Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide

If you ever fly in or out of LaGuardia, you’ve probably grown to dread the experience; a delay of “only” 60-90 minutes is better than average. But I’ve discovered a new method for enjoying a LaGuardia visit. It’s simple: I leave Manhattan 90 minutes early and I stop in Flushing for a Chinese meal. Flushing has most of the best Chinese food in the city, especially adjusting for price. The trouble has always been getting there and back--but the simple solution is to fly more often. For great Chinese food, no price is too high and otherwise you’re simply not going to go.

The logistics are easy. All the best Chinese places are right off Main Street and even Manhattan cabs know the general area. To continue to the airport after your meal, just have the restaurant call you a ride. Many of the major Chinese places have private limousine connections just for this purpose; I’ve been charged rates ranging from $12 to $14. Conversely, you can arrive in LaGuardia and stop in Flushing before heading to Manhattan or elsewhere.

I went just last Sunday for what is, I believe, my sixth attempt at this strategy (I live in Virginia but I come to New York often). I’ve learned a few things. The Shanghai dumplings are supposed to be so hot they burn your mouth a little bit. Even if you are dining solo, order three dishes and just sample. (You needn’t be a hog, just ask yourself how soon you will get back.) Many of these restaurants post reviews, which usually have good ordering suggestions. If in doubt, it is more fruitful to look at the other tables than to read the menu. Not all these restaurants take reservations, so if you are going at Chinese lunch rush hour (10:30 to noon) leave some extra time. If you don’t have much luggage, Main Street in Flushing is one of the very best walks in all of New York.

The best Chinese places in Flushing change quickly, so one method is to Google “best Chinese restaurants Flushing” in the cab or in advance. At Joe’s Shanghai, get the hot and sour soup (the best I’ve ever had) and the juicy steamed pork buns, which are actually the famous Shanghai dumplings with liquid inside; the raw crab appetizer is a good dish not usually found elsewhere and it makes a nice cool offset to the other flavors. (There is a branch of this restaurant in Manhattan but I don’t think it compares.) At Spicy & Tasty, try the dry-cooked green beans, the dumplings in red chili sauce, the lamb dishes, the potato and green pepper (with vinegar), and the Dan Dan noodles, which I think are the best single dish for judging a Sichuan restaurant. Order fresh greens for relief, you will need it.

Overall the district is strong on Shanghai cuisine, Taiwanese cuisine, Cantonese, and Sichuan. If you’re undecided or can’t get into your favorite place, just walk up and down 37th Ave., near Main Street, and choose from a long row of excellent places. On Main Street you’ll also find delicious Chinese street food, pork buns, and dumplings, not attached to any formal restaurant.

And if you don’t care much for Chinese food, Jackson Heights, with some of New York’s best Indian food, is also only minutes away. Just think how much you are saving: what’s really scarce in life is your time and the mere willingness to get up and go. Just do it.

From "On the Way to the Airport . . ." on Bitten, a NYT blog, March 18, 2008

Joe's Shanghai, web site, 136-21 37th Avenue, Flushing, NY, 718-539-3838 [NYT | Yelp | A Guy In New York | openlist]

Spicy & Tasty, 39-07 Prince Street, Flushing, NY, 718-359-1601 [NYT | NY Mag | A Guy In New York | Yelp]

See also Chinatown Bus.

Peking Eastern House (Dong Lai Shun), web site, 617 S. Frederick Avenue, Gaithersburg, MD, 301-963-1426 (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [This is Gonna Be Good | zabihah | Gazette.net | Yelp]

This is a real Chinese Muslim restaurant! I liked the humburgers [sic] best of all. Get lots of meat dishes, get lots of cumin, get noodles. Ask for help. Don’t let them pawn off their standard “Chinese” food on you. Be aggressive and firm. Just don't expect any pork...

Hollywood East Cafe on the Boulevard, web site, 2621 University Blvd., Wheaton, MD, 240-290-9988 (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Washingtonian | WaPo | Yelp | Gayot]

Right now this is the best dim sum place around. They don’t just churn out the usual stuff, they are consistently interesting and make the dim sum with care. At times you might be frustrated by the delays, but that’s part of the signal of quality. First-rate greens too. I might add that they make stuff in batches, and you should stick around for about two hours, and save up space in your stomach, rather than filling up right away. Go slow, slow, slow, and make an afternoon of it.

