Chef's Night Off

Dim Sum Dinner

We decided to take a break from our usual Monday Japanese dinner and have Chinese food instead. George loves Chinatown. He used to go every week to have lunch at Jing Fong*. The place, reached by escalator, is of banquet-size dimension, hung with chandeliers. Tables are set with paper napkins. You usually share a table with six to eight people. Since prices increase after 12 o’clock, there’s a big rush prior to noon. Servers walk up and down the aisles with serving carts, bearing trays of a variety of dumplings.

I selected five trays of dumplings, filled with shrimp, spinach, pork, and various vegetables. In addition, I opted for a bowl of sticky rice and steamed Chinese broccoli rab from the hot buffet.

To maximize my Chinese expedition, I went to the Great NY Noodle Town** for an order of soup. This is a no nonsense place: a cook places a large amount of noodles into a container, chops up pieces of Peking duck and adds these to the noodles. The cashier then fills the container with broth, ladled from a big caldron. The soup costs $4.00.

When it was time for dinner, I steamed the dumplings in a bamboo basket over boiling water, heated the soup, and warmed the sticky rice and the vegetables in the microwave. George complained that he ate too much sticky rice. I had a stomach ache from the vegetables. But we had fun.

Besides, I knew that tomorrow we would have an Italian feast since, once in the neighborhood, I couldn’t help but stop by at Di Palo’s.

*Jing Fong
Chinatown/ 20 Elizabeth Street (bet. Bayard & Canal Sts.)

**Great NY Noodle Town
    Chinatown/ 28 1/2 Bowery (Bayard St.)