With a new year comes new possibilities. There's a new Olympics this year, a new presidential election, and in the restaurant world, probably countless new openings and closings. As 2011 drew to a close we all parted ways with the outgoing New York Times restaurant critic and in 2012 we're all going to get used to reading what Pete Wells has to say. This is exciting, right? Sam Sifton gave ethnic food a good spin, and I hope Pete Wells does the same. It was cool when Sifton reviewed 456 Shanghai Cuisine because Manhattan's Chinatown doesn't get enough recognition.... [Continue reading]
Excellent Pork Chop House has fallen on many lists of best places to get pork chop over rice in New York. The NKOTB is Hua Ji, which I respect and enjoy. They're not as centrally located in Chinatown as the EPCH. Even in the face of new competition, Excellent Pork Chop House is still really awesome. They're still got one of the best bowls going on because the proportion of pork chop to meat sauce to pickled mustard greens is still pretty wicked.... [Continue reading]
Nom Wah Tea Parlor in Chinatown is the restaurant version of the retro basketball jersey. If you're not familiar with retro jerseys, they're basically wearable antique road shows for sports fanatics. Essentially it's out-of-style basketball fashion that's back in style because being old is chic again. I used to walk by Nom Wah Tea Parlor for one reason and one reason only, to go visit Excellent Pork Chop House. There would be older folks playing mahjong in there and stuff. I never ever even felt an inkling to visit the place because it looked dingy back then, and I had never really seen anyone eat there when I used to live in Chinatown. But then the NYTimes showed up and said they got revamped and there's new food in there. This old place had become cool again! Steph and I decided to go check it out.... [Continue reading]
Last night I googled for some story and the third link on the result page was from the HuffPo. What was on that HuffPo page? A twenty-five word blurb about the story at NYTimes. On the result page, the NYTimes page for the story was the fifth link, two below the new AOL entity. I've heard that at HuffPo, since they get so much traffic, they can real-time test post titles and utilize a/b testing to figure out which one people click on more. Then the more popular one becomes the permanent one. And thus, useless page at HuffPo that just links to NYTimes, where the story was. It's depressing. I don't want to just talk about some good dim sum at Golden Unicorn. Nevermind that it's a solid place to go in NYC's Chinatown, even though all the food enthusiasts clamor for BK or Queens. Seriously, the outter boroughs are not Hong Kong. So to have a quality post, I gotta stuff it with keywords and hope for the best. Also I learned, apparently talking about whether a restaurant is useful for dating is a good way to get in the good graces of Larry and Sergei. Without further adieu, let's talk about a dim sum restaurant here in NY where you probably don't want to take your dates.... [Continue reading]
In the complex and always-changing New York food scene, it's nice to visit an old-school hole-in-the-wall. We all cheer for the Bulters and VCUs of the world, and Kam Hing Coffee Shop is an underdog anyone could get behind. Sure, doughnuts are all the rage, and special Chinese lollipops are nice, but it's cool to eat something that's not a fad. Perhaps nothing implies consistency and quality as much as a food establishment that's been around longer than dirt. Judging by Kam Hing Coffee Shop's sign, I venture to guess that it's been around maybe even longer than I've been alive. Once you look pass the worn down exterior and enter the store, you encounter a Chinese sponge cake that never gets old.... [Continue reading]
Apparently there's a lot that goes towards making an apartment a home. This shit never ends. Recently I installed some window air conditioning units.... [more]
After two weeks of Seattle posts, I think it's about time to sunset this dying category since it's just killing my page rank from shitty to shittier.... [more]
You ever do this thing where you enjoy a meal, think it's OK on the price, then later on when you think back, you realize they gave you an order of... [more]
Sometimes it's very difficult to quantify the premium you pay for being in New York City. Even within city limits, pricing changes rapidly from one... [more]
Aaaaaand more pictures from Seattle. Not much of a surprise there huh? I'm trying to go through them as fast as possible. When's the last time you saw... [more]