Paul Kee, 11305-B Georgia Avenue, Wheaton, MD, 301-933-6886 (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Washingtonian | WaPo | City Paper | Yelp]

One of the best Cantonese places around, although you hardly ever hear of it. Excellent seafood. I like the scallops in pepper sauce, among other dishes. There are also the casseroles, and make sure you get some greens to round out the combination.

Chinese-Korean (Kyung Ju Restaurant? - sorry the business card is in Kangul only!), 2847 Gallows Road, at Lee Highway, Falls Church, VA, in the strip mall with the H Mart, 703-645-8787 (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window)

This place gives a good overview of Chinese-Korean food, a bit gooey, a bit sweet, and with liberal use of ketchup. I don’t like the genre, but I don’t want to put you off trying it. The staff is friendly and charming, plus they have some regular Korean dishes as well. For me it is a dominated asset, but if you never went it would be a shame.

Hong Kong Palace (formerly Saigon Palace), web site, 6387 Leesburg Pike, Seven Corners Center, Falls Church, VA, 703-532-0940, Sun - Thur: 11 am - 10 pm, Fri & Sat: 11 am - 11 pm (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Washingtonian | Yelp]

This is probably the best Chinese place around and it just keeps on getting better. Mostly it is Sichuan and yes do ask for the special Chinese menu if they don't give it to you right away. Get the lamb with cumin, the beef with bamboo shoots, the flounder in pepper sauce in hot pot, the ma po tofu, the potatoes with green pepper, the tiger pepper, the Dan Dan noodles, the dried beef appetizer, and the chengdu dumplings appetizer, the spicy version in black vinegar. The menu has many other treasures as well. The specials are usually very good.

Fu Mei, in the Great Wall Chinese grocery store (大中华) on Gallows, between 29 and 50 and right by Five Guys and Peking Village, 2982 Gallows Road, Falls Church, VA, 703-208-3388 (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [WaPo]

Fully authentic Chinese comfort food, the meats are quite good, the noodles too, the chow fun (chow foon), all for Chinese tastes; the food lies in the direction of oily Cantonese, not sea cucumber. Definitely recommended, and an A+ for atmosphere. They have only a few tables, all the more reason to go.

Sambo Restaurant, 6669 Little River Turnpike, Annandale, VA, 703-750-6846 (old review) (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) Here's the old review.

The place just reopened with new management, it is now “Chinese-Korean” food, a genre that in general does not thrill me. Too many fried things, too much sweet sauce, and that occasional inappropriate use of ketchup. Still many of you will wish to try this place, if only to see how Chinese food is consumed in Korea.

They don’t offer sushi any more, it is a totally different place.

Visit London every year.

Bar Shu, web site, 28 Frith Street, London, near Leicester Square, is the best Sichuan food I have had. The "Exploded Pork Kidneys" are especially fine, as are the green beans.

Also noteworthy is Hot Stuff, web site, 19 Wilcox Road, London, a small Pakistani takeaways place that is rapidly gaining global fame.

First posted on Marginal Revolution.

Bob's 88 Shabu Shabu, 316 N. Washington Street, Rockville, MD, 301-294-5888 (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Washingtonian | WaPo | Don Rockwell | Gayot]

The Chinese consider 88, like 66, to be a lucky number, of course this is also the Bob of Bob’s Noodle 66, one of the best Chinese places around. Shabu refers to dipping your food into a boiling pot to cook it. In general I am opposed to this idea, rarely are the results very interesting. But this is a worthwhile restaurant.

You must get your boiling mix to be “very spicy,” then you must order the most complex combination of stuff possible to put into the mix (this will depend on how many people you have). The results are genuinely delicious. I thought the fish was especially good. I might add there is a second menu, small but similar to part of the 66 place, which taken alone would make this one of the best Chinese restaurants around. No matter which route you wish to go, this place is worth trying.

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Great Wall Szechuan House Restaurant, web site, 1527 14th Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-797-8888, usually open (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [WaPo | City Paper - also see "Oo Ma-La!" | openlist]

Most of the food is the usual junk. Their nine ma-la dishes, posted on a small menu on the take-out window, are another story altogether. Get the bean sprouts and the double cooked pork. Quite authentic. They’ve got the whole numbing bit down pat. Very cheap. There’s not a lot of variety here, but if you care about real Chinese food this is a place you must visit. Usually it is empty, but the proprietor tells me they have been around since 2002. Mostly they serve the neighborhood with take-out.

House of Mandarin, 165 Glyndon Street SE, Vienna, VA, 703-281-9600 (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Yelp]

This old standby was a boring Chinese restaurant for eleven years. Now they have a Chinese menu and it is much improved. Ask for the Chinese menu and ignore the rest. I expect this place will continue to improve, I will keep my eye on it. Small and homey, a nice Vienna institution.

