Polecat's Profile
Are there any old-time soda parlor/candy shops still around?
I have also found the food at Nom Wah to be hit or miss - and in the old days it was just plain miss. What I disagree with is lumping it in with the likes of Johnny Rockets, which has a completely generic chain feel to it.
Nom Wah has kept a lot of it's original decor, tea tins, etc. It is a far more unique and personal experience.
P
Are there any old-time soda parlor/candy shops still around?
Nom Wah has been around for decades. It's the oldest dim sum parlor in Chinatown. Like it or not, there's nothing fabricated about it.
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Where do you eat in Jackson Heights?
Off the top of my head, the beef soup with mountain vegetables and also a spicy tofu dish come to mind. I'll link you to my review for specific dish names and photos. Highly recommended:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/794972
Where do you eat in Jackson Heights?
i'll third Tawa and plug Phayul, my current favorite Tibetan and one of my favorite restaurants in the city right now.
Hope you got a Spanish coffee (cafe con leche) at El Sitio. If not, grab one next time.
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Szechuan Gourmet/Flushing vs. Hunan Kitchen Grand Sichuan/Flushing
I love that smoke beef white pepper dish. It's amazing. Your report and this thread are giving me a hankering to return to Hunan Kitchen - haven't been in a few months.
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Good eats in Bayside
Also, perenially overlooked but good, on the Horace Harding Expressway/ Springfield Blvd exit:
- Mt. Ararat Bakery (mixed Mediterranean)
- Patoug (Persian - always empty but I've gotten take-out a few times - has always been good)
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Good eats in Bayside
Driven by several times. Strange set-up. No windows onto Frances Lewis. Always been dubious but, hey, who needs a view and have read your praise before. Plus, I dig the mural. Will try these guys out.
If we're getting into the Flushing border here, I'll recommend Tang (Korean - best dishes: jukbol, seoullentang, bossam and hameul pajeun) and Kati Allo for Greek, further down Francis Lewis.
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Good eats in Bayside
Guh Song for Korean Chinese (try their bone-on gunpunggi - coated fried chicken); Ham Ji Bach (Korean BBQ) moved around the corner to Bell, and there's also a Sam Gyap Sul joint (pork bbq) place right nearby. There's also a decent Chinese bakery (85 Express Asian? Express Asian? they keep changing their name) on 48th right near Bell - good spongecake.
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Szechuan Gourmet/Flushing vs. Hunan Kitchen Grand Sichuan/Flushing
The beef with white peppers is one of the best dishes I've had anywhere, Flushing or beyond.
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New Wafa's coming soon.
Her baklava is also amazing, best I've had. On the nutty side, and not sickeningly sweet like a great many other versions. I also just tried the rice pudding for the first time, and that's also first rate.
Another thing that Wafa's does better than just about everyone else - the minute you walk in, she makes you feel like family, whether you're a repeat customer or a first-timer. Both she and her son are extremely gracious, warm and personable. It's the kind of quality you can't fake. The warmth and substance starts with the people, and extends to the food.
Forest Hills is not a great food 'hood, but Wafa's is definitely a source of local pride.
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Lake Pavilion, new Chinese in Flushing
Excellent. Crabs Ho Fun is one of my favorite dishes. Didn't find it on the menu but figured they must be hiding it somewhere.
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Lake Pavilion, new Chinese in Flushing
I swung over on Wednesday to get a take-out menu. This was at around 4pm, and the joint was empty, bone dry. It was clearly an off-hour.
I came back today at 12:30, for a solo lunch, and it was jam-packed, with about 20 people holding numbers in their hands and waiting. Perhaps, because I was alone, I didn't wait more than 5 minutes to be seated, but it appeared as if they were moving things along very skillfully in general.
The space is cavernous, with a big main room, complete with dragon, phoenix, chandeliers and private rooms off to the side, presumably for special parties. It's your classic Cantonese seafood and dim sum specialist. The service was attentive, helpful, friendly and efficient - no complaints there. The prices are high for a lot of dishes, but not out of the ordinary compared to other moderate-to-high price Cantonese venues. All indications are that, if you like this type of cuisine, as I do, much of the fare will be well worth it.
