I visited New York City over the weekend. For someone with a thirst for curious culinary finds, it's the place to be quenched.
Chinatown is full of fish, vegetables, fruits and other peculiar ingredients. In one store, Pearl River, I saw dried fish packaged in a see-through bag. The little silver guys were about the size of a pack of Smarties and still had their eye balls. Odd, I thought, but so cool to see.
For dinner, I ate at Joe's Shanghai on Pell Street in Chinatown. People wait in line for 30 minutes to an hour for the famous soup dumplings. Once inside, you dine at large tables with complete strangers. The hostess doesn't really understand you, but she gets you seated and a helping of fresh-made dumplings are in front of you in no time.
The dumplings (an order is eight) come in bamboo steam baskets to stay hot. Inside the dumplings is a tiny pork meatball and broth. You're supposed to carefully lift the dumpling from the basket and put it on your spoon. Then, take a tiny nibble from the side to release the steaming hot broth into the spoon to drink later. I could barely manage to stop it from spilling out, let along catch it in the spoon. I slurped. It was so yummy topped with a vinegary soy sauce.
I get overwhelmed when I am in New York. Every little deli, pizza shop, coffee spot and pastry joint has something unique and great to offer and I feel like there is never enough time to have it all. But each time I am there, I am fascinated by the sheer volume of food. What I learned was to go to the shop with the longest line, they probably have something special.
Well, what else would you expect from New York? With that dense a population and rents that are that high, the restaurants are pretty much required to be awesome.