Like
most observers of Chinese food in New York, I have dismissed the
quality of Chinese food in Manhattan Chinatown as compared to that in
Flushing, Brooklyn, or even to some of the Chinese restaurants in
Manhattan outside of Chinatown. And while there still are no longer any
real destination Chinese restaurants in Manhattan Chinatown, there are
signs based on recent openings of several good and interesting Chinese
restaurants that things may be turning around there.
Most
of these new options are flying under the publicity radar and represent
a departure from the traditional restaurants of Manhattan Chinatown,
creating their own little niches A good example is Cha Chan Tang at 45
Mott Street. This may already be the busiest and most popular Chinese
restaurant in Chinatown. Yet there has been virtually no mention of
Cha Chan Tang in the food press or even the food message boards. This
may be in part due to the fact that Cha Chan Tang serves Hong Kong style
cafe food, which might not rate the level of discussion among foodies
that other types of food might. On the other hand, Cha Chan Tang's menu
has an entire section of fabulous Yunnan Fish Broth Noodle Soup
selections, which clearly deserves widespread attention by itself.
A lot of
the negative opinions about food in New York Chinatown arise from the
fact that it hasn't kept up with the evolution of Chinese food in the
21st Century in both Asia and North America. However, one new
restaurant bucking this trend is Mottzar Kitchen at 70 Mott St.
Influenced by master New York chef Joe Ng, Mottzar has a creative Hong
Kong style menu that includes smoked salmon in eggplant tempura, black
bass avocado crackers, egg white with crab meat, goose web with sea
cucumber, teriyaki lamb chops and lobster with truffles. Still, the
reaction to Mottzar seems not to be that favorable. First of all, is
the pricing, perhaps as much as 50 percent more expensive than what
locals are used to paying in Chinatown. Also some of these newfangled
dishes are probably a shock to a community that had not experienced the
gradual evolution of Hong Kong style food in the past 10 to 15 years
that people in Hong Kong, Canada and California have.
Another
under the radar Hong Kong style cafe is Full House Cafe at 97 Bowery.
Full House Cafe incredibly has over 400 items on their menu (don't be
fooled by the fact that dishes on its menu are numbered up to 564),
including around 40 dim sum items. Indeed their dim sum (menu, not
carts, of course) is as good as any in Manhattan Chinatown. But you
can't call it the best dim sum restaurant in Chinatown since dim sum
constitutes only 10 percent of the menu.
Then there's Lee Chung
Cafe, located at 82 Madison St. Lee Chung Cafe is located in the
grittiest part of Chinatown, where even newly opened restaurants look
like they've been in business for 40 years. In contrast, Lee Chung Cafe
is modern and airy, and would fit in quite well on Mott St. or Canal
St. or even Valley Blvd. in San Gabriel, but is certainly out of place
where it is located. Its eclectic menu includes Hong Kong style street
food and numerous boba drinks for the younger set. When I went there
they were serving ramen soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, Burmese fish
soup, croissants and Hong Kong style toast, but who knows what's on the
menu today?.
Noodle Village at 13 Mott St., another jam packed
restaurant, serves various noodle dishes and perhaps the best clay pot
rice in Chinatown. Cutting Board, 53 Bayard, serves Chinese style
Italian food, as well as lobster rolls and lobster topped beef sliders,
and brings a fresh twist to Chinatown. Spicy Village at 68B Forsyth
Ave., formerly known as He Nan Flavor, introduces Henan style food to
Chinatown. Notable dishes include various meat pancakes (essentially
flatbread sandwiches), big plate chicken, and hand pulled noodles. The
restaurant has been discovered by the hipster crowd, too, and I don't
know if that's a good thing or not. Then there's Diamond Hill Cafe at
147 Canal St., which for want of a better description is the "Asian
Chipotle," offering build your own burritos and tacos with Chipotle
like condiments but Asian fillings. Biting into my tofu burrito, I
thought to myself "tastes like Chipotle." Also worth noting is the
reopening of Yogee Restaurant as 85 Chinese Restaurant at 85 Chrystie
St., whose closing down a few months ago I had previously lamented.
Last
mention should go to the over the radar Xi'an Famous Foods at 67
Bayard St., this is a marvelous story of a restaurant lifted from the
obscurity of the basement of the working class Golden Mall on Main
Street in Flushing into the East Village and Brooklyn, as well as
Manhattan Chinatown. Despite their crossover success, there's no doubt
that their lamb noodles and lamb burgers are good and authentic.
So
if you want to hold a banquet in Manhattan Chinatown, I'm still not
sure what to tell you. But for a good and interesting meal, the choices
are expanding.
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