Peking Kitchen II, New York NY

Posted on September 17, 2014 by rundlea
Wontons in Spicy Peanut Sauce

Wontons in Spicy Peanut Sauce

I have reviewed dumpling spots in China and in China-towns, in Korea and in Korea-towns, in Little-Tokyos, in Italy, in Tibetan enclaves and in old school Eastern European neighborhoods. But I haven’t yet reviewed an old-school Ghetto Chinese restaurant, a phrase I first heard when I moved to NYC back in ’91. The Urban Dictionary defines a ghetto Chinese restaurant as “Characterized by fast, cheap, and sometimes good Chinese food. In dangerous parts, there may be inch thick plexiglass barricades separating kitchen and diner, with a turnstyle for exchanging food and money.” (49 thumbs up and 18 thumbs down for this definition).  These Chinese take-out spots were the pioneers of fast-food in many urban neighborhoods.  My favorite reference to one of these joints is the Fugees’ Chinese Restaurant piece on the The Score.

I decided to try out Peking Kitchen II in Harlem, which is a small take-out joint with three tables for eating-in, but these are mainly used by people waiting for their to-go orders.  It is so small and off the grid I can barely find any mention of it online, only seven reviews on Yelp.  Peking Kitchen II serves the full panoply of American Chinese dishes and also serves fried fish fillets, fried shrimp, fried chicken, fried chicken wings, pork chops and fried sweat and green bananas (Plantain). Peking Kitchen II is not as armored up as some spots I have been to, there is no plexiglass between the customer and the cashier. Continue reading →

Posted in Ghetto Chinese, New York City, Pan Fried, Wontons | Leave a comment

Assi Brand Frozen Vege Potstickers

Posted on September 15, 2014 by rundlea

assibrand_logoRating:  stars_5

I grabbed a bag of Assi Brand Vege Potstickers pretty much at random from the freezer cabinet at my local Korean market – turned out to be a good choice.  A little googling around led me to discover that Assi Brand is the flagship brand of the Rhee Bros food company located in Maryland, USA.  Rhee Bros was founded in 1976 by a Korean student living in the U.S., who, to make ends meet, initially sold dried squid shipped to him from Korea by his mother. According to the Rhee Bros website, Assi is derived from the traditional title for a young sophisticated woman. Continue reading →

Posted in Frozen Dumpling Review, Korea, Potsticker, Vegan, Vegetarian | 2 Comments

Sun Kim Bop, Seoul Street Food Truck, Amherst MA

Posted on September 8, 2014 by rundlea
Street food in Myeongdong Seoul

Street food in Myeongdong Seoul

The Sun Kim Bop food truck hit the streets in Western MA in winter 2013-2014 but I just spotted it this past weekend on the Amherst commons.  Despite its signage the Sun Kim Bop doesn’t really provide the full Seoul street food experience, there is no blood sausage and rice cakes in spicy sauce, no fish cake on a skewer, no grilled sheets of cuttle fish, no roasted sweet potato, no mini-sausages on a stick and no deep fried kim bap.  But their website explains that Sun Kim Bop is trying to provide healthy food in “the essence of Korea’s famous street and picnic food”.  The specialty of the house is their own creation, the Bop Burger.  The bun of the Bop Burger is made of crisped rice seasoned with dry seaweed and sesame seeds and is filled with sautéed homemade kimchi, pork, beef or chicken. The truck also has some interesting looking kimchi tacos, Korean wraps, Kim Bap and has awesome vegan mandoo that taste and eat like meat dumplings. Continue reading →

Posted in Gyoza, Korea, Mandoo, Pan Fried, Vegan, Vegetarian | 1 Comment

Samurai Noodle, Seattle WA

Posted on September 2, 2014 by rundlea

Samurai_noodleSamurai Noodle is a Seattle based ramen bar mini-chain that serves fresh homemade noodles.  They have a ton of options for adding ingredients to the base broths and noodles and for the pork broth you can order extra pork fat to deepen the broth flavor. They also have a couple of vegan ramen options.  I thought the basic pork broth ramen was a strong effort, but next time I will probably get some additional pork fat.  For my second outing to Samurai Noodle I focused on sampling their dumpling selection. Continue reading →

Posted in Gyoza, Japanese, Pan Fried, Pork, Shumai, Takoyaki, Vegan, Vegetarian | Leave a comment

Noodles, Northampton, MA

Posted on August 25, 2014 by rundlea

Noodles has been serving pan-Asian noodles, curry dishes and dumplings to Smith College students and Northampton locals since 2008. Like restaurants in Korea and Japan, Noodles has plastic replicas of steaming bowls of noodle soup on display in its entrance way. This nod to authenticity is as about as close as Noodles gets to passing as a legit noodle stand in Japan or Korea.

Steamed Kimchi Dumplings

Steamed Kimchi Dumplings

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Posted in Gyoza, Japanese, Kimchi, Korea, Northampton, pan-Asian, Steamed, Uncategorized, Vegan, Vegetarian | 1 Comment

Gothamist seems to have gone mad for Dumplings

Posted on August 13, 2014 by rundlea

The Gothamist, which runs a series of city specific blogs, seems to have gone mad for dumplings this summer, they put out dumpling related list-icles across almost of their outlets.

