Bhutanese Ema Datsi

Until last week, I had never tried Bhutanese cuisine before. In fact, I had never even thought to look for it. But when Charles, author of the wonderful blog United Nations of Food, mentioned Bhutanese Ema Datsi to me during a recent return trip of his to NYC, I knew immediately I had to try it. For me, it’s the most delightful new food find in many months.

It can take the food rather a long a time to emerge from the kitchen, but it’s worth the wait: everything is quite obviously freshly-prepared, and all flavors are clear and vibrant. The menu includes Indian, Tibetan, and Bhutanese specialties. Foregoing the Indian dishes for the time being, we began with shabaklep, Tibetan beef patties. These are first cousins to momo (also on the menu, naturally) – fried, good-sized flat dumplings. (More illustration of the perils of trying to take pictures of food in dimly-lit restaurants... sorry about that!)

The dough is a bit thick for many sensibilities, so be sure to eat them while they’re still warm – the dough can get a bit chewy when they cool down. The ground beef filling is subtly but nicely seasoned, which leads me to believe I will actually enjoy the momo here (I have yet to try any I actually like… they’re always too bland for me). They’re served with a side of a truly spicy red pepper sauce. Overall, delicious, and a great way to start.

Ema datsi (or ema datshi) is usually referred to as the Bhutanese national dish. I’ve certainly never had anything quite like before. Spicy green peppers are cooked with onion, garlic, and... wait for it... cheese. Not paneer-style cheese that is cut up and left intact in the dish, but melted cheese that forms a key element of the sauce. I have never seen cheese used this way in other Asian cuisines before. Traditionally, this dish is made with yak’s milk cheese, but since yak’s milk cheese is not imported to the U.S., feta is often substituted. I’m not quite sure what they use here... if I didn’t know better, I’d be tempted to guess Velveeta. Some may find the suggestion heresy – all I know is that it was utterly delicious. (Most dishes are served with your choice of rice. I highly recommend getting Bhutanese red rice, which can be seen in the background.)

The spiciness of this dish is considerable. It’s such a relief to go to a restaurant that is not afraid to serve spicy food to Westerners!

By contrast, the dish of puta buckwheat noodles (okay, you Spanish and Portuguese speakers, stop laughing!) was soothing and delightful: thick-ish buckwheat noodles (thicker, at least than Korean naeng myun) tossed with butter, scallion, and strips of omelet.

Meals here are served with a bowl of lovely, mild seaweed and milk soup:

There are several Bhutanese thalis on the menu. A thali is a meal consisting of a selection of small dishes, named for the round platter on which it is served (I will get a picture of it my next visit). Upon the recommendation of the extremely helpful waiter, we chose the sekam thali, which features as its centerpiece a dish of what the menu calls “dry pork” curry.

In this case, “dry pork” is cured pork belly, rather like an unsmoked, unsalted bacon. Sautéed with potato rounds in a curry sauce, it is hearty and satisfying. Also on the thali (on the left in the photo) is kewa datsi, Bhutanese potato cheese curry. This is as mild and soothing – yet rich enough to be interesting – as the ema datsi is bracing. Bhutanese red rice rounds out the thali triumvirate.

Prices are quite reasonable, and they’re open until 11 p.m. every day, 12 midnight on weekends.

Bhutanese Ema Datsi
67-21 Woodside Ave., Woodside 11377
718-458-8588
(7 train to 69th St., walk 2 blocks south on 69th, then turn right)
website

Sammy's Halal Food Cart

It seems almost inconceivable to me that anyone interested in the kind of food I'm interested in doesn't already know about Sammy's Halal Food Cart, but for those one or two of you out there, you need this information. You see halal carts that offer grilled chicken and/or lamb over rice (or pita sandwiches) all over the city. This one is absolutely the best I've found, and is the standard by which I measure all other halal carts I try. A few come close, but none are better - there is a reason they won the 2006 Vendy Award.

You'd think this fare would be reasonably simple to prepare, but the number of possible pitfalls is somewhat suprising, all of which Sammy's avoids seemingly effortlessly. The chicken is always juicy, tender and flavorful, and nice-sized chunks that aren't so small that you wonder what, exactly, you're eating. Okay, the lamb is still ground, seasoned, and compressed before grilling (like everywhere else), but it seems to be a notch or two closer, somehow, to the original meat - and therefore, tastier - than all the others. Their rice is never dry or lumpy (surprisingly, I've had some truly lousy rice from halal carts) and the sauces are very good. They have just about the best hot sauce in halal-cart-land, and if you like spicy cilantro sauce, it's there - you just have to know to ask for it.

