before Sandlot and i started dating, i didn't spend a lot of time in Flushing. the most exposure i would get would be when my parents went to visit our relatives in Fresh Meadows. and when we went out to restaurants with them, i never really paid attention to the restaurant we went to/the food that we ate because i was in perpetual "little kid" mode, where you just tag along to wherever your parents take you and eat whatever they order for you.
now that i'm older, i'm appreciating the restaurants and cuisines my elders are taking me to, like Golden Palace. Golden Palace serves northern Chinese cuisine, which i have no knowledge about, except to say, after tasting it, that it varies in its use of vegetables and the way it prepares its dishes and meats. well, that and it's delicious.
if you're looking for savory, full flavored punch in your food, then 東北 cuisine is definitely the way to go. they have a Spiced Beef Shank ($10.99) which is a specialty of the house and is only available for a limited number of servings a day. it's available warmed or cold. although usually i would opt for the warm version, the cold version is just as good. although the meat's been cooked, cooled, and then sliced, it retains a moist texture. with the accompanying garlic soy sauce, it's hearty and delicious.
similarly, the 大拉皮 Green Bean Sheet Jelly ($9.99) is a tart and cooling dish with cucumbers and carrots, like a cold salad. The 尖椒肥腸 Intestines in Fresh Hot Pepper ($8.99) packs a punch of spice and is a great accompaniment with rice. fair warning, the green peppers are very spicy.
One of our favorite dishes was 酸菜粉絲 Sour Cabbage with Vermicelli ($7.99). the stir fried sour cabbage provides instant umami inside your mouth, and the vermicelli adds heft and contrasting texture to the crunchiness of the cabbage.
an interesting dish is the 血肠 Blood Sausage. i've never encountered it before, although Uncle informed me it is a very authentic dish that has died out in most restaurants. it's essentially a sausage casing filled with pigs' blood that is steamed and then sliced. it's served with a garlic soy dipping sauce. i love eating offal, but i found the texture of the dish... unpleasant. the inside is just too mushy and off-putting for me to enjoy.
there are also some dishes that, unfortunately, i can't recall the name of but are a house specialty. a vegetarian stir fry consisting of wood ear mushrooms, bean sprouts, and carrots is served with handmade pancakes, raw sliced scallions, and the brown sauce usually served with Peking duck to be wrapped like a tiny burrito. every table orders this dish so i recommend giving it a shot. if anything, you'll feel healthier for having done so.
Dishes we could have done without: 焦溜茄子 Eggplant with Brown Sauce ($7.99). i'm a huge fan of eggplant, and while the eggplant was properly tender, the dish felt overly greasy and lacked the flair of the other dishes. a similar problem occurred with the 回鍋肉 Sautéed Sliced Pork w. Pepper & Chili $8.99). the 蒜蓉空心菜 Sauteed Chinese Watercress with Garlic ($9.99) lacked any uniqueness of flavor, but then again, it was mainly ordered to provide some much needed green vegetables to our growing table of dishes. Uncle was a big fan of the 肉絲炒乾豆角 Sautéed Sliced Pork w. Tofu ($12.99) but i found it a bit salty. according to him, the dish was extremely authentic and i did like the dried tofu sheets, which i rarely see used in the Chinese cuisine served at restaurants.
another warning: the portions at this restaurant are pretty epic. my mother's side of the family tends to over-order when they go out, but our table was pretty daunting and the servers kept running out of room to put each new dish that arrived. which reminds me: the service is friendly but not the best. it seems to be 1 waiter and 1 busser for the entire restaurant, and neither can keep up with the speed in which the dishes come out of the kitchen. so be prepared to have empty dirty plates on your table for the duration of your meal or to have clean plates stacked upon old empty dirty plates.
as if we hadn't stuffed ourselves enough, after finding out that they make their dumplings fresh on the premises, Uncle ordered a plate of 三鮮水餃(蒸) Seafood Dumplings with Pork ($8.99). as with all dumplings that are freshly made, the filling was succulent and juicy, and the skin retained the fresh dough snap, although a little on the thicker side.
dim sum is my jam. i have never ever never ever ever said no to eating dim sum.
so when BB's family offered to take us out to dim sum for lunch, i was delighted! at their suggestion, we went to The Grand at the New World Mall. i never even knew there was a restaurant located there, aside from the extensive food court in the basement!
luckily BB's cousin goes to The Grand frequently and gets the VIP treatment, so we didn't have to wait to be seated. the line looked moderate when we arrived around 12:30 p.m., but it blew up when we left about 45 mins-1 hour later.
overall, the food was good at The Grand, and everything was served fresh and hot. however, the ladies pushing the carts seem to hate doing their job and never want to stop at your table. when you do get their attention, they want to drop their item and leave ASAP. we had to stop more than 1 cart lady from leaving before we could ask for additional items from her cart.
now that i think about, it seems that none of their employees seem to want to do their jobs. BB's parents wanted to order a crispy noodle dish, so we flagged one of the waiters near us to order. she asked if we wanted to settle our check and i advised her that we wanted to order a dish instead. to which she responded that she couldn't do that.
ok, i can accept that. it's a very large banquet hall with a large and quick turnover for dim sum. perhaps her sole purpose is to quickly settle up checks for tables so new customers can be seated. so imagine my surprise when she made the biggest stinkface and exasperated sigh when we asked her to settle our check and gave her our credit card.
lastly, i was surprised with the lack of options being carted around. i'm not sure if it's because the hall is too big, but there were some main/usual dim sum characters that never made it to our table e.g. shrimp balls, shrimp crepes, turnip cake.
however, the service issues aside, the food wasn't bad, and there were some interesting options. not sure if i'll make it back, especially with that food court located right below it.
ok, let's see if i can do quick catch-up entries now that i'm trying to be more functional. Oppa, who i totally miss, had a going away-ish event at Branch a while ago prior to his trip to Korea (which is where he is now). but before i could meet up w/Oppa i had made plans w/FDR to meet up 1st.i haven't seen FDR since the singles mixer, and in all actua
lity i haven't hung out w/him since ASW's wedding in Vegas. it was actually really good to see him again and he's just as entertaining and easy to get along w/as ever. i introduced him to Oni (i am such a good friend. how many boys has this girl met through me at this point? ahem) but w/Oni's ex hovering in the wings i think that's a pretty dead end and FDR's 1 of the few ppl who shuns Facebook so there's really no way for them to stay connected. Casper met us at Gaslight in Little West 12th, which was surprisingly packed (w/o making you wait in line, an anomaly for that area) but played some pretty good music which is always refreshing. we stayed for a little and then headed over to Park to meet up w/Egg who i had ran into on my way out of the apartment and had told me he would be there.
we got into Park easily (we were the perfect guy-girl ratio: 2 to 2) and even managed to locate Egg, only to find out he was ready to leave. in fairness it was around 1 or 2 am. the truly surreal part was who Egg was there w/: Chace Honeycup (or should it be cut? and yes, this is a pseudonym bestowed on somebody just last night) and AsianFetish, along w/some other BLS kids. call me a little prejudicial but Park is not where i imagine that group going (sans Egg). 
we finally got to Branch to meet Oppa where Boys Club was there w/their ringleader who was completely wasted. they all ended up bouncing but Oppa being the good oppa that he is, stayed w/us until the end. Branch plays pretty good music and we all danced a lot, and since this was shortly after my Cali trip, i totally had to try Margaret's stripper dance move, but alas, i couldn't pull it off w/o something to hold onto. and my legs were totally sore the next day. props to Margaret for being able to do that move w/o holding on to anything. she must have thighs capable of breaking a thighmaster.
