Chinese

From the week of June 13th, 2010

Little Pepper

133-43 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing

Whenever Shaun (Chinese food hater) is out of town, we all take advantage and have a big Chinese meal out in Flushing. Our latest outing to the beloved Sichuan spot, Little Pepper began more adventurous than most. As we were paying the muni meter we were told by a wobbly eyed crazy woman “This is a bad neighborhood. For real. Don’t be here after dark. The casinos. These people will chop you up and you’ll be eaten!’”. I’ve never been told I’d be eaten before, but as you can tell, we manged to survive the night just fine.

If anything was going to kill us it was the intensely wild heat that came with our meal. If you think spicy can’t touch you, if you scoff at the little red pepper on most menus that denote heat, head over to this tiny basement restaurant stat. The Diced Chicken with Chili Peppers, ChonQuin Style and the fragrant Lamb with Spicy Sauce (Cumin) made us all sweat and even at one point literally steamed up Jim’s glasses. Most importantly though, they were delicious, no flavor or complexity was covered or lost in the heat and the meal was impressively ungreasy. Even Jim, who jokes that salt is sometimes too spicy for him couldn’t stop eating because it was so good.

Accompanying the mains, we got the wonderful Spicy Sichuan Cold Noodles (much like a Dan Dan Noodle sans meat), the refreshing Cucumbers with Mashed Garlic, and the Steamed Pork Dumplings in spicy sauce. All excellent. And in addition to the great food, the place is extremely welcoming despite language barriers and we felt comfortable taking our time and making ourselves at home with the hospitable and kind staff. Just look for the smiling Red Pepper on a yellow awning for Sichuan food to rival close by favorite Spicy and Tasty. Just be sure to brace yourself for serious spice and make sure cannibals don’t get you on the walk back to the car.

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From the week of March 21st, 2010

Shanghai Pavilion

1378 3rd Ave

After just enduring a mediocre Chinese meal, I’m even more adamantly recommending Shanghai Pavilion, a well loved upper east side spot that we ate at when visiting my sister and her new baby at Lenox Hill. Tender, flavorful soup dumplings (called “juicy dumplings” on the menu) followed by a huge bowl of hot and sour soup made for a great start to our meal. Both are top on my personal list of favorite foods, but a bad version is nothing short of depressing (and we can probably all attest to the sad prevalence of bad hot and sour soups out there in your basic take out).

I was happy to find that our main dishes were also exemplary. The Shanghai Sizzling Beef was hearty and yummy and the chicken dish (which I believe was the chicken with garlic?) was phenomenal. Even the ring of bok choy (a bitter that neither of us is a great fan of) was tasty. The meat was not fatty or heavily breaded to cover the weird parts I’ve found at other spots and the sauces were distinct and delicious.

We were fully statisfied and skipped desert, but I am not satisfied that I don’t have an equally great option for Chinese much closer to home.

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From the week of January 24th, 2010

Shanghai Cafe

100 Mott St

The service at Shanghai Café was so hostilely brisk and gruff that I almost felt honored to be seated in our tough little lady’s section. The place isn’t much for ambiance either, unless you feel comforted by the fact that your Formica table is lined (and protected?) with duct tape, but really what does ambiance matter when the perfected delicacy of a soup dumpling is there for the eating? Joe’s Shanghai is probably the better known purveyor of the messy dumplings of deliciousness, but I’d really have to eat the two side by side to decide which is better. Both are crave worthy (read: I want them right now!).

We inhaled two orders of the soup dumpling both crab and crab-less – which had the table divided – I prefer the crab, but its flavor is very pronounced and others, who may not have a palette for the briny sea, liked the all-pork incarnation better. We also ordered won-tons in spicy schezuan sauce (peanuty and spicy), eggplant with garlic sauce, and bean curb schezuan style. Unlike some hole in the wall spots, all the dishes had a distinct flavor.

Pair it all with good friends and a couple of cold Tsingtaos and you get one of those meals that can make you so happy to live in a city that hides so much good food in its quiet corners.

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From the week of September 7th, 2009

Jade Asian

jade asian flushingI've really been making the rounds on the Flushing eating scene lately! I finally made it out for early Saturday morning dim sum at the renowned banquet hallesque Jade Asian. We had no problem getting a table for four at ten, but I've heard the wait can get crazy after noon time.

Not entirely knowing what to expect, I was struck by he whirlwind speed at which the dishes came at us. The staff speaks little English, but there's no language barrier issues when pointing, nodding, thumbs up and smiling do the trick. We said yes to lots of things right off the bat – several dumplings, wide noodles as well as crispy taro thingies.

I fell head over heels for the scallion dumplings and flagged down one of the waitresses for about three orders. My second favorite dish was a bit more daring: a custardy scallop mixture served on the half shell. Another favorite were dumplings – presumably filled shrimp and pork – and topped with a dollop of mayo and roe. The only dish I didn't care for was the expectedly heavy deep-fried bacon wrapped shrimp, but Jim was happy to eat mine, so it didn't go to waste.

