It cannot be overstated how much we love the Chinatowns of New York, all three of them!!! We, famously, met at the Mission Chinese Food on East Broadway, and so much of the beginning of our relationship was spent eating various plates of food from papaya salads (Lan Larb) to beef jerky (Ling Kee) etc etc. Anthony was living in Midwood at the time, ($700 to live with a Russian man named Derek, an old hippie who’d walk around in his tightie wighties all day and looked like he was permanently coming down from acid and his friend, Alex. Would absolutely not recommend this) and would take the train in early every day, so that we could split a plate of pork and chive dumplings from Lan Zhou (RIP) or some soup dumplings from Shanghai Cafe Deluxe (now called Supreme Restaurant) . He did also live across from DiFara’s Pizza, but that’s a whole other story….These outings did, naturally, nearly always make us late to work- it was worth it.
When we moved in together and Anthony bought a car (one of many he’d find on Craigslist over the years), our exploration of Chinatown branched out- from Flushing, to Sunset Park. We’ve eaten a lot over the years- the following are some of our tried and true favorites. Though, admittedly, this only scratches the surface. The 13th arrondissement in Paris, has become our new go to- with wafts of pho and roast ducks hanging from the window, it makes for a close second, but we are biased. It’s NY forever in this case!!!
OUTER BOUROUGHS
Pacific Palace
+1 718-871-2880
https://maps.app.goo.gl/caxXWzdYgwAcfEeC8?g_st=ic
[Dim sum banquet on the second level of a Chase Bank, would be amazing for a large group. Order: classic dim sum, spare ribs, chicken feet, fried taro, stuffed pepper, shumai, har gow, soy sauce noodle]
Roast 28
+1 718-633-8288
https://maps.app.goo.gl/1tHV97USbYQfjSpg8?g_st=ic
[Whenever we go to Fei Long market in Sunset Park, we always split a plate of roast meat at Roast 28. The char siu is insane, the spare ribs are insane, the chicken is insane, we think it’s the best spot for roast meats. Don’t forget to ask for ginger scallion.]
Ba Xuyên
+1 718-633-6601
https://maps.app.goo.gl/mzkAPNwEiy8di1Zj8?g_st=ic
[This place is very special to us- the first time we tried their banh mi, we knew this was the one. They roast the pork in house, the pickles were pickled enough, the amount of cilantro was perfect. They have a special sauce that, upon close examination, we concluded to be the perfect mix of hoisin and ketchup. On top of all of this, when we started the pop-up and were selling banh mi thit nuong, this is where we would come and get the bread from. If you had a banh mi at the cafe, this is the place that gave us the number to an old family run Italian bakery in Bensonhurst. Forever thankful!
Order: banh mi dac biet, sticky rice, goi cuon]