Chinese Food Adventures in Queens

My close friend Grant was coming up from DC this past weekend for the amazing Apliiq party Friday night at Public Assembly. He suggested that Saturday afternoon we take a trip up to Flushing, Queens and seek out the greatest Chinese food in the land. This seemed like the best idea I'd heard all year.

Back in July, The New York Times published an article on Flushings as THE mecca of diverse Chinese eats. It was complimented by a top 20 list of dishes in the area, complete with a map to navigate the territory. Grant's dream was to visit as many of these joints as possible and with yours truly as navigator, we had ourselves a regular feast. The one time we strayed off the suggested path was kind of gross (a cold fatty sesame chicken), but sticking to the approved dishes, we had an incredible meal. There were 6 of us and, splitting an order of each dish, we ended up paying about 7 dollars/person for a feast.

Our first stop was No. 1 East Restaurant, a regular sit down spot complete with green tea, lazy-susan and a group of elderly woman rolling dumplings at the back table. Luckily, we had come for the Spinach Dumplings. While it felt a little awkward waltzing in with 6 and only ordering dumplings, the first bite quickly vanquished all remorse. I don't exactly know why they were so good, but these steamed dumplings had to be some of the best I've ever tasted. The diced spinach didn't seem remarkable, but somehow, combined with the supple dumpling noodle, I couldn't have asked for anything more. The soy dipping sauce was almost unnecessary because the dumpling flavor was such noodley delight.

We dipped out of there and headed across the street to the Golden Mall, an underground food court reeking of fried exhaust, and lacking any English menus (always a good sign). There were a few options in the dungeon, but noodle soups seemed unsharable so we opted for Xi'an Small Delights and their Lianpi cold noodles, and two spicy lamb sandwiches. The proprietor also insisted we get get a warm noodle dish with lamb as well. The cold noodles came first and we were all impressed. The noodles were medium width and slightly sweet and tangy. We couldn't figure out if they were mixed with tofu or stomach though. Either way, I indulged. The lamb burgers were chock full of chili peppers and seasoned to perfection with cumin, making us speculate about Middle Eastern influences via the Silk Road. Finally the noodles with lamb came out and everyone was bowled over. The noodles were about two inches wide and chewy in a way ever so pleasing to the mouth. I can't think of any other food I've eaten with quite the same extraordinary texture. The one funny thing was that it seemed the dish consisted of only one 10 foot long noodle we had 'cut' with our chopsticks.

Next we ventured over to Zhu Ji Gao Tie, a storefront that purportedly sold the best fried dumplings in Flushing. Unfortunately they were all out of vegetarian dumplings so I couldn't try them, but the crew were pleased with the Pork and Leek ones (below: ready to go into the fryer).
Finally, being almost stuffed, we headed over to the Flushing Mall food court for some dessert. The shaved ice stall there serves a number of different sweet bean toppings. Having braved Japan's bean paste pastries, I felt little need to order one, but Elizabeth and Emily split an ice with red beans, green beans and tapioca.

And Ethan and Nicole got a crepe that was pretty to look at but unfortunately crispy.

All in all, this was a food lover's dream trip. The way to access Flushing is by car or you can take the 7 or the LIRR. Any way you slice it, it well worth the trip.