Vegetarian Dim Sum House

That is #6 (rice with bean curd and pepper) from the rice dishes listed on Vegetarian Dim Sum House's menu. I've developed quite a liking for it (preferably with white rice, although brown rice is also an option), and in the interest of healthier dining, I've been going to this big, sparsely decorated restaurant for the past few Sundays. That black stuff is mushroom or fungus, I need to show the photo to my Chinese teacher to make sure :-D. Other rice dishes I've tried are rice with bean curd and curry sauce (also good) and rice with spicy bean curd (never again, too much celery!).

Oh yes, the vegetarian dim sum dishes. There is a wide assortment, but it's pretty much hit-or-miss. I liked the fried turnip cakes, but not much else. Somehow the fake (oops, "mock") meat doesn't do it for me. Moreover, just because it's vegetarian doesn't mean it's healthy if it's deep fried and greasy!!! Vegetarian Dim Sum house also serves dishes made of mock chicken, mock pork, mock beef and even mock seafood - so in a sense it's heaven for vegetarians. For now, I'll stick to my usual #6 and papaya juice for a cheap, filling lunch option.

Excellent Pork Chop House

Lunchtime on Sundays in Chinatown is often a mob scene - scores of tourists lined up outside the grand dimsum emporiums near Mott St., and inside diners are crammed shoulder-to-shoulder that you can't help but eye the neighboring table's entree selections and overhear the sordid details of their chatter as you peruse the menu. Opting for a more sedate lunch away from the crowds, I strolled a few blocks towards the relative calm of Doyers St. and chanced upon Excellent Pork Chop House. Although I've walked past this restaurant since the 90s, for one reason or another haven't had occasion to sample their eponymous specialty, which borders on amazing considering how big a fan I am of pork chops. "Let's see if the pork chops here live up to their billing", I thought, amused at the restaurant's bold name.

Munching on a generous portion of pan-fried pork chop over rice with ground beef and veggies ($4.75), I surveyed the scene. Like most Chinatown restaurants, most tables were occupied, not by hip young people but by families with strangely obedient children; decor was at best minimal, though on the wall directly above my table was a glass display case containing a collection of Chinese statuettes and Precious Moments dolls dressed in gowns. The noise level was atypically muted - the scene reminded me of those lonely, depressing Edward Hopper paintings showing people sitting at the counter of all-night diners - in fact the only semblance of semi-loud conversation took place among three teenaged-girls at the next table eagerly discussing, from what I could surmise, their homework from Religion class. Something about the foregiveness of sins. A fitting topic on Easter Sunday, I chuckled to myself.

Eating ASAP @ New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe

Just so you know, the "ASAP" in the title means "Assorted Strange Animal Parts", and the picture on the left is a dish of duck tongues. Feeling queasy now? Our fearless leader Dave of the World Food Lover's Dining Out Group decided to crank up the adventure level and brought eight members of the tribe to New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe restaurant in Chinatown for some tasty bites of animal parts not to be found at your corner Chinese takeout joint. Or, the icky stuff, if you will. Duck tongue was one of the appetizers we ordered, and I did not care for it at all. Felt somwhat like swallowing hair down my throat.

The jellyfish was a little better, somewhat lacking in taste yet crunchy. It wasn't so popular at the table though, everyone was more focused on the beef tendons and ox tongue. I preferred those dishes too, although they were much better at the Pepperheads' meetup at Grand Sichuan St. Marks I attended just about a week earlier. Can't complain though, I love the tendons in general.

Moving on to the entrees chosen for this adventure trip. That huge thing swimming in thick brown sauce is sea cucumber (left pic), which was lacking in taste and the sauce was kinda lumpy. Not appetizing in general. There was also eel with chives, but seriously...eel no longer qualifies as exotic, for me anyway. What I did love was the dish of pig intestines (right pic, somewhat out of focus) - simply superb! With a silky smooth texture, it was just like eating braised fatty pig skin...heavenly! Muy delicioso! Ok, before I run out of superlatives, I'll just say it was easily my favorite dish of the night.

Lest you get the impression that we ate all funky stuff, the group did order some more conventional dishes, like crab, squid, and veggies (I don't eat veggies so wasn't sure which one). So less adventurous diners were sated as well. However, they're not worth writing home about so moving on to the final dish to make sure we all went home with our bellies full: pork belly with bean curd, which is essentially bacon or at least similar to. I liked this dish as well, especially the fatty parts. Doesn't everyone? ;-D