They're just a few steps from the 74th-Roosevelt-Jackson Heights transportation nexus, and they're open until 3 a.m. At 5 or 6 bucks, I can think of no more satisfying bargain in the late-night (or any-time) snack department.

Sammy's Halal Food Cart
73rd St. & Broadway, Jackson Heights, NY 11372
347-342-7480
website

Chung Ki Wa

Until fairly recently, I had gone through life somehow never having tried bu dae jigae. But last year, my roommate Kerrick on the (now defunct) Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas Mexican tour introduced me to it in Mexico City, so now I periodically get cravings for it. Such was the case this evening. Problem was, I didn’t feel like eating any of the ones I already knew around town—each one had a fatal flaw rendering it inappropriate for this evening. Having noticed some unfamiliar Korean restaurants in the Jackson Heights vicinity several days ago, I decided to go for a menu-browsing stroll. Chung Ki Wa won.

And boy, did it ever win. A quick scan of the menu elicited the information that they serve gobchang gui—a very promising sign. I only know of one other Korean restaurant in the New York area that serves this dish, automatically elevating Chung Ki Wa to rarefied status. But it was bu dae jigae night, so I ordered it and waited. Several minutes later I was presented with the most interesting and satisfying array of banchan I think I have ever been served. Whoever made these really knew what they were doing: they were scrupulously fresh and beautifully prepared. Often the solo diner gets short shrift in the banchan department, but not here. I was given at least eight dishes, including the standard fermented cabbage kimchi, oi kimchi (cucumber kimchi), some beef-less japchae, strips of vegetable pancake, a fresh kimchi made with romaine lettuce chunks, vinegared potato shreds (much like the northern Chinese cold dish), a light mushroom salad, and—my favorite—chunks of potato and pork knuckle preserved with red pepper and vinegar (I guess this makes it a kimchi)... fabulous!

I was just beginning to slow down on the banchan when the bu dae jigae arrived, bubbling hot in a stone dish (the kind used for dol sot bi bim bap) with some cellophane noodles forming a small mound in the center. Normally, I feel deprived if there aren’t some ramen noodles in my bu dae jigae, and a few pokes revealed that cellophane were the only noodles in there. Those pokes also revealed, however, that just below the surface of the fiery, smooth red broth, the bowl was packed solid with goodies. And I do not use the term “goodies” lightly: in addition to the standard shreds of kimchi, there were some decidedly unstandard chunks of wiener (not the grocery store kind, but tasting palpably of having come from a good, probably German, butcher) and Spam-like ham (but of the same high quality and provenance as the wieners), plus slices of rice cake, fish cake, chunks of obviously house-made tofu, and ultra-thin slices of dried beef and mushrooms. I did not feel deprived in the least. This was easily the best bu dae jigae I have ever had, and it’s difficult to imagine a better one. I can’t wait to try its “daddy” here—bu dae jeong gol, a casserole/hotpot of similar ingredients, but more of them.

It’s unusual for me to write about a New York restaurant after just one visit, but the quality of my meal was so uniformly high, it seems highly unlikely that it was a fluke. In cooler weather, I look forward to their gam ja tang (spicy stew of pork back and potato) almost assuredly taking its place as my favorite version around town. Chung Ki Wa is literally across the street from the 74th/Roosevelt/Broadway subway station, and it’s open 24 hours.

This place reminds me of why I used to like Korean restaurants so much.

Chung Ki Wa
40-06 74th St., Elmhurst 11373
718-478-0925
(E, F, G, R, V, or 7 train to 74th St.-Broadway/Roosevelt Ave.-Jackson Heights)

Uncle Zhou

If I had written about Uncle Zhou (or 大河人家 - "big river people") when I first went there, it would have been the very first English-language notice about it on the internet (a Chinese soprano—from Henan—told me about it). But, I wanted to try more things before writing about it, and then procrastination set in, so here I am finally getting around to it 3 months later.

