42-47 Main Street, Flushing, Queens

Behold Hunan Kitchen of Grand Sichuan – a Chinese restaurant that even the most squeamish of eaters (our friend Shaun) can call absolutely delicious. And when I say squeamish, I mean our he was getting nervous even before we walked in the door panicking over the idea that there would be a bathroom in the restaurant (?!). The boy is no fan of Chinese food, with belly aches past to blame, but by the end of our feast, he had declared that he did, indeed really like this place.

Most Flushing gems we’ve frequented (Spicy and Tasty, Little Pepper, Imperial Palace: all brilliant in their ways) offer up at least one dish in our random selection that makes us all stop and say with politeness.. well that was a little weird. Mind you, (to give you an idea of our comfort level) we’re not all the way stuck with Western palettes, we don’t mind “strange” combinations and don’t hold back on the spiciness, but at the same time we never order a bowl of pigs feet either.

At the recently opened HKoGS, every single dish was a hit, we only had favorites among all the yumminess starting with a jalapeno and pickled bean fried rice that is, without a doubt, the best friend rice I have ever encountered.

Dan Dan Noodles arrived next surprising us by being hot (we had had cold before) and kicking our butts with chili oil heat. Continuing on our epic order of appetizers, we chowed down a perfectly toothsome scallion pancake, some fried savory sweet pumpkin cakes (not the favorite of the bunch, but still really good), and pork soup dumplings that were smaller and, dare I say it, better flavored than Joe’s Shanghai.

That is where my meal took a turn – not food wise, but my own body failed me when a filling popped half way out (not on anything I ate, it had felt weird for days and finally broke). I couldn’t really chew properly anymore, but as the meal continued to be so delicious I carried on as best I could (and took lots of left overs home, which I am LOVING as I write this).

OK, so personal woes aside, lets get on with the main dishes. Again all were excellent but perhaps the favorite was the Sauteed Pork Farmer Style, a slightly black beanish, saucy dish that had a lot of kick and was the biggest gamble of the night (most other dishes we read about either in the Times review or on yelp).

Sour Green Beans and Ground Pork was unusual but in a great way (in fact I am devouring a huge bowl of it now) the pickled beans from the fried rice accompany chopped spicy peppers and you know I am a sucker for ground pork.

Our third adventurous dish was white pepper beef, a nifty dish full of flavor but not as hot as it appeared on first look : tons of chili’s peeking out from the almost jerky like bits of beef.

Really, all three are highly recommended, though it seems from out experience that you can’t go wrong with anything on the menu here.

Add in a really friendly staff that makes you feel comfortable to linger (and who doted on Van) and you have yourself one spectacular eating experience, one that can even over shadow dental problems. This is bound to become a foodie destination if it’s not already.

We went as an early celebration to our Anniversary. We didn’t want to be away from Van and we didn’t want to spend a fortune so this was perfect. Our huge meal was less than $30 a person and it was laid back enough that Van could be comfortable there.

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Posted on August 22, 2011

13613 37th Ave, Flushing, Brooklyn

Imperial Palace has a more upscale atmosphere than some Flushing spots (not that that takes away one bit from the quality of Little Pepper and Spicy and Tasty’s food), so much so that the cleanliness and brightly lit tablecloths could even satisfy some of my more germaphobic friends if I dare take them to the neighborhood. Cantonese is a cuisine that is most similar to the “Americanized” Chinese food that took hold of our nation decades ago, though to compare your local Panda ___ with the southern regional food done right and traditionally is ludicrous.

Cantonese food values quality of ingredients, has a focus on fresh seafood, and is much milder than Schezuan. American Cantonese, due to immigrants having to substitute and improvise with unfamiliar and often less fresh ingredients is masked in gloppy sauces. Imperial Palace is considered to be the area’s best of the former type of Cantonese and as some other, wiser tables knew, freshness reigns supreme – they got to choose their fish from an aquarium. It was then brought to the table for inspection before being prepared.

With less insight into the menu, we sampled a couple things that sounded good. A solid, mild orange beef which managed to be neither greasy or too heavy, a plate of salt and pepper crispy prawns with chilies that only suffered from a messy backwards method to eat it: the shell on prawn was battered and fried, so you had to teeth the crisp off before getting to the meat under the shell. I tried eating the shell but it was a bit too tough and seemed like it could get caught in my throat. Both were very good, though milder than my usual taste so I’d choose some more daring dishes next time round (perhaps the oysters and fajita plate mentioned in this Times review).

But, I am really teasing you with all this talk of ambiance and history, because there is one major reason to go to Imperial Palace. All the reviews, blogs and word of mouth will name it: Dungeness crab over sticky rice!! A huge, steaming dish of hard shelled crabs which are tasty enough, but the delicate, indescribable rice that has cooked in the crustacean’s juices…. incredible. The huge menu might be overwhelming, and require a sort of point to what looks good experimentation, but this dish is an absolute a must.

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Posted on September 18, 2010

11315 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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Posted on November 15, 2009

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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Posted on August 24, 2009