Seems to me, we have a wealth of choices in NYC today. While we used to say we were in the mood for Chinese food, nowadays we ask what kind of Chinese food. Some of my favorites are listed below. Please chime in on good places I am missing.
Cantonese - Great NY Noodletown
Sichuan - Han Dynasty, Legend, Lan Sheng
Henan - Uncle Zhou’s
Yunan - Yun Nan Flavor Garden
Shanghainese - Joe’s Shanghai, Shanghai House, Shanghai Cafe
Dongbei - Auntie Guan’s Kitchen, Fu Run, Fu Sheng ?(NY Food Court)
Recently Ligaya Mishan reviewed and liked Bite of Hong Kong and Taiwan Bear House (set aside for a minute whether Taiwanese food is Chinese food). Both are in Chinatown. How’s her Chinese food cred?
My 2cents of additions:
Sichuan - although I agree with Lan Sheng & Legend (never been to Han Dynasty), I think Little Pepper deserves its place here. Granted its now in College Point and inconvenient as hell to get to but …
Dongbei - several years ago, a chef at Fu Run left and opened (with his wife) Golden Palace on Cherry St off Kissena. My many meals there since have equaled Fu Run & I try to go to each.
I’ve been meaning to go to Little Pepper, but as you mention, the location is not so convenient. I ate at Fu Run back when the old chef was there. Thanks for the heads up on the chef’s current location. I’m still looking for recommendations on Fujian, Hunan and any other regions I’ve missed.
I always look for Ligaya Mishan’s reviews. I haven’t yet tried the 2 places you mentioned, but in general, I value her opinions. As with most newspaper reviewers, they have an interest in generating interest in their readers, so I always take into account that reviews might be hyped up a bit.
Both Szechuan Gourmet and Grand Sichuan in midtown are reliably good, IMO.
Which regional specialties are stronger than the others here in NYC?
My understanding is that immigration from China has been much higher versus Hong Kong/ Taiwan in recent years. So it seems to me Cantonese is on the decline versus the other regional cuisines on the OP’s initial list.
The NY Food court stall I listed as “Fu Sheng?” is actually Peng Shun, #13. I would also like to add Xing Shun Da as another Dongbei specialist, also in Flushing, but away from the main area.
sck, I’m still fairly new at learning the different regional cuisines, so I hesitate to answer. Sichuan certainly has strong representation, but I’m only familiar with 2-3 each of the others.
Americanized Chinese food to me is unpalatable, so I’m always open to suggestion such as those above. That said, I miss actually spicy Hunanese dishes (used to go to a chain called 老乡村 in Shenzhen, among other one-offs’), qiegao, and garlic frothing in vinegar to accompany innumerable 饺子 choices. Plenty of other foods are longed-for, but I’d like to first see if anyone has suggestions for the aforementioned categories.
