Dear readers, A while back, Layne Mosler of Taxi Gourmet approached J.O. and me with her newest project: a series of self-guided food tours, written by local experts and sold through a mobile app used to explore good food throughout the world. I signed on because Layne’s approach to food is very much like my [...]
Hours after a recent trip to Flushing’s newest destination food court, J.O. and I exchanged the following over SMS: “These food malls are like chucky cheeses for us.” “You are right. I definitely peed in the ball pit at Savor Fusion.” “Omg” Who said what isn’t nearly as important as the analogy. I’ve been to [...]
The egg tart is perhaps not as lionized as the soup dumpling, but it can be just as much the subject of fantasy. Praises have been sung. Lists have been compiled. At least one film has been made. A good egg tart – not too sweet, barely savory and held together by a tender, flaky [...]
Rice is rarely this audacious. Jinro is rarely the right choice. At a modest Korean restaurant in the far reaches of Queens, the rare thrill dormant in both staples springs to life in one sizzling sitting. Containing white rice soaked in a spicy marinade, a portentous mixing bowl greets the happy diners at Flushing’s Tong [...]
Every good meal deserves a show stopper. The immediate clacking of chopsticks – springing back into pointed motion after twelve dishes and two cases of Tsingtao – was my sign that the lazy Susan had one last spin during an extensive supper at downtown Flushing’s Fu Run. Taking a victory lap around the table was [...]
In mid-August, my great friend and epic eating comrade Boykji visited New York for a whirlwind tour of the city’s eats. The five days I spent sharing meals with Boyk reminded me of how lucky I am to live in New York, where one can literally spend hours on end walking, eating and repeating without [...]
Homer Simpson may have once fallen under the spell of the good morning burger, but only because he wasn’t aware of the good morning pancake. When Vicky wrote in from Taipei about the staples of Taiwanese breakfast, I was struck with curiosity. Every other account I stumbled upon stoked that curiosity into veritable starvation until [...]
No stranger to ethnic diversity, the kaleidoscopic mecca of Flushing, Queens is home to New York’s Ganesha Temple, one of the oldest houses of Hindu worship in the United States. Visually, the temple is an abrupt shock of ornate construction and concrete walls, imposing itself upon the row houses and driveways of residential Queens. Spiritually, [...]
I am incapable of drinking butt. I didn’t always know this about myself. On a winter day I walked into Papaya King with El Ultimo and ordered a combo meal with papaya smoothie. “You got the papaya?” He queried in an uncharacteristic tone of caution. “Melissa says that stuff tastes like butt.” My tongue stuck [...]
Chinatown, if you give it a chance, can raise a lot of questions (and not just questions about corruption and incest). Founded roughly in the mid-to-late 1800s, the historic Chinese quarters of modern urbania were born from the ranks of discrimination, self-segregation and survival. As the years passed and industrialized nations began to construct our [...]
