09.02.09
Posted in Asian, New York City Neighborhoods, New York City Reviews, Queens, Southeast Asian, rated 8 to 8.5 at 00:55 by Dominique
6413 39th Ave. & 64th St., Woodside, Queens, 718-899-9585
Great for: savory Thai food, foodie excursions outside Manhattan, medium-size groups
My friend G was about to move to London for six months of work so it was the perfect time to have a girls’ dinner. She’s really special – I only leave Manhattan for things that start with p! (Planes, poker, and plays that I’m in. Though I guess you could say this was for pad thai.) Fortunately, it was very good food. I’m not sure it was worth an hour’s ride on two trains, but that’s a pretty tough standard.
We started with a mild roasted duck salad. They were generous with the large duck pieces, and the ginger was a good compliment to the onions, scallions and cucumbers drizzled with vinaigrette. The fried pork-crabmeat roll with honey sauce was tasty without being too much. The meat is ground fine and wrapped in a bit of tofu skin. The tom yum shrimp and mushrooms in hot and sour soup is very good, with surprisingly succulent shrimp.
The pad thai with shrimp did not disappoint. The noodles were discrete and not stuck together too much, and there was just the right amount of sauce. I rarely order pad thai but this went a long way toward changing my mind. So did the green curry with chicken, despite the many times I’ve tried curries and not been a fan. The red snapper with tomato, pineapple and onion in sweet and sour sauce was better without the sauce, which wasn’t as sweet as I’d feared it would be. Our favorite was the sautéed Chinese broccoli with crispy pork. With barely any vegetables, the terrific, crispy meat was the star of the dish, and of our whole meal.
Two brown and two coconut rice bowls were enough for the five of us. I didn’t like any of the desserts, unfortunately. Tapioca soup with ice cubes and sweet milk, green tapioca with coconut milk and corn, coconut on rice cake with rice crisps… no thanks. Some of them were warm, none of them were very sweet, and all of them were just eh. Asian desserts are probably just not my cup of tea though. The other girls seemed fairly happy. We definitely ordered the right amount of food – one appetizer and one main per two people is just about right. Each dish is quite generous, and fresh and juicy to boot.
The dining room is huge and packed at all times. I like the décor, which they evidently put thought into it. It’s cash only and no reservations. If I’m remotely in the area I will definitely make an effort to come again.
Rating: 8.5 / 10
Our cost: $125 for 5 people (3 apps, 3 entrees, 1 side, 4 rice bowls, 1 tea, 1 wine, 1 iced tea)
Noise level: echoey room packed with loud Asian people
Chance of walking in: not good. You’ll probably have to wait, they don’t take reservations.
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07.01.08
Posted in Asian, Japanese, New York City Neighborhoods, New York City Reviews, Queens, rated 4 to 5.5 at 02:15 by Dominique
7208 Main St., Queens, 718-575-8700
Great for: Orthodox Jews, giant entrées
I found myself in Queens with some friends, and they’re Jewish so they decided to show me how good kosher food can be. I wasn’t exactly blown away. I enjoyed the company and watching the waiters scurry around inefficiently much more.
We shared a bunch of appetizers, beginning with the sushi special, a volcano of tobiko, spicy mayo, scallion, jalapeño, tuna tartare, avocado roll and tempura flakes. I had very high hopes for the resto based on this dish, which was yummy and extremely spicy. I really liked the combination of textures and flavors. Unfortunately, I got excited too soon. Do not get the dumplings of beef and chicken ginger. They were dry, with a weird jalapeño sauce. El bomba, avocado and sundried tomato eggrolls with tequila lime sauce, wasn’t that impressive either. I didn’t actually eat it, there was too much avocado and I find sundried tomatoes yucky. My friends said the sauce didn’t complement the dish at all.
The Jerusalem (imitation) crab cakes with crispy panko crumbs and creamy unspicy jalapeño sauce were done very well; I could barely tell it wasn’t real crab. In my defense, the panko and “meat” were thoroughly mixed up. The agedashi tofu was pretty decent too, lightly crispy outside and fairly soft internally. I found the pink-orange sweet sauce unworthy of it. The kalbi (short ribs) were almost bite-sized. They had a bit of slightly sweet glaze which brought out the flavor of the crispy yet tender meat.
