Dumpling Odyssey in Flushing

White Bear's award-winning wontons

Love Chinese dumplings? Have 2-3 friends who share this passion? Get yourself to downtown Flushing this spring for a walking tour of some of the finest cheap eats around.

A few months ago, Serious Eats published an essential Flushing dumpling guide. Use it as a starting point, but get inspired to digress as we did on a recent afternoon in this vibrant eating Mecca, where 80% of businesses are either Chinese or Korean owned. For ease of splitting, keep your group to 3 or 4 people as most dumpling servings are by the dozen. And everything is within a few block radius of the Main St.-Roosevelt Ave. intersection.

White Bear is the perfect starting point and has quite a following. Just two blocks from the Flushing 7 train station. Unassuming is an understatement. There's practically no seating in this mom + pop shop. It doesn't matter because it takes seconds to polish off the exceptional pork + cabbage wontons in hot oil ($4.50/dozen). The bits of pickled veggies and chili add just the right depth of flavor. It's very tempting to order a second dozen, but refrain, because there is so much more ahead.

Next stop is the food court wonderland on the ground floor of New World Mall. I recently visited Bangkok where the mall food courts tempted me at every turn. That same rush came right back here. Pork dumplings at Sliced Noodle are first steamed then fried in a thin pancake batter base for added texture.

Sliced Noodle's pork dumplings

At the rear end of sunny Maxim Bakery sits a Taiwanese dumpling counter called My Sweet Home. Sweet it is. Dig in to an order of cigar shaped pork and leek fried dumplings with a side of cold eggplant in bean sauce. Dumplings are just excellent - meaty and greaseless.


Excellent eats from My Sweet Home

As a detour, it would be a shame if you left Flushing without trying the $1 Peking duck bun at the Peking Duck Sandwich stall. So make a pit stop for a two-bite pillow of meaty goodness.

The famous Flushing $1 Peking duck bun

Our final stop was Biang, the upscale sister restaurant to Jason Wang's Xi'an Famous Foods chain. Biang is casually hip. Chunky wooden tables, and exposed brick and lighting keep a trendy crowd streaming in all afternoon. Here the spicy cumin chicken skewers and spicy and sour lamb dumplings do not disappoint. Wash down the tingling heat with sweet + sour hawberry tea.


Stylish Biang has a terrific menu 

Before leaving Flushing, poke around the shops or hit the massive Asian supermarkets including Sky Foods and Jmart.

White Bear
135-02 Roosevelt Ave.

Sliced Noodle
136-20 Roosevelt Ave.
New World Mall food court #12

My Sweet Home
136-76 Roosevelt Ave.

Peking Duck Sandwich Stall
Main St. + 40th Rd.

Biang
41-10 Main St.

Bite into Sausage, Inc.

Lamb and pistachio sausage

Here's a great little Cheap Eat in honor of Tax Day.

Tucked under a Greenwich Village block of scaffolding is a little sausage shop with big flavor. Somehow six month old Sausage, Inc. fell under the media radar despite the customer raves. Time to change that.

A small variety of artisan sausages - including a meatless option - are ground fresh daily and served grilled on a pretzel bun and sauteed onions. A hefty mouthful for $5.51.



A tiny sandwich shop with big taste

The most popular is the classic pork and basil filled Blanco. The Farmer blends beef and bacon into meaty goodness. The Thanksgiving, packed with turkey, stuffing and cranberries, is basically a holiday on a bun. Watch out for daily specials including the juicy lamb and pistachio. It gets better. There's a row of homemade sauces for experimentation. Any place with homemade condiments gets high marks from me. Go crazy.

I wish the artisan sausage culture were bigger here. The humble food is often maligned in our country for mystery additives. Sausage, Inc. uses prime cuts of meat with no chemicals or MSG. My vote for additions to the menu: the English banger, Moroccan merguez and Spanish chorizo for starters.

106 University Place (between 12th + 13th Sts.)

212 414 4344

11 am - 2 am daily



Hooked on Baja Style Dorado Tacos

Fresh Baja fish tacos

Ensenada, Mexico. Famed port city. Plentiful fish. Home of the heavenly Baja fish taco.

It may be 2,500 miles from New York City, but thanks to the recently opened Dorado Tacos, the authentic street snack has landed just south of bustling Union Square.

I'm hooked. This is fast, fresh Mexican food at its finest. And the Baja Original fish taco, impossibly priced at $2.95, is a Cheap Eats triumph. Two freshly made corn tortillas cradle a meaty hunk of beer battered Atlantic pollock, shredded cabbage, pickled onions, salsa fresca (tomatoes, onions, cilantro) and crema. And a squirt of lime. Texture, crunch, a burst of flavor. Refined simplicity.