Comparisons to Henan Feng Wei are inevitable, since it is the only other Henan-style restaurant in New York (that I know of, anyway). The offerings are similar, but by no means identical. Both focus on noodles, dumplings, with some other kinds of dishes along for the ride, and both serve excellent food. And that’s where the similarity ends. For one thing, Uncle Zhou’s serves not only the hallmark handmade wide, ribbon-like noodles in soup (烩面 - huì miàn), but also the fine hand-pulled noodles (拉面 - lā miàn) and knife-shaved noodles (刀削面 - dāo xiāo miàn), a la Sheng Wang (although Uncle Zhou’s are, I think, a shade more delicate). The wide variety of noodle soups here includes something for every taste—I especially love the spicy beef hand-pulled noodle soup and the chicken knife-shaved noodle soup. But, of course, lamb soup with the wide noodles (滋补羊肉烩面) is the most typical Henanese offering.

My beloved dà pán jī (大盘鸡 - spicy "big tray chicken") is terrific here, and quite different from Henan Feng Wei’s. There the flavors are more concentrated and intense. Uncle Zhou’s version, while packing almost all of the same spice, is mellower, more like comfort food. And it comes served on a bed of the wide noodles—at Henan Feng Wei you have to order noodles separately. And like Henan Feng Wei, they have a few kòu wǎn (扣碗 - small casseroles of chicken, pork or spare ribs) and shāo bǐng (燒餅 - baked sesame pancake). The pork stuffed pancake seems to be off the menu at the moment, which is too bad—it’s better than the beef one currently on offer.

There are also a dozen and a half "house special dishes"—various braised and stir-fried dishes. I haven’t tried all of them—yet—but the "house special fried chicken" must surely be the standout on the list. It’s name, zhá bā kuāi (炸八块 – "fried eight chunks") is perhaps as good a description of it as any, and the execution is sheer genius: each "chunk" is made by peeling the dark meat down away from the leg or thigh bone so it forms a nice knot of meat attached to its own bone handle. They are then lightly seasoned and fried to juicy perfection. There are—you guessed it—eight pieces to an order. And be sure to check out the cold appetizers in the case up by the cash register. The marinated cucumbers (蓑衣黄瓜 - suō yì huáng guā) are especially good. Each small cucumber is intricately cut in a spiral pattern, rather like a Honeybaked ham, yet remains intact, reminding one of an accordion—all the better to soak up the sweet-sour-spicy marinade.

And with such eminently reasonable prices, one could eat here almost every day. I have a feeling some people do—I’ve seen quite a few repeat customers besides myself on my visits there. Open until 11 p.m.

Uncle Zhou
83-29 Broadway, Elmhurst 11373
718-393-0888
(G, R, or V train to Elmhurst Ave., south on Broadway)

La Esquina Criolla

(Ed: As of September, 2013, this place is still going strong. Prices have risen a little, but considering the top quality, it's still a bargain.)

My friend Garrett had just flown back from Berlin yesterday and wanted a hearty to meal to keep him awake until a normal bedtime. When he suggested steak AND said he was willing to go to Queens, the decision was automatic: La Esquina Criolla in Elmhurst.

This is my favorite Argentine steakhouse in the city (and more than one Argentinian I've talked to agrees with me) ever since the demise of Moments in Sunnyside, and the quality here is better than what La Porteña's has been for quite some time. And when it comes to price, La Esquina Criolla beats them all hands down. Pretty much everything is good, and if you want to buy some beef to take home and cook for yourself, there's even a butcher counter toward the back.

If you go--and I highly recommend that you do--a few random thoughts:

All empanadas are made in-house, and the beef ones are especially good--be sure to ask for them fried.

A grilled chorizo criollo (beef and pork sausage) or two makes a great second appetizer course (this is in addition to the other plate of sliced, grilled salsicha parrillera (a smaller pork sausage) they automatically bring you).

If you like blood sausage at all, order the morcilla--best Argentine-style morcilla I've ever had. The sweetbreads (mollejas) are killer, too.

The mixed grill (parrillada) is a great deal, but be prepared for tripe. It's the one thing on it I'm not particularly fond of, and they'll cheerfully replace it with something else if asked.

A great side is papas a la provenzal (potatoes tossed with garlic and parsley)--be sure to ask for them fried.

Skip the house wine (it's all right) and ask for a wine list. At 18 bucks a bottle, the Nieto Malbec Reserva is a fantastic value.  Unless, of course, you're alone, in which case a glass of better-than-decent malbec will set you back all of six bucks.