For an entrée I tried the enormous Bangkok sizzle, thin pan-seared slices of beef with onions, baby corn, bamboo, chestnuts, mushrooms and lemongrass in spicy chili sauce. It was oversauced and the meat could have been more tender. The sauce was quite basic, not spicy, and too sugary. The huge sea bass fillet with vegetables was a little better. We liked the tender, flaky fish, though some bits were a bit bland. Another friend got some rolls. The black dragon roll with American caviar on top of avocado and tuna was overpowered by the avocado and still bland. I did like the ikura and the cooked salmon and tuna roll with scallions though.
The Metsuyan kalbi fillet of mediun rare char-grilled boneless rib meat started out good, though it quickly became cloyingly sweet and too saucy. The sauce was as red as the blood oozing out of the many, many slices of meat. The Kobe short ribs were a bit better, but also very sweet and soft. The slightly charred steak Polynesia was the best thing I tasted. I later realized that I was lucky to have had a good piece – the rest was a bit overdone.
We had some pretty good sides. The French fries were well seasoned and quite good. They could have been crispier but that was a minor quibble. The others told me the cole slaw was very spicy; I didn’t try it (I hate cole slaw). The mashed potatoes came with the skins, and tasted better than they looked. I think that was from the liberal use of butter.
They don’t serve hard liquor, so I contented myself with cold sake. One friend had a glass of red wine and the others had fruity iced teas. My sake was ok. The service was forgetful but friendly. I imagine they were so scatterbrained because the place was crazy busy. Definitely make reservations. At 9pm on a Sunday night we still had to wait almost 30 minutes.
The decor walks a fine line between tacky and tasteful. I think mostly it stays on the good side. There’s lots of wood, one wall is a long aquarium, and another one is a white tropical frieze. It is an expensive (steaks are about $35), kosher place, but my understanding is that it’s pretty good for Queens.
Rating: 5.5 / 10
Our cost: $340 (6 people)
Noise level: raucous
Chance of walking in: very low. But it’s kosher, so if you’re Orthodox and hungry for Japanese in Flushing, there you go.
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03.30.08
Posted in Asian, Chinese, New York City Neighborhoods, New York City Reviews, Queens, rated 6 to 6.5 at 14:28 by Dominique
39-07 Prince St. & 39th St., Queens, 718-359-1601
Great for: numbing your mouth as pleasantly as possible, old-school Chinese (non-)service
I had to be in Flushing one day, and this was the only Queens restaurant I ever bothered to put on my list, because of a rapturous review in the New York Times a few years ago & some mentions here and there since then. (You’d better have a good reason for me to leave Manhattan if it doesn’t involve a plane.) Luckily the shop where I had to go was only two streets away. I figured I’d better try Spicy & Tasty now, since I would probably never be so conveniently close again. So I got some takeout.
[I generally do not review places if I don't sit down and eat, but as a Chinese girl who grew up eating proper Chinese food, I feel a little more qualified to judge a Szechuan restaurant than any of the Caucasian reviewers whose articles I've read. Plus they made such a damn fuss over it, and my father is Szechuan. Here's to you, Daddy.]
Dan dan noodles are medium width white noodles on a bed of spinach and sometimes ground meat, covered in soy sauce and hot oil. The dish always comes unmixed, so that you can choose how spicy you want it to be. They did a good job here – the noodles didn’t stick together too much, and there was a good ratio of meat and sauce to the rest. Yum.
I also got what they call shredded beef with spicy sauce, which has some cabbage and large scallions underneath enough hot oil and ma-la pepper to destroy all sensation in a mouth for quite some time. The beef isn’t really shredded; it comes in nice big chunks. I’m not sure that’s the right name for what I got – the English translation of the Chinese name sounds like “Water-Boiled Beef” to me. It’s a standard Szechuan dish and an easy test of how good the restaurant is. They did it quite well here. I had to add a lot of rice to stop my mouth from bursting into flame. I was also happy with the meat, which was better quality than usual.
So, everything was good. I didn’t find it amazing, though. If it were in Manhattan I’d definitely make trips, but since it’s over an hour away by train I’ll probably not get back there. It is definitely better than a lot of the crappy American joints in the city that make faux Chinese food, but it’s still just a cheap little place. It’s sad that what should be the normal standard is accounted amazing by American reviewers. And I’m disappointed that there aren’t more chefs trying to do really good Chinese (not fusion) cuisine. Maybe one day Chinese food will be considered as upscale as Japanese…
Rating: 6.5 / 10
My cost: $18
Noise level: quiet at 3pm on a Monday, probably pretty noisy when busy
Chance of walking in: good.
In New York magazine on 5/11/08, the founder of Grand Sichuan discusses the same issue of crappy Chinese food. He seems to be pretty hopeful about it.
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