Chinatown, NYC
I've been a fairly adventurous New Yorker my five years here in the bustling city, but I have to say there is one area I have never really explored because of (honestly) a lack of knowledge.
Chinatown.
I've explored the areas around it, but I had never ventured into the shops because I honestly didn't know where to begin?
Luckily, recently a friend, who knows the area well, convinced me to ditch a standard Sunday brunch for a walking tour of this interesting neighborhood.
We started off at Noodle Village (13 Mott St) for some amazing soup dumplings (which is what they are known for). I, who am not normally one for a messy food like a soup dumpling, had to admit that the broth and the dough were a perfect combination of texture and flavor to make it well worth trying to spoon these delightful bites in my most lady-like fashion.
Now that we were on a dumpling track, we popped over to Tasty Dumpling (42 Mulberry St) for some fried pork dumplings, slathered in hot and soy sauce [I was told this was the most authentic way to eat them]. And as someone who normally pops into Vanessa's Dumplings [I know, me and everyone else], I had to admit that these were delish. No long line, and the best part was watching the army of women making hundreds of dumplings with such precision and speed.
Then it was time for a short walk to Columbus Park to sit for a bit, enjoy the gorgeous weather, culture and music. I think the general feeling of Chinatown is that it's like being dropped in another country and here I felt it completely. As we strolled watching games and children playing, I could have sworn we had entered a country far away from the bustle of New York.
"Want to try some jerky?" was not the question I expected as we walked out of the park. I admitted that I could count on one hand the number of times I'd had jerky in my life and he assured me that this was totally different and a lot better. Malaysia Beef Jerky's (95A Elizabeth St) jerky did not look like I thought and was A LOT tastier than any store-bought or "real" jerky I'd had. I found it to be more flavorful and less salty than others I'd tried. Warning is that it is a very little shop with no sitting space, so after taking in the tiny shrine and picking your meat you'll probably want to eat on the go to your next stop.
We then wandered over to Cocoron (29 Kenmare St) to try their soup noodles, unfortunately it was about a thousand degrees and so we opted for an app, water and some AC. We decided to try their Soba no Kabayaki (basically fried buckwheat), not my favorite thing of the day but I'm looking forward to trying their noodles during the winter.
At this point during the tour we decided we needed a drink stop and went into one of my favorite places, Mother's Ruin. Their cocktails are great and on Sunday afternoons they have live music #win.
After cooling off, my friend insisted on introducing me to Price Street Pizza (27 Prince St A) (totally off-brand of our Chinatown stroll but I have to say really good, greasy, grandma style pizza). It is not a sit down place, but while you wait for your slice you can check out all of the famous people that have stopped into the shop. My suggestion is to grab a couple of slices (def their spicy pepperoni), stand outside to scarf it up and go to Oficina (24 Prince St), a cute latin bar with a funky, retro vibe, across the street for a drink.
At this point I was stuffed, but I was told we had two more stops on our trek.
Xi'an Famous Foods (68 Kenmare St) to round out our day, originally one small shop in Chinatown, it's now expanded. Being an UES'er, it's great to have one so close to my place. (PSA: their website and store warn that their noodles are best to be eaten in-shop.) We ordered the Spicy Cumin Lamb Hand-Ripped Noodles, they did not disappoint and were some of the messiest food we ate all day (def not a good first-date spot, lol). Their other menu items like the burgers and dumplings looked great but I had hit my food coma, so they are on my future to-try list.
Our last stop was the famous Chinatown Ice Cream Factory (63 65 Bayard Street), with some of the most unique flavors I've seen. I tried a whole bunch and landed on the almond cookie flavor (one of their regular flavors).
Overall it was a great tour of Chinatown and very filling. Also a great adventure day if you're on a budget as most of our food was $10 or less (aside from the Nolita jaunt). I would definitely recommend the places we tried, and if you have any recommendations for future places for me, please let me know!
One other spot I'd recommend in this neighborhood is Apotheke (9 Doyers St #1) a speakeasy with an "apothecary" theme. According to their website, all of their cocktails include local and organic produce from local greenmarkets or picked from their rooftop herb garden. And in keeping with their pharma-theme their cocktails are "Prescriptions" to assist with maladies like "Health & Beauty", "Stress Relief" or are "Aphrodisiacs" (all of which contain champagne... so you can guess which category I stuck with). However, do check ahead as they have a cocktail list that rotates seasonally and daily (e.g., on Wednesday they serve "Prohibition Prescriptions").