Asado de tira (beef ribs cut cross-wise, creating steak-like strips) and entraña (skirt steak) are the most popular beef offerings, and deservedly so.

(a chorizo criollo, a No. 6 combination plate - 2 tiras and ¼ entraña, and some fried papas a la provenzal... and yes, I like my beef a bit bloody)

La Esquina Criolla
94-67 Corona Ave., Elmhurst 11373
718-699-5579
view menu (old--add a dollar or two to all prices)
(M or R train to Grand Ave., then Q58 bus to Junction Bld. Or the 7 train to Junction Blvd., then walk 8 blocks south.)

Lin's Taiwanese Gourmet (CLOSED)

(It's now a place called Taiwanese Specialties, by all accounts, a better restaurant.)  Last night I decided it was time to try an altogether new (to me) cuisine, so I headed to Elmhurst to a restaurant I had walked past many times before, but had yet to visit: Lin's Taiwanese Gourmet.

Since I had never had any Taiwanese food before, I have nothing to compare it to. But I liked it, and will go back--which already puts it in a category above 99% of the restaurants I try. Went mostly with the more famous dishes, like oyster pancake (excellent, much like Korean pa jeon) and "3-cup chicken" (the menu calls it "chicken with ginger and sesame oil"--also excellent, and unlike any chicken dish I've had before... I could develop serious cravings for this one). We also tried an appetizer called "fermented pork". Quite tasty, although a bit difficult to determine exactly how and why it was "fermented". It appeared to be a pork chop marinated in something that perhaps includes fermented rice wine, then fried up (it comes out red) and cut into strips. There are two dishes on the menu translated as "shredded beef with chili pepper" (with a couple of different Chinese characters in the name, and a difference of a dollar in price). When asked what the practical difference was, the waitress said the more expensive one had, additionally, hot yellow peppers (?--I think she may have meant yellow chives, but I'm not sure). We opted for that one, and it was great.

I'm looking forward to returning so I can try the stinky tofu, which my friend would not have liked at all. It's a bit on the pricey side, but not ridiculous, and it's open LATE--until 2 a.m., I believe.

Lin's Taiwanese Gourmet
84-02 Broadway, Elmhurst 11373
718-429-7818
(G, R, or V train to Elmhurst Ave. or Grand Ave.-Newtown. It's about halfway between the two.)

Lao Bei Fang Dumpling House

Tonight I understood that it's worth a trip from almost anywhere to eat the beef stew hand-drawn noodle soup at Lao Bei Fang Dumpling House. The noodles are pulled right when you order them, and the stewed beef is sublime (and not to be confused with the "beef hand-drawn noodle soup", which is just thinly sliced brisket--sort of--and beef broth). Be undaunted by the chunks of tendon and cartilage: they add flavor--not to mention texture--dimensions to the dish that are vital to its fabulosity.

I was also told here that hui xiang is dill, but it appears that fennel is the more accurate translation. I think I like the pork and hui xiang dumplings even more than the pork and chive ones.  (This place has since moved around the corner to 83-05 Broadway, where I don't actually know if it's still possible to watch them pull the noodles when you order them.)

Lao Bei Fang Dumpling House
83-05 Broadway, Elmhurst 11373
718-639-3996
(G, R, or V train to Elmhurst Ave., 1 block south on Broadway, then left on Whitney)

New Broadway Seafood Restaurant

During a post- Chao Thai stroll in Elmhurst one evening, we happened to pass New Broadway Seafood Restaurant. My friend Elizabeth--who, at one time, lived halfway around the world--immediately recognized it as a Hong Kong style restaurant, which aren't so very common in NYC). We popped in to make a few inquiries, and, sure enough, she was right. Unfortunately, one of the queries elicited incorrect information as to how late they serve dim sum, resulting in an aborted dim sum mission the next day. It was quite a while before I got over my irritation sufficiently to try again, but I'm glad I did: New Broadway, while not quite on the level of the best places in Flushing, serves better dim sum than any place I've found in Manhattan. And the trip from Manhattan is a good 20 minutes shorter than the trip to Flushing.

The restaurant is spacious, but not huge, and there's a nice, bustling bunch of Chinese locals during lunchtime. (Curiously, on both occasions, I was one of two non-Asian diners in the place.) It seems to me that their steady stream of patrons--without the carnival-like atmosphere of some of the larger dim sum houses--makes it possible to regulate more effectively how the items come out of the kitchen. Nothing tasted like it had been sitting around too long, and the all of the fried and baked items were still warm.