When I arrived, most everyone was doing dim sum. It's cart-style but everything seemed to be moving at a fast, fresh pace. A lot of it looked and smelled great, but, being on my own, I ordered off of the main menu (there's also a lunch special menu, which didn't interest me as much, but which contained the most affordable dine-in items).
There are several very interesting, tantalizing dishes on LP's menu, especially the seafood and crustacean offerings. They also had a squab casserole dish with bamboo shoots and mushrooms which looked good and, at $15.95, was one of the cheaper of the selections that tempted me.
Being in the mood for seafood, though, I went with Sea scallops and conch in a mildly spicy XO sauce. It was excellent. The scallops were fat, juicy and fresh tasting, the conch perfectly chewy with just the right amount of give, the sauce layered on with a light touch, just right. The portion and price ($17.95) is comparable to other places I like, such as Imperial Palace and Canton Gourmet. This is the kind of dish you look to a restaurant of this kind to do right, and Lake Pavillion's kitchen staff nailed it. If it's an indication of what they can do with the rest of their vast menu, then these guys are a keeper.
Some more info about Lake Pavillion: Dim Sum is served everyday between 9:30 and 3:30, after which time they go with their main menu. Right out front, however, is an adjoining take-out counter where you can order buns et al to go. I have a feeling you can probably get dim sum items there, some even to order, from there all day, but I might be mistaken. They also have roasted meats in the take-out section, ducks and pigs hanging from hooks and such.
Lake Pavillion also has it's own parking lot on the street adjacent to the Horace Harding Expressway, but, when they're packed, as they were this afternoon, it's much easier and less of a hassle to find street parking. As this little mini-Chinatown stretch of Main Street is conveniently located on the way home from work, I've come to this section of Flushing many times, and have never had a hard time parking at all. If I'm lazy, I'll go with a meter spot, but can almost always find free spots within a few blocks of where the restaurant is.
Based on today's solo visit, I will be back, with reinforcements, and soon. It's the kind of place best enjoyed with company.
LAKE PAVILLION
60-15 Main Street
Flushing, NY 11355
(718) 886-6693
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Diverse Dim Sum Flushing Mall
No real favorites, actually. I've had the usual suspects several times - Nan Xiang, Shanghai Cafe, Taste of Shanghai, many more, etc., etc - decent but, to be honest, I return to those places for other dishes, not the xlb.
But the xlb I had at Diverse reminded me of what I would get at a non-XLB specialist that just has them on the menu because they're a popular item. They tasted like an afterthought, not a specialty.
P.
White Bear – My Favorite Dumplings in NY
It's alive and well, hopping this evening as I passed by.
P.
sign for original Gloria's pizza from flushing coming to forest hills?
This joint is so close by to where I live, all I have to do is step outside my building and look to the right and it's within plain view. So I would be excited to say otherwise, but, yeah, my first impression of the new Gloria is very much in line with what's been written here.
I also had the plain and the sicilian. The square was the better of the two, with a decent tasting crust. The plain was piping hot out of the oven, very cheesy.
I know the old apples and oranges point, yeah, but nevertheless, if we're talking Forest Hills, I'll save my calories for Nick's.
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Diverse Dim Sum Flushing Mall
Had two steamers full this evening and was not impressed. They had the taste and feel of something that's been sitting too long, and I don't think that was the case. The broth was okay, but not anything that I would consider to be better than the norm.
The fried rice cakes we had here were pretty good, though. Deep fried rectangular bricks of rice, not too greasy. We liked these better than the soup dumplings, to be honest.
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thailand's center point - delicious
Frances Lewis Boulevard, Flushing. (Fresh Meadows)
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Best of woodside
I'll add El Rey Del Taco, a crawlspace in the back of a Mexican deli with an open kitchen. Tacos can be hit or miss but I had a really good, tender lengua there recently. It's right next door to I Am Thai, which is yet another decent Thai option in the area, good for fried noodle dishes and such.
