Category

Nov 29

Silver Palace

Do words like sub gum, chop suey and combination plate #2 give you the
heebie jeebies? Then you'd do well to steer clear of Tigard. They do their
Chinese vintage, red vinyl booth, cocktail lounge in back, hamburgers on the
American menu style. When your dad brags about a great Chinese restaurant
where he and the rest of the Lions Club meet bi-monthly, and complains about
General Tso chicken being too spicy, you'd better know what you're in for.
You're in for a shitload of food for five bucks: egg drop soup in that
abnormally yellow (from dye? extra yolk?) style with corn thrown in for good
measure, fried rice, mar far chicken (battered, chicken strips served with
that near extinct little dish with 70% ketchup, 15% hot mustard and 15%
sesame seeds) and kung pao three ways with beef, chicken, shrimp and
scallops (yes, that's more than three ways).
The ominous fortune spooked me slightly, "Do not be intimidated by the
eloquence of others." I don't like to think that I am. It prompted my dad to
talk about how can fit in any social situation, "It's common sense. if you
to a black-tie affair you wear a suit jacket." Plain and simple. Strange,
because I'd just been given Paul Fussel's humorously scathing "Class" to
read and it had filled my mind with all sorts of ideas about social strata,
middle class aspirations and proletariat ideals. My genes are so prole they
hurt. Middle class would totally stress over impressing at an event, which
is ridiculous in its own way. Proles just go with the flow because as they
say ignorance is bliss. (11/29/02)

Silver Palace * 1455 SW Pacific Hwy., Tigard, OR

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Sep 2

Hing Lung

Foreign Chinatowns are so baffling. Where do savvy eaters go? How do you
avoid tourist draws? Who knows, and with only a couple hours to spend in San
Francisco before catching our flight, there wasn't time to be discerning. We
just wanted roast duck won ton soup or something, so we stopped in Hing Lung
since they had ducks hanging up, I could see "fried dough" through the
window and their menu seemed interesting. They did have the soup, and a
pretty good rendition at that. But I was fascinated with the immense
pick-three-items-for-$4 each, after 5 pm menu. There were all sorts of
innards, jelly fish and frog concoctions. But you had to pick at least three
to get the discount, and unfortunately we just weren't that hungry (we were
saving room for an In-N-Out burger).

Hey, it just occurred to me to look this place up for context. It seems
to be an all right
place.

Hing Lung * 674 Broadway St., San Francisco, CA

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Feb 17

Triple 8

Pretty much banquet-sized room dim sum. Not sublime, but satisfying. I'm not
one of those finicky, stickler types. My only complaint: no turnip cakes.

Triple Eight Palace * 88 E. Broadway, New York, NY

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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

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May 25

Friend House

I don't know what's going on at that condemned crack hotel corner of 13th
and 3rd, but all of a sudden there's three shiny new restaurants. There goes
the neighborhood. And as it's James's block, we were hoping for a winner we
could call our local.

Friend House certainly has the name. And who could resist the promise of
an "Asian bistro"? The makings are all there, complete with cute, funky
neo-Asian decor that youngsters dig. But darn it, the menu's pretty blah.
It's comprised of typical Chinese dishes with a sprinkling of Japanese
offerings. Well, the sushi bar might have promise–the eel and spicy tuna
rolls were interesting. I wanted to know if it was run by Chinese or
Japanese as an ordering clue. I'm hoping Japanese, because the greatest hits
like kung pao and moo shu weren't breaking any new ground. They had some
casseroles and hot pots, but I was hoping for something more along the lines
of Funky Broome. Where are the lychees? Boiled frogs? Taro roots? I can get
cashew chicken any ol' time. However. I'll probably give it another go and
sample more of the sushi. (5/25/01)

I liked it better this time. In fact I was pretty happy. Probably
because we stuck to small items like dumplings, sushi and mini Peking duck.
I'm a sucker for snack-sized portions in abundance. (3/2/02)

Friend House * 99 Third Ave., New York, NY

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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

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Feb 22

Asia Cuisine

I haven't made a habit of mentioning Chinese take out joints. There just
doesn't really seem much point since the names and food all blur together
into one giant generic mass. I love Chinese food, but I'm so burnt out on
boring $4.50 lunch specials full of fried saucy stuff.

But the other day I was running errands during lunch and couldn't help
but notice this place with lots of handwritten signs in the window. Roast
pork bun $1.20 first caught my attention (I love pork buns), then what
really cracked me up was the one reading, "Chinese Pizza" in large print
with Scallion Pancake smaller beneath it. It reminded me of the Asian-run
Mexican place in my neighborhood with the "Chimichanga: Mexican Egg Roll"
sign in the window. The things people will do to entice wary customers. It
worked on me, though. Minor dim sum items could definitely add a lift to an
otherwise mediocre lunch.

Now, I'm a cheapskate first and foremost, so I usually pack a lunch, but
I've also been trying to eat healthier. But you can only eat carrots,
raisins and yogurt so many times a week before you break down. These
tempting little signs in the window were my downfall. I had to check this
place out.

I ordered a roast pork bun, scallion pancake and small hot and sour
soup. The total was under $5 and the results were pleasing. It was too much
food really. The soup contained preserved vegetables which to me always
makes hot sour soup that much better, though I'm not sure if they're really
supposed to be in there or not. The pancake was cut into seven filling
pieces. I couldn't even finish everything, which isn't like me. It wasn't
like the food was sublime or anything, but it got me out of a mini afternoon
rut and that counts for something.

Asia Cuisine * 218 Fifth Ave., Brooklyn, NY

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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

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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

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Dec 1

Funky Broome

Broome due to its Broome Street location and funky…well, because it's sort
of funky, I suppose. From the glowing pink and green plexiglass to the
marinated goose intestines–that is Funky Broome.

There are some Chinese restaurant standards on the menu, but I was more
intrigued by the mini woks, hot pots and their liberal use of lychees and
macadamia nuts. I also couldn't take my eyes off the tank of eels and
craggy, warty looking fish–especially since I was sitting right next to it,
up close and personal.

We got a hot pot of taro and chicken, which was rich, casserole-like and
included the title items, but was also spiked with cilantro, the
aforementioned macadamia nuts and meaty mushrooms. If that wasn't hearty
enough, I also picked the duck liver and pork sausage with rice in a fake
bamboo serving dish (even though I knew I'd be the only one eating it). How
can you not like Chinese sausage? A nice light addition were the salt and
pepper prawns that came with a sprinkling of jalepeno, which is always a
welcome touch.

I don't know if the planets were aligning in a peculiar way, but that
evening Funky Broome was a magnet for friends of James's that I only know in
passing. On the approach he spied some guy he went to college with who I'd
met once at a party. Then after getting seated and ordering he noticed a
coworker, Chris, sitting across the room and it turned into one of those do
I go over and say hi or make conversation when I pay the bill sorts of
dilemmas. And then next thing I knew, a different coworker, Alan, was
standing next to our table. He'd seen us in the window, which is easy to
imagine since the place is lit up like a beacon.

If you're into eclectic Hong Kong cooking and are prepared to run into
people you may or may not want to converse with, you might want to add Funky
Broome to your Chinatown repertoire.

Funky Broome * 176 Mott St., New York, NY

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