Cho Cu Saigon, 6763-6D Wilson Blvd., Falls Church, VA, 703-538-2168, inside Eden Center - use the entrance under the clock tower, next to the grocery store (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Washingtonian | City Paper | Yelp]

Get the roast pork there. You might call this Cantonese but it is a Vietnamese vision of Cantonese food. Duck and seafood as well, recommended.

Update September, 2006: An unknown and much underrated Cantonese restaurant. Good congee. Also get the salted and baked chicken. Fully authentic, try the noodles with ginger and scallion, I think this place is quite good and I haven’t even yet discovered their best dishes.

Update March 9, 2006: Today I had a great meal at the Cantonese place inside Eden Center... the casserole with minced chicken and salted fish was superb.

Joe's Shanghai, 13621 37th Avenue, Flushing, Queens, NY, 718-539-3838 [A Guy In New York | NYT | NY Mag | Village Voice | openlist | Gayot | Yelp | Citysearch]

Superb, especially the crab and pork dumplings...one of the best Chinese meals I have had in the US...

China Gourmet (the new Chinese name may be Szechuan Boy), 9901 Lee Hwy, Fairfax, VA, 703-293-9898 (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Chowhound | Washingtonian | WaPo | Don Rockwell]

Update August 13, 2006: China Gourmet is closed.

Update, May 15, 2006: Peter Chang has now left China Gourmet and his whole new Sichuan menu is gone...a new chef has some sichuan dishes, including good rabbit, but it is not the same restaurant.

Run by the prize-winning chef who used to run Tempt Asian and before that China Star.

Get the special Szechuan menu, twice cooked pork and #3 on the main dishes menu, fish and tofu.

A new favorite.

Seven Seas, web site, 1776 East Jefferson Street, Rockville, MD, 301-770-5020 (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Washingtonian | WaPo | City Paper | food-plan | Don Rockwell | openlist | Gayot]

One of the very best Chinese for seafood. You must ask for the Chinese menu, otherwise don't go. Get the Crispy Fish Hunan Style.

Bob's Noodle 66, 305 N. Washington St., Rockville, MD, 301-315-6668, usually open, cash only. (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Washingtonian | WaPo | Gayot | City Paper | Don Rockwell]

Superb Chinese food, nor is it replicated by the other best Chinese places around. More Taiwanese than most local Chinese restaurants. The thick noodles are amazing. I loved the fish and the ginger casseroles. Get the oyster pancake as a starter. The last fish dish, lightly fried fish in a sweet and sour sauce, is a knock-out. Not to mention the tempura soft shell crab. Right now this is the best Chinese place around. I wouldn’t pretend that I have discovered the best dishes here yet, but you can’t go wrong, even if you don’t usually like duck blood.

Also see Bob's 88 Shabu Shabu

Update January 2007: This restaurant is now in slight decline.

Oyster Pancake

Seafood Combo Thick Noodle Soup


Ginger Chicken Casserole

The Best

Technorati Tags: restaurant reviews, Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide, Tyler Cowen Ethnic Dining Guide, washington, dc, washington-dc

Hong Kong Palace (formerly Saigon Palace), web site, 6387 Leesburg Pike, Seven Corners Center, Falls Church, VA, 703-532-0940, open 11 am - 11 pm every day (online maps do not accurately show the location. The actual address is 6387 Leesburg Pike, but using 6222 more accurately shows the approximate location) On the southeast end of the mall between Leesburg Pike and Rt. 50, about 2/3rds of a mile due south of Eden Center, facing Sears, that includes Michaels and Shoppers Food Warehouse on the Leesburg Pike side, and Fortune, Home Depot and Barnes & Noble on the Rt. 50 side) (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Washingtonian | Suburban Tasteland | City Paper]

August 8, 2007: See the updated profile here.

This was once the premier Cantonese place around, but now it has been Sichuan for a while, you ma still need to ask for the special menu. One of my very favorite places. The beef with cumin is excellent, the lamb with cumin, the Dan Dan noodles, the Zhong's spicy dumplings, and maybe the beef with bamboo shoots is my favorite dish. The spicy fish in hot pot is great (not the exact name of the dish but that's what it is) and the specials are very reliable. Recommended, and let me know what you think. If you don't order from the special menu, don't even bother going. Right now the clientele is 100 pct. Chinese, a good sign. Note that they don't have a listed phone number.