We finished the meal with a sweet fried dough treat filled with sweet black bean paste. They were delicious and can be recognized by a sprinkle of black sesame seeds. Here's a whole bunch of pics I posted on RC.

I'd love to return again, because on the way out I noticed mussels, pancakes, and asparagus that we missed out on during this first go-round.

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From the week of May 9th, 2010

Hot and Sour Soup

from Simply Recipes

As some commenters mention on this Simply Recipes Hot and Sour Soup thread, it’s definitely not one of the most attractive soups out there, but when done right (not that gloppy bad take out stuff) I thrive on the dish. I could live off the Kikkoman mix that I’ve enjoyed since childhood (almost literally – I bought a case from Amazon as it became harder to find in local stores) but this more time consuming, fresh ingredient version, is definitely worth the extra preparation. It’s light, which might be surprising and we added some chicken to make it a heartier meal. We also substituted fresh mushrooms and were unable to add the more unique ingredients like lily buds. But it’s a recipe open to interpretation and your own flare.

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From the week of February 14th, 2010

Shang

187 Orchard Street

As far as I’m concerned, any place that boasts excellent hot and sour soup is worth visiting and Shang, which I tried out during restaurant week, serves up a spectacular version. While it’s easy to imagine the dissent among local foodies (“There’s nothing here that you can’t get for a fraction of the price in Chinatown!!” they’ll whine) but hey, this soup is really, really excellent and I have to say that I also loved the thick Cantonese Wok Fried Pearl Noodles – both of which were on the tasting menu.

We were less taken with the other items on the menu. The sushi was good, but not amazing, and the shrimp dumplings were a tad bland. For cocktails, I recommend the Diablo for its spicy tequila kick, though it was a touch too sweet.

The ambiance is similar to that of fancy dark hotel, which is not quite my thing, but the staff was not snotty, as one might expect, but really friendly and seemed happy to have us – and I’d be more than happy to return for another bowl of that hot and sour soup.

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From the week of November 15th, 2009

East Ocean Palace

east ocean palace11315 Queens Blvd, Flushing

We’ve quickly gone from dim sum newbies to the type of people that get up early on a Sunday, run to the car, and drive to the next place to try, even with a slight hangover. East Ocean Palace is a bit outside the epicenter of dim sum cuisine in Flushing, on the border of Forest Hills and Rego Park (easy to get to from the Van Wyck). For this reason, perhaps, or because we were there by 10 am, the place was less crowded than Jade Asia and slightly more pristine.

Our first lady was very helpful with explaining her dumplings and we enjoyed the typical fare of an array of shrimp, pork and chives as well as wide rice noodles with shrimp. We also tried things we didn’t have at our previous dim sum experience including a great meat speckled and leaf wrapped patty of sticky rice, minced shrimp tempura in pepper, and the best surprise of the meal – a gooey egg custard dumpling with a slightly crunchy outside. It got a thumbs up from the server and she was right.

Overall, the food was a bit fresher tasting than Jade Asian though, maybe it was the early hour, but it seemed to offer less variety. I’ve heard they have a great dinner menu that I’d like to revisit and try.

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From the week of August 24th, 2009

Spicy and Tasty

A trip to Flushing for real Chinese food has long been on my list of to-dos and just the other week, it finally happened. Spicy and Tasty is a Schezwan spot highly recommended by foodies who debate over whether it's as good as it used to be on Chowhound. Nestled in a neon-lit side street off one of the most transporting areas of the city, where nary an English word is muttered and enticing Peking ducks hang from all the windows, the no frills restaurant boasts a no frills staff that was patient enough to inform us that we were accidentally ordering dessert as entrees and that what we thought was pork was chicken, what we thought was beef was pork, etc. Not, mind you, that the menu is terribly confusing, but we managed to make it that way.

Oh, and that dessert we ordered was a wonderful mistake: four little dumplings with a sweet peanut sauce filled with a sugar black sesame ooze. I almost never care for Asian desserts, I think my palette is too fat-American based in unnatural processed sugars (I still ate pop rocks in between classes in college), but this was great.

Acting on internet recommendations we tried the dan dan noodles, which we were instructed to “please stir”. They were delicious with a strong flavor and spice, a definite must for return visits. Also highly recommended was twice cooked pork – a frightening mound of glistening pork slices that were most akin to fatty strips of bacon. A delicious one bite to be sure but, as my co-eaters can attest (who did not stop at one strip), not the wisest thing to make a giant meal of, I did, however, savor the accompanying scallions. Speaking of scallions, the beef and scallions was good, like excellent delivery-caliber Chinese, but not quite worth writing home about.

The real gem of the night was the Mild Spicy Chicken Schezwan Style. Hands down, this bold, crispy, intricate dish was the best Chinese food I've ever had and I can't recommend that you order it enough. It delivered exactly what I was hoping for: the kind of meal that makes you rethink a national cuisine that has simply been butchered by too many poor renditions.

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