Gothamist:  The 8 Best Chinese Dumplings in NYC

LAist:  The Best Dumplings in Los Angeles

Chicagoist:  The 12 Best Dumplings in Chicago

DCist: The Best Places To Get Dumplings In The D.C. (But Mostly Rockville) Area

SFist: The 7 Best Dim Sum Spots In The Bay Area

The only outlet in their stable of blogs that didn’t have an article on the best places to get dumplings was the Shanghaiist.  Maybe compiling that list is too daunting of a task in Shanghai, but here is a hint, the top 10 places to get dumplings in Shanghai are all the Yang’s Fried Dumpling outlets.

Posted in Chicago, Chinese, D.C., Dim Sum, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Washington | Leave a comment

Ingredient Hunt: pulled pork at Scott’s B.B.Q.

Posted on August 4, 2014 by rundlea
From top: Outside Scott's BBQ; the wood chopping area; the mop bucket of sauce; the pulled pork; making a sandwich

From top: Outside Scott’s BBQ; the wood chopping area; the mop bucket of sauce; the pulled pork; making a sandwich

My recipe for Kimchi & Pulled Pork Dumplings works best with Eastern North Carolina pulled pork. While Central and Western NC styles use a tomato based sauce and slow cook the shoulder cut of the hog, Eastern style BBQ uses a light vinegar based pepper sauce and uses the whole hog.  I think the vinegar base sauce goes better with the kimchi than the tomato based sauce.

Practitioners of Eastern style can also be found in the coastal areas of South Carolina and of some of the best is found in Hemingway SC, at Scott’s BBQ.  Scott’s pulled pork is melt in your mouth tender, with just a little crunch from mixed in pork bark, and has a mild smoky flavor and a tangy, medium heat spice from the sauce.  My original Kimchi & Pulled Pork Dumplings recipe suggested pulled pork from Wilbur’s in NC, but I am switching it up to Scott’s as the official recommendation.

The Southern Foodways Alliance has done a great interview with the owner, Rodney Scott, and various TV chefs and travel celebrities have made the pilgrimage to see Scott’s smoke pits.  The pits are behind a ramshackle old gas station that serves as the take-out counter and sit-down cafe. Rodney and his crew spend Monday and Tuesday chopping wood and making charcoal to fuel the pits and are open for service Wednesday to Saturday.  They cook 8-10 hogs per day and close down when they run out of the day’s supply.

Scott’s sells whole hog pulled pork by the hog ($500), 1/2 hog ($250), 1/4 hog ($150), the pound ($11 per lb) or in a small ($3:50) and large sandwiches ($5:50) or on a plate with sides ($7.00), they will also smoke your own hog for you for $120 ($22.00 for a gallon of sauce). They also sell home made pork rinds and whole and half BBQ chicken. The sandwiches are a strictly DIY affair, you are given two slices of white bread in a plastic baggie and a styrofoam to-go tub piled high with pork.  So you jam as much pork as you can between the slices of bread, slather on some extra BBQ sauce and eat.

Posted in Pork, Recipe | Leave a comment

Jado Sushi Harlem, New York, NY

Posted on July 28, 2014 by rundlea
Ravioli Gyoza

Ravioli Gyoza

The wave of gentrification that has swept through South Harlem has brought luxury condos, interesting bistros and celebrity chefs. Unfortunately it has not added to the dumpling eating opportunities in Harlem.  Jado Sushi Harlem, is a case in point, it looked promising but seriously underperformed.  Jado is a sleek, low lit, Japanese restaurant with a wet bar up front and a sushi bar in the back, and emphasizes concocted, multiple layered in-side-out rolls.

Continue reading →

Posted in Gyoza, Japanese, New York City, Pan Fried | Leave a comment

Uncle Vanya’s Cafe, Hell’s Kitchen, NY

Posted on July 21, 2014 by rundlea

Since 1991 Uncle Vanya’s Cafe has been Hell’s Kitchen’s home for Russian comfort food.  Vanya’s is a cozy spot on West 54th Street whose interior resembles a small rustic chalet or lodge.  Back in the day I lived around the corner from Vanya’s and this was our go-to spot for Blini and stuffed cabbage.

Vareniki smothered in onions and mushrooms

Vareniki smothered in onions and mushrooms

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Posted in Boiled, Varenyky | 1 Comment

Banh Mi Saigon is coming back!, Northampton, MA

Posted on July 14, 2014 by rundlea
Banh Mi Saigon - Banh Mi Sandwich

Banh Mi Saigon – Banh Mi Sandwich

Banh Mi Saigon is the one non-dumpling vending restaurant I write about, as the name suggests they make Banh Mi sandwiches, and they are amazing.  Until a fire wiped out the strip mall that housed them, they were the best Vietnamese restaurant in the Pioneer Valley and one of the overall best restaurants in the Valley.  But the guys at Banh Mi Saigon just put the word out via their Facebook page that they are officially coming back.  They will be opening in Northampton, MA in the old Pho Saigon spot on Main Street.

The word is that Mi Tierra, another great place that was lost in the fire, will also be coming back, moving into the Shiki Asian Fusion spot in Hadley.  Hopefully we will be hearing that the other businesses lost in the fire are on their way back too.

Posted in Vegan, Vegetarian, Vietnamese | 2 Comments