China in New York

For those readers who can't make it to China, there's plenty to do in the States as well. Manhattan contains America's second largest Chinatown (after San Francisco), and Flushing, Queens is catching up. Below is a list of things to do- which is pretty much entirely comprised of places to eat, because what else do you do in Chinatown?

Food

Quickly (Grand and Bowery): my favorite restaurant in the neighborhood. Quickly serves Shabu Shabu, or hot pot- you get a pot of boiling broth, a plate a veggies, noodles, meat of your choice, and make your own soup. The meal comes with a drink of your choice- I'd recommend the tapioca milk tea, a classic, or taro milk tea, for something more interesting. It's expensive by Chinatown standards (about $15 per meal) but well worth it. Make sure to finish up with cream cakes- sort of a soft, squishy fortune cookie- sold right outside the restaurant. They also have a store just for tapioca tea and cream cakes (Pell between Mott and Bowery).

House of Vegetarian (Mott near Canal): the menu looks like any other Chinese menu- General Tso's chicken, beef and broccoli, sweet and sour pork. The difference is that it's all made out of tofu. The mock meat doesn't taste like meat at all- but it's still delicious. Don't let the fact that everything is vegetarian make you think it's healthy, though- everything is covered with MSG and a tons of sauce. Stick to the mock meat dishes, and stay away from fried rice or noodles. You will be able to stuff yourself for under $10. An alternative is Boddhai Buddha (Mott and Chatham), which is Kosher. I don't think it's as good, but many people swear by it.

Lanzhou Hand-pulled Noodles: another hole-in-the-wall worth going to. For $4-$6, you will get a massive bowl of noodle soup that will fill you up for the rest of the day. Warning: the "vegetarian noodles" still have meat broth. Get a seat facing the kitchen, and you can see the cook pulling the noodles.

Fried Dumplings (Mosco, between Mulberry and Mott)- a tiny whole in the wall in a part of Chinatown where no tourists go. There is no menu- just fried dumplings (guo tie), $1 for a plate of five. The manager doesn't speak much English, but all you need to say is how many you want.

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory (Bayard, between Mott and Bowery): has interesting flavors like sesame, lychee, dan tat (egg custard), and red bean. Pretty expensive though- $3.25 for a scoop.

Peking Duck (Mott and Mosco): for $40, you get an entire duck. That's your only option, actually. Make sure to bring three to five people per duck! Open later than most places in Chinatown.

Pongsri Thai (Bayard and Baxter): A bit more expensive than the other restaurants ($10-12 an entree), but the best Thai I've ever had in the city. Get any of the curries. For vegetarians (and meat eaters!), I highly recommend the vegetarian duck curry- spicy, and actually tastes like duck. Delicious.

Update: Just tried a great restaurant, Joe's Shanghai. Without doubt the best place to get xiaolong bao. On weekends, the wait can be up to an hour, so make sure to leave a lot of time.

Cream cakes- sold by street vendors all over the neighborhood. About $1 for 15 or 20. If you're hungry, get 30 or 40- they're small.

Bakeries- also located all over Chinatown. Chinese bakeries are surprisingly great. Everything is much sweeter (and greasier) than Western bakeries, so buy small quantities. I recommend egg custard ($1 each) and sesame balls (greasy, gooey goodness for 50 cents to $1).

Queens: the New York Times has a great interactive map of the best Chinese food in Flushing. It's pretty extensive, so I don't have much to add, except- make sure you try the Xinjiang kebabs from street vendors. Amazing. I recommend the chicken hearts- and get them spicy.

Not Food

Massage- massages in Chinatown are cheap. Make sure, though, that you're actually going to a massage parlor and not a brothel! I still haven't discovered how you can tell the difference before going in- I guess the best way is to just ask?

Columbus Park- go before 10 am and you'll see old ladies doing their morning Tai Chi. If they're nice, you can join. In the afternoons, elderly neighbors gather together with traditional Chinese instruments and jam. Sometimes you can see people practicing martial arts. And of course, there's a basketball court and tons of skaters.