Tag: Chinatown

Szechuan Superiority

imageBesides being a fun read about the birth of a food writer, Fuschia Dunlop’s Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China is a great primer on the glories of Szechuan cooking.

An unabashed fan of the Szechuan province (she considers it the ne plus ultra of Chinese cuisine) her book explores everything from the tongue-numbing effect of those mysterious peppercorns, to the Chinese propensity to eat “everything that flies except an airplane, and everything with four legs except the table.”

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CHINA MAMA Revisited

imageWe’ve been hearing the rumors about China Mama for a couple of years now.

“Not as good as it used to be.”

“Nothing like it once was.”

“Fallen way off.”

“They’re using store bought, frozen xiao long bao, now.”

And on and on it has gone, with most of these reports coming in from our regs, loval readers, and other trusted foodie friends.

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What’s NIU-GU With You?

Niu-Gu is an experiment of sorts. In the few months it has been open, it has gone from a simple noodle parlor, with a limited menu of Chinese soups and starches, to a full service restaurant serving everything from the formal farm-to-cup Chinese tea service to the best, freshest friggin’ fish we’ve ever had in Chinatown:

(Silky, rich, true Pacific black cod)

How well they succeed is going to tell us a lot about just how sophisticated people want their Asian food to be.

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