Joe’s Noodle House, web site, 1488-C Rockville Pike, near Congressional Lane, Rockville, MD, 301-881-5518 (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Washingtonian | Economist | WaPo | City Paper | food-plan | openlist | Citysearch]

Superb Szechuan food. Many little items. You order and they bring it to your crowded table. As close to real Chinese food as you are going to get around here. A very exciting place to visit, highly recommended. Plus the best dumplings around.

A&J Restaurant

• 4316 Markham Street (Little River Turnpike), Annandale, VA, 703-813-8181, just east of the Beltway (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Washingtonian | WaPo | City Paper | Don Rockwell | openlist | Citysearch | Gayot]
  
• 1319 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD, 301-251-7878 [Washingtonian | WaPo | City Paper | food-plan | Don Rockwell | openlist | Citysearch | Gayot]

Manchurian food and dim sum, one of the best places around. Tasty, original, and very cheap. I love the soups and dumplings. The boiled peanuts and shredded bean curd are other favorites. The smoked chicken has been especially good lately. But you can’t go wrong here, just make sure you get lots of things, and with the median item price below three dollars, this is not hard to do.

China Canteen, 808 Hungerford Drive, Suite E, Rockville, MD, 301-424-1616 (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [City Paper | DC Examiner | Gayot]

A real Szechuan place, dating back several years. Why didn’t more of you write me about it? Get some of the cold dishes. The Dan-Dan noodles are excellent. Otherwise, get dishes that are not otherwise available in non-Szechuan restaurants. Not as good as the best of Tempt Asian or China Star, but worth going to. Perhaps the most extensive Szechuan menu around.

Sichuan Village, web site, 14005 Lee Jackson Memorial Highway (Rt. 50, just east of Rt. 28), Chantilly, VA, 703-631-5888, same strip mall as Il Mee. (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Washingtonian | Don Rockwell | Citysearch]

This place is from the titans that brought you the old Formosa Café in Crystal City. The new place is much more Szechuan, although they have added many heinous dishes and a heinous buffet for some of their heinous customers. Ignore those downsides. The real Chinese food here is superb. Get the Ants on a Stick, Tofu and Fish Fillet in Very Hot Sauce, Cold Pig’s Maw with Ginger and Garlic, Chengdu Kung Pao Chicken, Braised Beef with Brown Sauce, Tea Smoked Duck, Steamed Pork Bun Han Style, and Dumplings Zhong’s Style. And that is just a start.

Full Kee in DC's Chinatown, 509 H Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-371-2233 [Washingtonian | WaPo | NYT | City Paper | food-plan | openlist | Gayot]

The snow pea pod leaves here, or whatever they are called, are great. As are the dumplings in the soup. Some mediocre dishes, but if you order well this place is a knock-out. Mostly Cantonese. Written up by The New York Times as one of the most interesting places in DC.

Full Kee in VA, just off Leesburg Pike and Columbia Pike, across route 7 from Borders Books in Baileys Crossroads Center (in the same shopping center as Trader Joe's at 5847 Leesburg Pike) 5830 Columbia Pike, Falls Church, VA, 703-575-8232 [Washingtonian | WaPo | City Paper | openlist | Citysearch]

So far better than the original in DC, it is excellent Chinese food. Be adventurous when you order. Excellent lobster, dumplings, tofu dishes. Critics laud the casseroles, and while they have their merits, they don’t give me much visceral enjoyment along the yummy dimension. For casseroles, go to Hong Kong Palace.

China Bistro/Mama’s Dumplings, 755 Hungerford Drive, Rockville, MD, 301-294-0808 [Washingtonian | DC Examiner | WaPo | City Paper | Don Rockwell]

Order items 38 to 45, the dumplings. Dumplings. These are the best dumplings around, by an order of magnitude (and yes, I do know about Joe’s Noodle House). The other stuff here is only so-so.

China Star, web site, 9600 Main Street (Route 236), Fairfax, VA, 703-323-8822 (in the same shopping center as Kinko’s and Cinema Arts Theatre) [Washingtonian | WaPo | City Paper | Don Rockwell | openlist | Citysearch]

Great Szechuan if you know how to order properly. Get the spicy dishes and the specialties of the house. The Szechuan chili chicken has to be seen to be believed; get it on the bone. Get the sea bass with pine nuts and the crystal shrimp. The dried fried green beans. The Szechuan preserved fish. The Szechuan scallion fried fish, which goes well with the chicken with leeks. Don’t forget the salt and pepper eggplant. Get the dishes you have never heard of. Watch what everyone else is eating. The daily specials usually are excellent. The ordinary “Chinese” dishes here are quite unexceptional, avoid them. This can blow the roof off your mouth, they have four categories: normal, spicy, very spicy, and numbing. That should be all you need to know. For a fresh look at Chinese food, visit this place. I go back, and back, and back.