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Chicken Kati Roll at Tawa Foods
These guys are probably the only place that make out equally good in the Nepalese and Indian dishes. On my most recent carbolicious visit, i enjoyed the aloo paratha - here a flat bread with potatoes within - and also dug the sel roti, maybe the best donut in Queens.
The staff is also very nice and gracious.
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Chicken Kati Roll at Tawa Foods
Your description applies to the onion chili dosa as well. It's own animal and downright addictive.
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Northern Blvd Canvassing
I also highly recommend Rolly Kimbab, which is further east. Talk about your Korean steamed bun war, we also have Rolly going up against Song's Family Foods, just a half block from one another. Both good but Rolly gets the edge for their humongous rice balls and their pastrami and ssambab kimbabs. I never really dug Kimbab until these two joints made the scene.
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Northern Blvd Canvassing
Daily, so far as I can see. I went last week. The stand's name in English is something along the lines of "young adult" buns; staff t-shirts say "made with passion" and bear a raised fist graphic. Once you're in the market, towards the back, the stand - which is really more of a freestanding glass box with several people feverishly preparing buns within - cannot be missed.
This place seems to be a shameless attempt to cash in on nearby Daheen Wong Mandoo, but both venues have a branded look, so perhaps they were both pre-existing.
They do 3 buns here: kimchi, pork and red bean. The kimchi and pork are good. Haven't tried the red bean yet as the wait for those when I went was 45 minutes. The lines are long but seem more organized than Daheen was when they opened. I was in and out in 15 minutes.
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Imperial Palace / East Lake Seafood Restaurant – My Favorite Chinese Restaurant in New York
East Lake does lobster noodles - not sure Imperial does this. I'm trying to get at some non-overlapping dishes here. Anything stick out in your mind?
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Northern Blvd Canvassing
Exciting new development: the wife is now raving about the kimchi buns sold from a stand inside of Hanyang market. This is not to be mistaken with the little cafe off the parking lot - this stand is right in the supermarket itself. I'm anxious to try these out, as the wife prefers these to Daheen Wang Mandoo.
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Hanyang Mart
150-51 Northern Blvd, Queens, NY 11354
Smolen and Milan
Alright, man, say no more. You sold me. I'll just have to haul my ass out to Brooklyn. I think I still remember where 5th avenue is.
One question, though: was reading your 2010 post - what's PDT?
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Oh no! last day at South China fka Cantoon Garden!
My first dish here was pea shoots with egg, several years ago. It got me hooked on the joint. And, of course, there was the lobster with ginger and scallion and the fried chicken. Thanks for the memories.
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Suggestions Wanted For Elmhurst Chinatown Food Crawl
I won't hold that against him.
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Suggestions Wanted For Elmhurst Chinatown Food Crawl
Why the "crawl"?
First off, Elmhurst is not like Flushing. There are no food courts to speak of, so it's not a great neighborhood for grazing, or snacking at 4 or 5 different places.
If you haven't been in a long while, why not try a meal at a good restaurant. Go for the 3 buddies salad at Chao Thai, then grab a Vietnamese coffee from either Pho Bang or Cafe Joju on Broadway and go sit in the park and watch life go by. In an hour or so, if you're hungry again, get some Cheung Fun with fish balls and hot sauce from the cart in front of the shopping center or grab a taco cecina from La plaza Deli on Whitney.
You know your stuff - I've seen your numerous Ctown posts - so trust your instincts, let your stomach be your guide and, most of all, make a point of hitting up Elmhurst more often.
P.
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Chao Thai
85-03 Whitney Ave, Queens, NY 11373
Pho Bang
82-90 Broadway, Queens, NY 11373
JoJu
83-25 Broadway, Queens, NY 11373
Oh no! last day at South China fka Cantoon Garden!
Hard to believe, but then nothing's permanent. We had some good times at this place. The crabs with ho fun was one of many favorites. Really sorry to hear this.
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