Taste of Chinatown 2006
Tai Hong Lau 70 Mott Street Deep Fried Dumplings Verdict: The first of many deep-fried samplings, not the cheapest but quite tasty. They had an assortment of vegetables and mini shrimp. 
Eastern Villa Restaurant 66 Mott Street Sweet and Sour Short Ribs Verdict: Good meat, but your basic sweet-and-sour taste. Heavy on the MSG. Notice Blake in the scrum. Each restaurant had crowds like this one, and each one had short elderly ladies who pushed hard. Success depended on yelling loudly to the workers, waving your money in the air, and keeping your elbows extended to block the old ladies who squirmed and ducked into any open space they could see. 
Moon House 67 Bayard St. Scallion Pancakes Verdict: Wow! Crispy, flat, dense, bursting with flavor. One of our favorite plates. The white balls were some kind of dough-y concoction, not quite fully cooked, a touch sweet. 
East Ocean 53 Bayard St. Sesame chicken legs Verdict: The meat looked great from the street, but was remarkably tasteless. Even the skin, which had a nice crispiness, was bland. Luckily there were lots of trash cans around. 
Notice the absence of thought on Nick's face. 
Asian Cafe & Grill 51 Bayard St. Fried coconut-battered squid; pork lo mein noodles. Verdict: The noodles weren't anything special, but the squid was much better. Great flavors, but probably would have tasted better if it had been fried-to-order. 
May May Bakery 35 Pell St. Nori Tamales Verdict: These Chinese tamales have about half the flavor of their Mexican counterparts, but were a nice break from the fried meat glory that we'd been chomping on. Cooked in big green (banana?) leaves resulted in a sticky rice ball full of unknown vegetables and meats. 
Vegetarian Dim Sum House 24 Pell St. Mango Pudding Verdict: Essentially mango jello. For a dollar it was a nice treat. Has more in common with cafeteria mystery deserts than exotic treats. Cleansed the palette. 
Sanur Restaurant 18 Doyers St. Malay Mei Fun Verdict: Here was the flavor. After an afternoon of fried food with sweet sauces, this deeply flavored dish was quickly devoured and felt fine on the stomach. Crunchy from the bean sprouts, springy noodles. A worthy restaurant to try again. 
Doyers Vietnamese Restaurant 11 Doyers St. Vietnamese Spring Rolls Verdict: This table had an eager crowd. They were all clamoring for the spring rolls, which an employee would bring up in a large crate and immediately hand out to the dollar-bill-waving crowd. It was better than the previous roll, but that just could have been the excellent presentation talking to us. Stuffed with a pureed meat-based filling, tangy orange sauce. 
Egg Custard King Cafe 76 Mott St. Cannoli Verdict: With the taste of fried everything flowing around our lips, we needed a little something sweet to send us on our ride home. The dough was nicely crisped, not overly-sweet filling--this wonderful little cannoli was the perfect ending. 
