New Old Yeah No Shanghai Deluxe, Chinatown

Yeah not sure if I got that name right. It’s on the corner of Bowery and Mott, I know that much.

Staff was friendly, didn’t speak much English. A large guy near us wanted lemon with his tea. After much confusion, concluded that they had no lemons. Got up and told his wife he was going to go look for a place where he could buy a lemon. I don’t think he came back with a lemon.

I had a phone conversation with Angel afterwards. It went a little something like this.

Me: Had some pretty decent Chinese food today.

Angel: Oh yeah, what’d you have?

Me: We went a little overboard…dumplings, orange beef, sweet and sour pork, pan fried noodles…

Angel: That’s not Chinese food!

Me: What?

Angel: That’s not Chinese food! That’s, like, Americanized Chinese food.

Me: Well excuse me! What do you consider Chinese food then?

Angel: Chinese food is… steamed fish… and … I don’t know. Not what you had.

She’s right I guess, it was not authentic. But in my defense, it’s not like it was P.F. Chang’s, which is westernized beyond recognition.

And in my defense, I don’t think I need to have the “Americanized” qualifier before I say “Chinese food.” Most of what I come across will be Americanized to some degree, so I think it’s implied. After all, I’m not having lunch in rural China.

And in my defense, the only thing she could come up with in her defense was “steamed fish!” WTF.

So whatever. Maybe it wasn’t legit Chinese food. It was what it was. And it was good.

But I thank Angel for always keeping me humble.

Chinatown Snackin’ - Flushing, Queens

Jill and I took a sketchy Chinatown shuttle (“As long as you have someone to go with, it’s not sketchy”) just to play some casual badminton. It was my first time in the area. Little did I know I was in for a real food treat.

We got dropped off right in front of a window where a man was happily hacking away at a glistening roast duck. Komail, who we were also meeting up with, was still on his way, so since we had a couple minutes to kill, we thought: why not? Why not indulge in some fatty, non-meal snacks before engaging in an intense cardio workout? Right? In any case, after I learned it was only a dollar for two pieces, there was no turning back.

Peking duck is like a little soft taco of duck skin (with a bit of meat hanging on for dear life), scallions, and hoisin or plum sauce on a steamed pancake. These pancakes were thicker than I was used to, but I enjoyed their fluffy, chewiness. I devoured them in about 30 seconds. It opened up a window of hunger.

Right next door was a window where a guy was serving fish balls on a stick, simmering in a red hot liquid. For only a dollar. Next thing I knew, we were chomping away at those.

So the badminton games were a success, I was spent, and STARVING afterwards. Got a couple more orders of peking duck, a few to go, a few fish ball skewers to go, and an over-flowing container of fried noodles (FOR ONLY A DOLLAR) to go. I wasn’t about to go home empty handed.