Spicy pickles include jicama and jalapeno

The grilled fish version ($3.25), topped with a tomatillo and avocado salsa, is a delicious lighter option. Meal sized quesadillas ($4.95-$6.50) are stuffed with gooey cheeses and fillings such as homemade chorizo, and spicy portabellas. Add a side of Mexican-style hot pickled veggies. And wash it down with a ruby red jamaica fresca, house infused hibiscus leaves, sugar and water. 

Tiny Dorado Tacos is the offshoot of the original Boston area hotspot. As owner Michael Brau reveals, the secret's in the prep. "We spend all day dicing tomatoes and onions, hand chopping cilantro and serrano chiles, zesting and slicing limes and oranges for marinades, shredding cabbage and jicama for tacos, grilling red peppers and zucchini, scooping avocado, and grating cheeses for quesadillas." It's paying off.

It also makes a welcome lunch alternative to Num Pang, the excellent Cambodian sandwich shop across the street, when the lines are unbearable.


28 E 12th St near University Place
Mon - Sat, 11 am - 10 pm
Sun, 11 am - 9 pm
212 627 0900

Does Pok Pok Wing Deserve the Raves?

All hail Portlandia for bringing us the finest wings in NYC

Why should Korean fried chicken get all the love?

Portland-based Pok Pok Wing has just changed the local playing field with its first NYC outpost. The tiny Thai wing factory took over the old LES pork-bun haven Baohaus (which moved to bigger digs on E 14th St.). And the early buzz has been not just great but phenomenal. Add my two sticky, chili-crusted thumbs-up to the mix.

Try the free pandan water

Spicy Asian wings are an all-time favorite of mine. Crisp in Chicago holds the trophy. I even begged the owner to open in NYC to no avail. Instead, he just went on to win best in the country awards. Which doesn't help us New Yorkers.

Never mind, we now have Pok Pok. Wings are marinated overnight in fish sauce, sugar and garlic. Then deep fried and tossed in another coat of the same marinade kicked up with optional chili paste.

Ike, right, and his inspired recipe

Owner Andy Ricker's inspiration came from his travels throughout Thailand. Returning to Portland, he turned to Vietnamese friend Ike to perfect the flavors. The result, Ike's Wings, is a triumph, with the addictive blend of crispy, sticky sweet, salty, and spicy elements.

Wash 'em down with a mild drinking vinegar ($4) or soothing complimentary pandan water. Pandan is a fragrant tropical plant popular in Southeast Asia. Leaves are soaked in water to create a soft, slightly nutty flavor, perfect for tempering the chicken's saltiness and heat.

First timers should go for the full order of wings ($12.49) - six spicy or regular. They're too good to share, so don't even try. You can share the plenty of Fresh Naps on hand.

Brooklynites, don't despair. Pok Pok NY, a full service restaurant in Red Hook, is in the works this winter.

137 Rivington St. (between Norfolk + Suffolk Sts.)
212-477-1299

Craving BaoBQ

EDITOR'S NOTE: CLOSED

Asian BBQ comes to the East Village

Ever enterprising restaurateur Michael Bao Huynh (Baoguette, Mikey's Burger) strikes again. And I'm hooked. BaoBQ, his latest EV cheap eats dining concept, celebrates Southeast Asian barbecue, a favorite of Huynh's.

"In Vietnam, it's everywhere," he explains of his native home. I can see why.

Since its quiet opening just before Christmas, I've been a regular. I crave the chicken. A lot. Instead of writing about it, I've just been eating it.

Thai smoked BBQ chicken

BBQ pork chops with dirty rice

Two styles of BBQ chicken are house specials: lemongrass marinated Thai (my favorite), and chili glazed Vietnamese. Both are smoked and finished by char grilling over apple wood. The meat just clings to perfectly crisped skin as it falls off the bone.

Then there are the addictive homemade dipping sauces. Classic Vietnamese nuoc cham is mildly spicy and sticky, and Huynh's own "Super Bao" hot sauce lives up to its name.

Vietnamese grilled pork chops are also bone gnawingly good. The roasted cauliflower, and sticky rice top my list of mostly traditional sides which nicely compliment the meat. The underdressed som tam (papaya salad) could use more tang. Noodle dishes and other grilled items, including Korean bulgogi, round out the menu.

A new favorite BBQ with a twist

Huynh is a very physical presence at BaoBQ these days. But, not surprisingly, his mind is already on his next neighborhood venture opening in March: Mikey's Cheesesteak. No doubt the classic sandwich will get a Baoified twist.

Note: A few months ago, I wrote about best East Village deliveries for $10. BaoBQ now tops this list.
 

229 First Ave
(between 13th + 14th Sts)
212 475 7011
Delivery available
Average entree $9