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Hunan Number One, 3033 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA, 703-528-1177, in Clarendon, open to 1:30 a.m. every night [Washingtonian | City Paper | openlist | Citysearch | Gayot]

A fraction of this place is authentic Cantonese, the other part is trying to appeal to boring American diners. Sooner or later the place will have to choose. The salt baked chicken is excellent and you won’t otherwise find that dish around. A reader recommends the clams in black bean sauce, beware the dim sum.

China Garden, Rosslyn, 1100 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA, 703-525-5317 [Washingtonian | WaPo | City Paper | food-plan | Don Rockwell | Gayot]

Supposed to be very good Cantonese food, popular with Chinese. Packed for dim sum on weekends.

Oriental East, 1290 East-West Highway, at Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD, 301-608-0030 (another address listed is 1312 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD) [Washingtonian | WaPo | City Paper | openlist | Citysearch | Gayot]

The best orange beef around. Overall a very good, above average Chinese restaurant. There are so many good Chinese places around now, you might be tempted not to try this one, but it is worth a visit.

Charlie Chiang’s, 660 South Pickett Street, off van Dorn, not so far from the Metro, West Alexandria, VA, 703-751-8888 [WaPo | City Paper | openlist | Citysearch]

They have rabbit on the menu, and a number of other interesting-looking Szechuan dishes. Don’t get stuck with the American menu.

(other locations: 1912 Eye Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-293-6000 [WaPo | openlist] ... 4250 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 202-966-1916 [WaPo | City Paper] ... 4060 South 28th Street (Shirlington), Arlington, VA, 703-671-4900 [WaPo])

Far East Restaurant, 5505 Nicholson Lane, Rockville, MD, 301-881-5552 [food-plan | Citysearch]

Quite good overall but the Kung Pao Chicken is the dish to get here, much more of a plum sauce dish than other kung paos.

Peking Village, 2962 Gallows Road, between 50 and 29, Falls Church, VA, 703-698-9220 [City Paper | Don Rockwell | openlist | Citysearch | Gayot]

Two restaurants in one, a grisly fried Chinese buffet and a real Szechuan menu with absolutely no concessions to Western taste. The latter is worth trying. Not up to Joe’s Noodle House or China Star, but a truly authentic restaurant where you don’t expect to find such a place. They don’t hold back on the bodily organs and slime, etc., but you can get other things too. But keep in mind: the Chinese often eat for texture, not taste.

Tony Cheng’s Seafood Restaurant, 619 H Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-371-8669, Chinatown, usually open [Washingtonian | WaPo | City Paper | openlist | Citysearch | Gayot]

This place used to have some good dishes but now it is in decline. If you must try the oyster casserole and the scallops in wine sauce, plus other house specials.

Hollywood East Cafe, 2312 Price Avenue, Wheaton, MD, 301-942-8282 [Washingtonian | WaPo | City Paper | Citysearch | Gayot]

Everything here has real flavor, it is a real pleasure to eat their food. Doesn’t hit the peaks of the very best places, but stands far above the typical Chinese restaurant. Go for the daily specials. And the whole fish is never a mistake in a good Chinese restaurant, don’t worry about its high price, you are likely to die with a positive bequest in any case.

(also at 2621 University Blvd., near Grandview Avenue, Wheaton, MD, 240-290-9988 [Washingtonian | WaPo | City Paper | Don Rockwell | Gayot])

Vinh Kee, 3103-D Graham Road, at Rt. 50, Falls Church, VA, 703-645-0118 [Washingtonian | City Paper | Citysearch]

Half of the way toward Vietnamese, actually. A good Asian seafood restaurant, though it does not rival my favorites, such as Seven Seas, in my affections. But it will be closer for many, and good enough to enjoy. Get the whole fish.

Chinatown Express, 746 Sixth Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-638-0424 [Washingtonian | City Paper | Don Rockwell | openlist]

Maybe the best place in Chinatown right now. Make sure you order the noodles. Good soft-shelled crab. Excellent dumplings. Not as good as Joe’s Noodle House, but if you are stuck in DC you will enjoy this place. Small, and draws a crowd, so go early.