Leaving aside what constitutes a “__ town” (ie not just a bunch of restaurants), I had missed that Big Wong hs an uptown branch now (I had registered THW is in the neighborhood, though I haven’t been to that particular location yet).
They mysteriously left off Kung Fu and Dim Sum Palace, among others (but Ollie’s and Panda Express – woot!) Though I’m guessing Panda Express is only on there as fodder for reaction.
(Curious as to why the concentration of (“real”) Chinese restaurants up by Columbia over the past 5-7 years did not make their news.)
Wouldn’t consider that a Chinatown just because of the restaurants. I am willing to bet it’s to cater to Chinese tourists who rather eat Chinese food than American/local. The East Village I can understand because you got the young wealthy mainlanders and ABC’s.
I don’t doubt there are Chinese people living there but not to the extent as Chinatown, Sunset Park, and Flushing.
You are going to find Chinese food around every major university with prestige.
We have Chinese food trucks around USC here in LA. I think David Chan has wrote about this. Doesn’t surprise me that Columbia has authentic Chinese food spots.
What’s surprising is that the arrival of more “Chinatown-style” restaurants is a relatively recent phenomenon. I don’t think the demographics of the student body have changed much since I lived up there, and at the time Ollie’s Noodle Shop, Moon Palace and Dynasty was as Chinese as things got.
Have you been to Columbia in the last 5 years or so?
There are as many foreign graduate students now as there are US graduate students. Almost a 1:1. And half of the international students at Columbia are from China.
Yep, and this is why there’s excellent international food there in the last several years, especially Chinese (why Indian students never pull good Indian food anywhere remains a mystery and source of frustration to me).
Ah, okay. So maybe that explains the sudden (to me) influx of what looks like good Chinese. Gotta say I’m a little curious about whether the students from China intend to practice law in the U.S. Like, how internationally useful is a U.S. law degree.
Oh, I know. But I figured @ipsedixit wouldn’t know as much about, say, Chinese film students. It seems like other fields would be more transferable. Computer science is portable. Law, maybe not so much.
Yeah. I noticed when I’ve taken kids for the college tour. But also, I have eaten up there a fair bit bec the food is good! And it’s all students at the other tables.
(Students with a lot more disposable $$ than I had at their age, because they’re not ordering lunch specials and they’re not packing up leftovers either)