They have most all of the standard offerings, and I got to try all of my favorites. And all of them were just a little bit different than what I was used to, presumably because this is a Hong Kong and not a straight-up Cantonese restaurant. It seems that meat is emphasized a bit more than seafood here--which is just fine by me! My number one favorite dim sum item, lo mai gai (sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf and steamed), had no egg yolk, dried scallop, or, as far as I could tell, chicken... just meat!

While I like those missing ingredients, I can't say I really missed them. The filling was a delicious combination of ground and shredded meat, mushroom, and each one had a cube of roast pork and a piece of Chinese sausage. (This recipe seems to have changed recently. They're still pretty good.)

Haam sui gau, delightful deep-fried sweet rice flour dumplings filled with pork and vegetables (well, mostly pork), were still warm from the fryer.

The taro dumplings (wu gok) were likewise still warm--heavy on the ground pork filling and light on the shrimp and mushrooms (not complaining here, just different than what I'm used to). Char siu sou, those triangular, baked flaky pastry roast pork pies, were everything they should be. Pork shiu mai, which so often taste like they've been sitting in the steamer for six hours--and perhaps they have--were served with all flavors fresh and intact. There are a couple in the background, with beef chee cheong fun (steamed rice roll) in the foreground:

So often, chee cheong fun are somewhat leaden and taste-free. Not these. Flavorful, and almost light.

Turnip cake (lo bak go), another special favorite of mine, was the only offering I was less than enthusiastic about. The texture was rather heavier--and, therefore, gummier-- than I'm accustomed to. Still, because of the larger-than-average dose of ground pork it contained, the flavor was great.

The printed menu contains some intriguing items... one of these days, perhaps I'll make it there for dinner.

New Broadway Seafood Restaurant
83-17 Broadway, Elmhurst, NY 11373
718-699-0688
(G, R, or V train to Elmhurst Ave., south on Broadway)

Chao Thai, Redux

A bit of food porn from last night's meal at Chao Thai. Once again, thanks to Jose for the pics!

Papaya salad: shredded green papaya, some chili peppers, some tomato, some peanuts, some lime. Totally fresh and totally delicious.

Yum Nam Sod: basically pork larb, kicked up a notch by the addition of shredded pork skin. You can see a hunk lurking in the far left of the frame.

Steamed whole sea bass with spicy lime sauce. This was really lovely... the raw garlic slices look more forbidding than they actually taste.

Snacking around Elmhurst

On a recent afternoon, Jose and I hopped the V train out to Elmhurst to try a particularly promising-looking dim sum place. I had been told just the night before that they served dim sum until 4, but when we arrived at 3:30 (admittedly a bit later than I had intended) and were told that dim sum had stopped. I was more than a little irritated. Luckily, the irritation didn't last long, thanks to some great snacks nearby.

First stop was Lao Bei Fang Dumpling House, a block north of Broadway on Whitney Ave (It has moved since this original post around the corner to 83-05 Broadway, and has expanded their menu.). The fact that the place was full at 3:45 p.m. boded very well indeed, and the expectations were justified. Although the boiled pork and chive dumplings at the stall in the back of the Golden Shopping Mall food court are still the best I have tasted, these are a close second.

Even better here are the fried pork and chive dumplings.

Dumplings are a bit pricier here than at Golden Shopping Mall--4 for $1.25. Lao Bei Fang also advertises "hand-drawn noodles" and, sure enough, there's a woman behind the counter pulling noodles in full view as they are ordered. They noodles in beef soup looked particularly wonderful, and I'll be returning for some soon.

We undoubtedly would have had some of those noodles on the spot if we hadn't already decided that the second course was going to be a block away at Phở Bắc. This Vietnamese restaurant really is run by Vietnamese, and they serve the best Vietnamese food I have tried so far anywhere in NYC. The Phở Gà Xé had been highly recommended to me, and it did not disappoint: rice noodles, chicken broth, shredded chicken, and all the phở trimmings... perfect.


Good chả giò spring rolls:

Jose got "Vietnamese ham and fried tofu on rice vermicelli" (Bún Chả Lụa Đậu Hủ Chiên) Vietnamese ham is essentially a first cousin to Spam. It looked great, and I can't imagine why I didn't steal a taste:


Everything was made with fresh, good-quality ingredients, and the prices are more than reasonable. I'll be returning regularly.

