_> Hey if I can wear jeans and a polo at Benu I think I can suffice at EMP since they have no dress code…
I’m sure I can find it, but I don’t think I want to eat it… and out of curiosity looks like San Diego and Portland have DTF as well.
But it seemed like you were alluding that only NY had the best XLBs and the west coast had passable items. I apologize if I mistaken that, just curious how people compared Joe’s to DTF as I tend to use DTF as the gold standard.
On any forum, you’re going to have people who love a place and people who don’t. Right here, @RGR said EMP is one of their favorites, and I’ve said I didn’t think it lived up / I enjoy other options at the same price point more. @Sgee shot down a couple of places I enjoy (or I wouldn’t have recommended them).
So I’d suggest you go to yelp, look at pictures of actual dishes, peruse recent menus on restaurant websites, and then decide what you’d rather eat at the moment.
There’s an abundance of great food, possibly more concentrated and easily accessible than anywhere else, but only you can decide what it is that’s different / worth it for you.
I’ve been to DTF - I like the XLB better in nyc (I’ve eaten a lot of them, at a lot of places). That’s me. But you won’t know till you try a few 
Haha yeah that’s the main problem. Just juggling between places and looking at pictures and going… can I eat all this in four days (and I suppose without going broke …)? But definitely NYC has an abundance of good food!
And yeah fair point, I can’t compare it with DTF unless I eat it!
Did you look at menus / pics? I don’t know if LA is doing a lot of modern Korean, I haven’t been in a while (and like I said, having had Korean several times in LA I don’t think it’s better than here - ie I don’t seek it out anymore).
Honestly, go taste what you love the best is most important. If you love XLB (I don’t), then there is nothing wrong to go out of your way to seek all good XLB. I know people do that. It is almost a pilgrimage. I tend to do so for other things. It is a balance between what the place (New York Manhattan) is famous for and what you personally enjoy. Hopefully, both. At the end of the day, it is about your enjoyment and your experience.
My opinion… If you happen to be Manhattan Chinatown and you love XLB, then give Joe’s Shanghai a try. Don’t order 2-3 basket. Just one, and maybe don’t even finish the baskets (if you don’t think they are all that great). Just have a taste. Now, if it is me, I may rather have wonton because I like wonton more than XLB, but everyone is different.
I felt Joe’s in NYC Chinatown was better than DTF in Seattle (at the location DTF has at Apple University Village). I don’t have much longer experience: my point was not about East vs. West, but about the large majority of American geography/demography and lack of XLB there.
Yeah I was looking at them and just wondering about somethings. Cote seems delicious but I might be grabbing Korean BBQ in LA with friends so might not go there. Atoboy seems relatively reasonable but gotta figure out which dishes most people go for. I still have to figure out what Hanjan’s homestyle meal contains though.
Jungsik’s menu looks interesting. I’m leaning more towards the seasonal one right now versus the signature tasting. A few of the ingredients seem mmm… dunno just added for luxury. I forgot which topic I was talking about just earlier, but seems like adding caviar and foie gras makes the dish appear more extravagant and luxurious but doesn’t necessarily make the dish tastier.
Yeah that’s what I was planning on doing and then grabbing some wontons haha.
Gotcha!
My sister-in-law, who’s from Tokyo, thinks that Yakitori Totto is better than the reputedly top yakitori restaurant in Tokyo, and I (native New Yorker) think it’s great, too! And it’s not even the best yakitori I’ve had in New York. My brother and sister-in-law took me out to Torishin a couple of years ago on my birthday, and it was really super-gourmet yakitori, but very expensive.
I haven’t read to the end of the thread so far, but I have some other comments:
People are saying Chelsea Market is not a destination but recommending the Lobster Place. Well, the Lobster Place has its own restaurant, Cull & Pistol, which unless it’s greatly deteriorated since I last went there about a year ago is a destination in itself. Great seafood restaurant that was doing everything right.
Also, I’m very surprised to read these remarks favorably comparing Manhattan’s Chinatown to Flushing? Seriously? What does “well-grounded” mean, and where the hell is “Little Tokyo”? Would that be my neighborhood of the East Village, which is also now a hotbed of Chinese regional cuisine? And Little Italy isn’t really the foremost destination for Italian restaurants, is it? I take the point that some are worthwhile, but aren’t there more worthwhile ones in the Village and the East Village? Anyway, because Chinatown is a fairly short walk from my place, I go there frequently and have favorite places (New York Noodletown, Spicy Village, Congee Village), but Flushing is way more extensive, diverse and inexpensive.
