Fu Run | Chopsticks and Marrow

01/31/17 7:40pm

Say ‘Gong Xi Fa Cai’ With C+M’s Favorite Chinese Dishes

Fu Run’s pork ribs are worth celebrating!

Gong xi fa cai! Happy Year of the Rooster! One of the best things about Chinese New Year is that the celebration lasts for 15 days. So here on this fourth day of the Lunar New Year festivities, C+M presents a list of our favorite Chinese dishes in Queens, some old, some new, all decidedly delicious. Normally this column contains seven entries, but we’re giving you one for good luck!

1. House special ribs with spicy sauce, Fu Run
Even though it’s the restaurant that introduced Chinese food fans to the cumin encrusted glory that is the Muslim lamb chop I’ve been over their version for quite some time. It stopped being good the moment the restaurant decided to prepare the racks of ribs in advance and reheat them. So I was very pleasantly surprised by the house special ribs with spicy sauce ($14.95) that I tried the other day. La xiao le pai, literally little spicy riblets, turn out to be deep fried Dongbei style rib tips shot through with fried peanuts, chilies, and cilantro. They’re the best pork ribs I’ve ever had in Flushing. Fu Run, 40-09 Prince St., Flushing, 718-321-1363

2. Hakka hot chicken, Tangra Masala
I have it on good authority that there’s nothing wrong with eating chicken to celebrate the Year of The Rooster.; it’s only unlucky for the chicken. And, since it’s the Year of the Fire Rooster, there’s no better dish to celebrate than the hakka hot chicken at Peter Lo’s Indian-Chinese restaurant Tangra Masala. The dish of hacked up bits of fried bird is coated in a glaze that marries the flavors of chili, soy sauce, vinegar, and garlic. Shot through with chilies and sautéed onions the succulent pieces of poultry call to mind Dominican style chicharron de pollo with an Indian-Chinese twist. Tangra Masala, 87-09 Grand Ave., Elmhurst, 718-803-2298

PLEASE NOTE THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED

3. Sesame biscuit with fried jelly bun
When I first saw the hawker stand set up across the street from the Golden Mall I thought it was yet another skewer specialist. Turns out the lady running it specializes in a vegetarian sandwich, sesame biscuits stuffed with fried bean jelly. A shao bing jia liang fen will set you back a mere $5. The bun’s filled with wobbly blocks of bean jelly that have been fried on a flat top and slathered with a profoundly garlicky sauce. Shao Bing Jia Liang Fen stand, 41st Rd, across form Golden Mall (more…)

News

by Joe DiStefano

04/12/16 4:14pm

Lost Vegetarian’s Top 5 Chinese Dishes in Flushing

by Joe DiStefano

1 Comment

Who knew Gui Lin Mi Fen had an awesome tofu salad?

As a nonvegetarian omnivore the first things I think of when it comes to vegetarian food in the bustling Chinatown of downtown Flushing are the tofu from Soybean Chen and the dosai at the Ganesh Temple Canteen. But what would a real vegetarian choose? To find out I turned to Howard Walfish, the man behind the web sites Lost Vegetarian and Brooklyn Vegetarian, who was kind enough to share his favorites in this guest post.

Downtown Flushing can be a little daunting for vegetarians. Between the restaurants, street vendors, and food courts, there are hundreds of places to eat. Many of them don’t have English-language menus, and many of them have decidedly nonvegetarian specialties. But all it takes is a little digging, and you can find lots of great vegetarian food. Here are a few of my favorites.

PLEASE NOTE THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED

1. Tofu Salad at Gui Lin Mei Fen
Gui Lin Mi Fen is best known for its noodle bowls, but there’s a sleeper vegetarian hit on their menu that’s easy to overlook: a tofu salad. The firm tofu is diced and flavored with kalimeris indica, a plant also known as Indian aster. The herb adds an herbal, floral note to the salad that makes it irresistible. (135-25 40th Rd.) (more…)

Chinatown, Chinese, closed, Dongbei, Flushing, Fu Run, Guchun Private Kitchen, Gui Lin Mi Fen, Howard Walfish, Lost Vegetarian, New York Food Court, Sichuan, Spicy & Tasty, vegetarian

C+M Asks . . .

by Joe DiStefano

02/10/15 2:31pm

Who Makes Flushing’s Best Muslim Lamb Chop?

by Joe DiStefano

6 Comments

At Lao Dong Bei, they call it lamb chop in Xinjiang style, and it’s glorious.

Muslim lamb chop is a dish I first had at one of Flushing’s first Dongbei eateries, Fu Run. Not really a chop but rather a whole slab of lamb ribs, braised and then deep fried and rolled in cumin, chili, and sesame seeds—a mixture that one food writer termed “Dongbei everything bagel spice”—the result was magnificent fatty, crunchy and luscious. And for quite some time it continued to be magnificent, so much so that I turned the crew of Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods America on to it. (more…)

Chinese, Dongbei, Flushing, Fu Ran, Fu Run, lamb, Lao Dong Bei

Taste Drive

by Joe DiStefano

05/28/14 11:05am

Chinese Supermarket Candied Sweet Potato Disappoints

by Joe DiStefano

No Comments

The ba si on the package looked kind of promising.

Ba si, deep-fried candied bits of fruit or tuber—apple, sweet potato, or taro—are a favorite end to meals in Flushing’s many Dongbei restaurants. The golden brown chunks are encased in a sticky molten coating that hardens when dipped in the accompanying bowl of ice water, sending forth filaments of pulled sugar. So when I saw the above package of honey sweet potato in the freezer case at J Mart, I was overcome by the prospect of having this wonderful dish at home, via microwave no less. (more…)

ba si, dessert, Dongbei, Flushing, Fu Run, J Mart, sweet potato, Yi Lan Halal

Dish O' The Day

by Joe DiStefano

01/31/13 12:05pm

Cumin Sliced Fish at Lao Dong Bei

by Joe DiStefano

Flushing

No Comments

Gimme that Dong Bei filet o’ fish. Gimme that fish.

PLEASE NOTE THIS VENUE IS CLOSED

Lao Dong Bei is one of the newer, if not the newest, Northeastern Chinese joints to open in Flushing. The name means “old Dong Bei.” One of my favorite things to eat here is the cumin sliced fish ($12.50). The fish fry-up is dusted with red chili and strewn with cumin seeds. A crunchy, spicy exterior gives way to tender flounder flesh. That spice mixture may look familiar to fans of Fu Run’s Muslim lamb chop. That’s because the man behind the wok here used to be the head chef at Fu Run. I have taken to calling the combination of cumin, sesame, and chili Old Dong Bei Seasoning.

Many thanks to my pal Peter Cuce for the mouthwatering photo.

Lao Dong Bei, 44-09 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, NY 11355, 718-539-4100

Chinese, closed, Dong Bei, Flushing, Fu Run

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