Chinatown

Sunday was a perfect day for a long walk through Chinatown to test out the local fare.  One of the most amazing things about NYC is that in a moment you can be in another country.  I literally felt like we were on vacation today.  Checking out another city. 

Jessica and I plotted out our day. 

We took the subway down to Grand Street and began. 

Our first stop was the Dumpling House at 118 Eldridge Street just off of Broome.  The menu is limited.  10 steamed pork and chive dumplings for $2.  The meat was tasty and the dumpling skins were thick like a classic Chinese dumpling.

One item they were making which we didn’t get because we were pacing ourselves was a sesame bread stuffed with tuna.  They took a large circle piece of dough, deep fried it and then cut into eights.  Each piece was covered with sesames.  Cut in the middle which pushed the top back for a flap.  Inside it was stuffed with shredded carrots, cilantro and tuna salad for a whopping $1.50.  Next time I am trying that. 

Next stop was Yogee Noodle at 85 Chrystie Street.  It was a good sign when we sat down and realized we were the only people not speaking Chinese in the entire restaurant.  We ordered a beef noodle soup and a wonton noodle soup.

The beef noodle soup was excellent. Lots of thin noodles that melted in your mouth soaking in a sweet beef broth and large chunks of beef.  We licked the bowls clean.  The wonton’s were delicious in the other soup but a little on the bland side.  We should have probably kicked it up a bit with the hot chili oil on the table.  We had 3 soups and four diet cokes for a total of $18 with tip. 

We continued to walk down Grand Street to our next stop.  It is incredible the amount of fish and vegetables on each stand.  I saw nice sized soft shell crabs selling for $6.50 for a dozen.  I believe they are $4 a piece at Citarella.  2 stops on the subway might be worth the ride. 

Next stop was Sou Dou Dumpling Shop at 214-216 Grand Street.  I thought these dumplings outweighed the dumplings at Eldridge Street.  The skins were thinner so they did not overpower the dumpling.  Their specialty is spicy pork dumplings.  We got them 2 ways.  One in the classic dumpling lightly fried and the other was a rounder with a thicker skin.  I really liked them both.

We also got a pork bun which was okay.  Total cost $3. 

We were dumpling out so we went for the sweets.  Last time we had dim sum we had these awesome pineapple and cream buns so we were searching for them again.  We couldn’t find them at one bakery but did pick up a strawberry bubble tea.  Personally I think they taste gross but the kids wanted to try. 

We finally found our sweets. 

In typical kids fashion, everyone was moaning before we set off on our adventure.  They all knew I was psyched so they went along for the ride.  We ended up having a great time.  We even ventured into some of the Italian shops in Little Italy which literally bumps into Chinatown.  The kids were in awe.  They made me promise to come back and buy from the local shops in Chinatown and Little Italy.  I vowed to do one Italian and one Chinese dinner straight from downtown stores before they went to camp.  This picture with Jessica, Emily and me represents the success of the day.