Back to Little Italy, Di Palo is worthwhile, and what you get there is really anything Italian that you’re interested in. For example, I’ve gone there to get pecorino toscano cheese, parmigiano reggiano and fresh ricotta. As for Murray’s, I love it. I happened to be at Grand Central with time to kill (very unusual! I’m usually rushing to New Rochelle for a gig) and got 4 delicious cheeses from their counter there - an aged gouda, pecorino toscano, a delicious mature English cheddar and a lovely Comte. My feeling is that Murray’s is an all-round cheese shop, and the thing to do is tell them what you like, try some samples and buy what you like best in your price range. I’ve been to other stores lately, and from what I’ve been experiencing, it seems like Murray’s is the best. I really should shop there more often.
Barney Greengrass is great! I used to love getting his great lox with scrambled eggs for breakfast, or whitefish.
Yes, but not recommended for a 4-day trip unless you happen to be in the area.
I like Tim Ho Wan (except for those big noodle rolls, which are overly doughy and downright mediocre, everything else was done right from my point of view), but you have Yank Sing in SF and other stuff outside of the city (my favorite about 3 years ago was Hung To in South SF, where I had the best dim sum I’ve ever had in the U.S., including the 2 then-favorite places in the San Gabriel Valley), and you’re going to L.A., so I agree that a trip to Tim Ho Wan is in no way obligatory on a 4-day trip.
My other comment is that it’s very interesting to read all this high praise for Joe’s Shanghai. The place was regularly panned on Chowhound, and some years ago, my opinion was that they were a good place to go to late at night, when the crowds were gone, and order unusual items like eel, rather than xiaolongbao. But I gather they’ve improved a lot since then? New chef (or old chef back)?
I much prefer Keen’s to Luger.
Hrm I’m now very tempted to try it haha. I might do Torihei or Raku again in LA just to compare. Prices at Torishin don’t seem that bad compared to Raku (then again, I did order a lot more random seafood specials they had).
I presume they mean by a more historical perspective. And I personally thought the Manhattan Chinatown was more interesting to walk around versus Flushings when I last went but that’s just me.
Awesome!
Huh, didn’t think to hear that name. I’ve been there over a decade ago and enjoyed their dim sum but as of… I think five years ago, I had two dinners there and found it extremely salty so never really came back. Maybe I’ll revisit it soon.
I forgot if it was due to the authenticity of XLB but… authenticity is a troublesome term to define for food considering that a lot of things just take from each other.
Anything in particular that you consider a must order. I figure its the mutton chop but wondering if you liked anything else.
The consensus is the mutton chop. I loved the atmosphere there too…the old pipe that line the walls.
I think the Joe’s recs are mostly (all?) from visitors to nyc. Not that it diminishes them. I prefer the dumpling skin, size, and flavor at the other places I mentioned. Joe’s always has a line outside, though. As does Nom Wah down the street, which also doesn’t produce the best version of what it does. But nostalgia is worth something.
For years we avoided Joe’s Shanghai for whatever reason I do not recall. When we went last year, i was bowled over by how good the XLB were. As I mentioned above, we used to eat at Shanghai Cafe Deluxe. Last year at Joe’s was the first time I understood why it makes sense to include crab in the XLB. As some have remarked, chefs may come and chefs may go, but our meal there in the fall of 2018 was stellar.
Agree. Both Joe’s and Shanghai Cafe are pretty good. I usually go to Shanghai Cafe just because the line is not as long.
Last fall we were a group of 5 people. We had to wait in line. Then we were offered five seats at a table that was half empty. We took them. The other five people there were young women. When we were in the middle of our meal, the young women were ready to leave. But they couldn’t finish their Xao Long Bao. So they offered them to us. One of them told us that her father loved the place and had been taking her there for years. We gladly accepted their uneaten XLBs. So together with our two orders, we must have had 18 XLB. All delicious.
More or less, Flushing is ok as we have discussed, but if you are in/near Manhattan, it is a long ride to Flushing. Overall, Manhattan Chinatown not only is interesting from a historical perspective, but also it is bigger and overall interesting. The selection of the street markets is far better in Manhattan. When the fruits are in season, you get very good fruits. There are a wider range of shops (not just restaurants). Easily accessible restaurant supply shops (if you want some nice CCK knives. 
), raw noodle shops, tofu shops, cheap low end hair cut shops, butcher shops, dried food shops, and dozens of bakeries.
Come to think of it, if you are already, maybe stop by Sun Ming Jan on Hester Street, and maybe also Wonton Specialist Inc on Allen. You can always buy a little cured meat and also freshly made uncooked wonton noodle as well as other noodles. It is a very nice place if you are explore around and talk to people. Take Wonton Specialist Inc. It does mainly wholesaling there, but they won’t mind selling you one or two packages, and you get to chit chat, learn a thing or two.
What a nice and sweet story.
Well, yes, but actually more of a savory story!!
