The deli truck is good, the caribbean truck not so much.
Urban Hawker traffic has fallen a lot since it opened. I have found the food to be okay, not great. But I think many people are reluctant to try things that are so far out of their comfort zone. The place seems to be slowly dying.
Same seems to be true of the foodhall on 52nd in the AXA building. Several vendors have folded.
Chi restaurant and Bar - Hell’s Kitchen. 6 big thumbs up from the Ziggy clan. A rarity.
Cucumber Salad - Probably best I ever had. Plentiful, with the kind of vinegar I can drink as is. Goes well with all dishes too
Dan Dan Noodles - I usually have low expectations from places like this… big menus, quirky, showy. But this was excellent. They are not shy with the ingredients. Flavors really pop, with nothing over the top.
Chongquing Spicy Chicken - Same story. Plenty of Mala, pleasant heat, and the chicken properly cut, some with bone. Sometimes they cut them too small, and bone-in always better.
Eggplant with garlic sauce - Just what you expect. Again, big flavors. The only issue was that it needed some time to cool off. 20 minutes later it was still painful to eat, but it hurt so good.
Lao-Gan-Ma General Tso’s - The every Chinese dish you can think of menu includes an “American Inspired” section so figured we’ll try something we grew up with. Very good, spicier than average. Would prefer the chicken pieces smaller
The place is attractive, comfortable, prices are fair, and when you ask for the check they take the machine out of pocket and you pay on the spot, Europe style. Bonus for me.
Good to hear about Chi, because I had a very disappointing meal at ATLAS KITCHEN up by Columbia recently.
Wood ear mushroom salad duo – This was the best of the lot, well, half of it anyway. The black fungus was seasoned very well, The white fungus was oddly one-note: sweet. Mixing them together helped (on the plate – the serving dish was unconducive to serving, never mind mixing)
Shanghai spring rolls – Not crisp, tiny, and not flavorful. Trifecta of meh.
Crab and pork xlb – I know we should not have ordered this here, but someone desperately wanted it. The wrappers were a bit sticky, the filling was barely seasoned, and there was no crab flavor.
Spicy cumin lamb – Heat level was good, but the lamb was thin-shaved and not tender. Not much cumin in evidence.
Garlic shrimp – Good portion of shrimp, but garlic was practically raw. No other flavor.
Mapo tofu – This reminded me of when I order Manchurian at Indian Chinese and get a ketchup version.
.
Thankfully, several good meals at MOON KEE before and after.
Dim sum, roast meats, and more, but I didn’t take pics.
The only recent dud was salt & pepper fish, which came in a heavy beer batter type of coating, but the other people eating didn’t seem to mind.
A favorite dish in my chili head group. It does hurt so good 
Good lord. That sounds like a table full of despair.
The extended family I was with at Atlas (as also the friends I was with at Saar a while back for that disaster) had no point of reference for what we were eating (how???), so I was the only one in despair. Maybe that’s a good thing?
I’d liked it too on my first experience there and also since.
I can see both sides. 1) Misery loves company, but also 2) Why drag down a whole evening just 'cause you know what food is supposed to taste like?
Great. Two respected voices making me feel good about a group dinner coming up there next month. Four Stony Brook friends from the '70s (that piece of info. for dabdoofler) & spouses.
Oh, I never said a word either time, and they all enjoyed the meal – don’t rain on the parade for no reason. Aside from food, lovely evenings both!
Do you know if that beef tendon dish is still on the menu? I had something very similar in SF many years ago, and likened them to fried beef clouds. The place has since folded, and I’ve never seen the dish anywhere else.
And me.
Their menu has changed somewhat since I last had their food a few months ago (there was a nice, chilled okra app that has now vanished), but it still looks stellar – as was @Ziggy’s experience. Enjoy your Stony Brook reminiscing about the Red Balloon.
I don’t see it in a quick glance at their website (@Ziggy?), but it’s listed as available on online ordering agencies such as ChowBus (under “Asian Tapas”).
Strange. I’d not be inclined to order fried food for delivery, but I will stay on the lookout for this dish. Would you say it’s a typical prep for a specific region, so I know to narrow down my search?
What I’d say is useless, given my near-total ignorance of regional variations of Chinese cuisine. I did observe this:
“Another partially unassuming-sounding dish, “beef tendon with caviar”. The “caviar” part was the ubiquitous tobiko, but the tendon was a revelation: It had been sliced thin (and parboiled?), then deep fried into a crunchy, bubbly cracker. “Authentic?” Who knows (and, anyway, authentic to what?), but who cares? It’s a splendid dish.”
Whatever that’s worth.
Dont remember seeing it
This being the good eats thread, the comment makes me wonder whether there should be a corresponding not so good eats thread. Post about the meals that disappointed.
Splintering this thread for other reasons has been suggested before, but I continue to think participation has increased because there’s a single thread.
Everyone is free to create whatever threads they want, though.
We ate there before we moved uws->ues, very similar experience, didn’t love it, thought we may have ordered the wrong dishes but given your experience, doubt we’ll head back.
I used to go periodically to the Tavern Room at the Gramercy Tavern rather than the formal dining room for what I think was a great value lunch in the pre Covid days. Have not done it since 2019. We finally made it back for lunch this weekend. It’s a gorgeous room. Very buzzy at lunch.
Ordered the cheddar bacon biscuits and duck liver mousse to start. Three is obviously an odd number but also figuratively odd number for an order. If there are two of you, you have to split the last one. If a group of four, who misses out? Why not just increase the price from $12 to $16 and give 4 biscuits? Well I got the second one anyways. The lovely wife much preferred the mousse so it all worked out.
I had grilled pork shoulder which was more tender than you would have expected. I was wondering if some sous vide action was going on.
The lovely wife had chicken. She was scooping up every bit of the sauce.
Split a maple pudding for dessert. This was special. The maple flavor was like the best syrup you’ve ever had.
The lunch bill would not have been so bad but for the three whisky sours. Cheers. 
