growing up in and around new york city, i have been very lucky to have been exposed to all sorts of ethnic foods from a young age. it has been said that new york is a melting pot of the world, with people from every country and culture living together and bringing with them their customs and more importantly, their cuisines. and the real beauty of this melting pot is that the quality of the food runs the gamut. you could have the best meal of your life at a huge Indian banquet hall in jackson heights for less than it costs to take a taxi there. or you could go to the most expensive restaurant in the city, masa, and have sushi that will change your life- so i hear...$350 per person is a bit steep for me.
the point is, for me, when i go back to visit i pretty much bee-line it to the cheap, no name, hole in the wall, ethnic joints where you will be pretty much guaranteed a great meal at a great price- something that is not always easy to find in new york. my advice is to know someone who knows what they are doing. personally, i want to know that i am going somewhere that has a reputation- for being good.
i have a few great friends i know i can count on for this; robyn took me to jackson heights once for an indian buffet that was out of this world, sung brought me to korea town for some korean bbq that i still drool about, and mike is my go-to for dim sum in chinatown.
dim sum is the name for a chinese cuisine which involves a wide array of light dishes served with tea. there's usually a good selection of dumplings, shumai, steamed buns, and some great surprises. it's usually a morning/early afternoon event and at certain places, throughout the day. some of the restaurants are vast banquet halls with huge communal tables, but not all of them. the waiters come through with carts or trays filled with a certain dish or a selection, you just point at what you want, and they mark your check. i've been before where you really have no clue what you're eating, which is part of the fun, but only if you are an adventurous eater.
when i arrived in new york last week, mike luckily had the day off. he is a bad-ass chef at a great nyc restaurant called anthos. he is also one of my best friends from culinary school and i love living vicariously through his crazy life. i gave up on the new york restaurant scene, but hearing about the things he gets to do with food sometimes makes me wish i hadn't. anyways, he had the day off (which is unheard of) so i took him hostage and we went downtown to chinatown.
as we wandered our way through the chaos of the various street vendors, mike made an executive decision of where we would dine. oriental garden is located at 14 elizabeth st, just off canal. we arrived and were seated immediately. we sat right next to a set of large tanks filled with all sorts of sea creatures that aren't exactly what you see snorkeling off the beach. geoducks, urchins, octopus, clams the size of my head. but these amazing creatures were not what we came for. they are for another visit, i guess. instead we got involved in the dim sum.
an eggplant dish, shumai, and mikey drinking his tea
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