Lao Bei Fang Dumpling House
83-05 Broadway, Elmhurst 11373
718-639-3996

Phở Bắc
82-78 Broadway, Elmhurst 11373
718-639-0000
website
(G, R, or V train to Elmhurst Ave., then 1 block south on Broadway)

Chao Thai

The one unfortunate side-effect of eating at SriPraPhai regularly (well, one of two, if you count prodigious after-burn... which I don't) is that it has made me rather a snob when it comes to all other Thai restaurants (Me?? A snob???? Okay, all together now: show me your shocked faces... excellent!) That is, until this evening. Chao Thai is damn close to the same league as SriPraPhai. They even do some things better.

If the two salad dishes we had are a reliable indicator, and I believe they are, the salad appetizers are especially good. Both the beef larb and the squid salad fairly screamed "freshness"--the flavors of the chilis and the lime juice retained all of their character while blending with each other perfectly, garnished with some impeccably fresh mint leaves. An especially nice touch was that the beef used in the larb appeared to have been chopped by hand rather than simply having been put through a grinder: most places, the beef in this dish has the same consistency as hamburger.

The crispy pork in basil sauce was stunning: cubes of pork belly (which, for the uninitiated, is bacon before it is cured) fried until just crisp enough, yet tender beneath the surface, stir-fried in a sauce of chili, garlic and basil. Sweet sausage fried rice--rice fried with bits of egg, scallion and slices of sausage much like Chinese sausage but more refined--was perfectly executed, delicate and surprisingly subtle. I've made my feelings about pad thai known elsewhere on this blog, but even that was worth eating.

For you hot pepper mavens: spicy here really does mean spicy, and they will take you quite seriously if you ask for it. And once the helpful and chatty young waitress realized just how thoroughly we were enjoying the food, she was full of suggestions for things to try on subsequent visits, all of which I intend to, and soon.

Chao Thai
85-03 Whitney Ave., Elmhurst 11373
718-424-4999
old menu--prices have gone up a couple of dollars for most dishes
(G, R, or V train to Elmhurst Ave., south on Broadway a block or two, then left on Whitney)

Taste Good Malaysian Cuisine

Yesterday, I took a break from my restaurant hopping to actually do some rehearsing. Luckily, when we were done, my flute player friend Carla was up for a trip to Elmhurst so I could satisfy my craving for Hainanese chicken at Taste Good.

For me, Hainanese chicken is its own special category of comfort food. Essentially chicken that has been poached with ginger and scallion, it is served room-temperature along with rice that has been cooked in the chicken broth, with a little side dish of a gingery orange dipping sauce. Somehow it is much more than the sum of its parts... utterly delicious, and inexplicably comforting. I really need to have this every couple of weeks or so.

I truly want to work my way through the extensive menu, but I always seem compelled to order the same things. The classic Malaysian appetizer roti canai is superb--the moist-yet-flaky roti bread is totally delicious on its own... dip it into the cup of chicken-curry sauce served with it and enter nirvana. The Singapore kari laksa is outstanding, as I'm told all of the laksa (noodles in curry broth) soups are. The beef rendang is also outstanding--it's like the richest, most complex beef stew imaginable, with the slightest hot pepper kick to it. One should definitely try a belacan dish (sautéed with spicy shrimp paste)--I thought the kacang pendek belacan (string beans) was terrific. Sizzling bean curd is yet another winner, with the lighter-than-air beancurd pieces arranged around a sauce of minced pork.

For spice wimps, there is no need to fear the dishes on the menu with the little red pepper next to them. I have yet to taste any one of these that was actually spicy (at least in my book). And although the prices have gone up very slightly since the menu linked to below was printed, it is still dirt cheap.

I'm told this is place serves the best Malaysian food in the city, and I have no trouble believing it. It certainly blows a much more famous competitor that I visited last year right out of the water. Everyone I have brought here has absolutely loved this place (Carla was almost wet), even some normally very un-adventurous eaters. And do remember not to go on Thursdays, which is their somewhat odd closing day.

Taste Good
82-18 45th Ave., Elmhurst 11373
718-898-8001
view menu
(G, R, or V train to Elmhurst Ave., then one block west on 45th Ave.)