The Glorious Muslim Lamb Chop

I had dinner at Fu Run in Flushing with a large group last week. While I don't plan on writing about the whole meal, I want to highlight the "Muslim Lamb Chop," a cult favorite among Flushing food fans.

From what I can tell, the lamb "chop" (it's actually a whole breast of lamb) is braised, then fried and covered in heaps of cumin and black and white sesame seeds. The meat, which pulls right off the bone, still retains a bit of chew, while the familiar Northern Chinese flavors of gamey lamb funk + cumin fills your nostrils. The best bits were the chewy, crusty edges slathered in cumin. Even after being devoured, a pile of cumin remained atop the fully soaked piece of lettuce.

It's the dish so nice we ordered it twice.


Fu Run
40-09 Prince Street
Flushing, NY 11354
(718) 321-1363

The Flavors of Henan

On a Chowhounder's report, it was impossible to avoid the newest, most unique addition to Chinatown (especially since I was conveniently in the area for dinner). That night, we found ourselves at Henan Flavor. On Forsyth across from Sarah Roosevelt Park, Henan Flavor is the Manhattan branch of Flushing's Henan Fengwei. Billing itself as the "First Henan Restaurant in East America," there really is nothing like Henan Flavor in all of Chinatown.

Robyn Lee took much better pictures of our meal at the original location than my typically crappy photography, but be aware, they show the expanded menu at Henan Fengwei. Here, there are no cold dishes or casseroles, but the abbreviated menu features handmade noodle soups and the imposing "Big Tray of Chicken."

For a Sunday night between 9-10pm, the narrow restaurant was actually fairly full, with people coming in and out for eat in and takeout. The lady running the show is actually Fujianese, which is probably good for business, since this part of Chinatown is their territory.

Live! at Sik Gaek...

The plan was perfect: our small group, including myself, The Quaker, Liz (who has joined us on similar food treks and is responsible for our new design), the DAsian and his Korean friend would rendezvous at Penn Station on a recent Saturday for a 7 PM LIRR train to Flushing. Once there, we would descend on Sik Gaek, a Korean restaurant known to be the premier purveyor of live octopus in the NYC area.

Unfortunately, the execution was a mess. The Quaker, Liz and myself got off the subway at Penn Station one-by-one at the agreed upon time and started looking around for The DAsian, who I trust as the "leader," for some reason, when we're going to Korean restaurants. Yet, not only was he nowhere to be seen, but he was completely out of cell phone contact. We had purchased tallboys for the wait/ ride, but they were soon exhausted as the delay progressed from simple lateness to utter absurdity, during which I left increasingly threatening voicemails on the DAsian's phone.

Forty five minutes passed. Just for a moment I was worried about The DAsian, thinking that he may have gotten hit by a bus or fallen into an open manhole. We figured their must have been some kind of emergency, and, like good friends do, we decided to gorge on Korean BBQ (in his memory, of course) in K-town, across the street from Penn Station. We made our way outside, and just as we were crossing the street, the DAsian finally called to conveniently let me know that they were waiting in the restaurant. After a short argument peppered with excessive swearing and citations to a confusing email, we conveniently caught the next train to Flushing. We stewed throughout the train ride, hungry and exasperated by the failure of our best laid plans and making empty threats about what we'd do to the DAsian when we saw him--- like push his face in a pot full of octopi or draw a mustache on him like the girl below.

The Flushing Conundrum

With some free time on Friday, Steve and I decided to make a Flushing excursion. I also had the ulterior motive of wanting to check out some of the grocery stores in the area for more Sichuan ingredients.

As usual, we were met with what should be dubbed "The Flushing Conundrum." Essentially, it's the never ending struggle between the desire to try one of the thousands of different restaurants in the neighborhood, against the urge to eat at an old favorite. We decided to split the difference.

Our first stop was (old favorite) Chengdu Heaven, in the basement of the Golden Shopping Mall. I want to eat the whole menu here. We ordered some new dishes, but as I do every time, I got the house salad.

MA LA MOTHERF*#KA!

I live for the sweating, euphoric feeling I get when throwing something spicy down my throat. This is especially true with the unique heat from the combination of Sichuan peppercorn and chiles known as "ma la" or spicy and tingly. Since I have recently taken some heat for my fiery views (yeah I'll stoop to wordplay), I would like to set the record straight.


Dumplings in chili oil, ordered "ma la."

The M&T Experience

Late last year, I decided to check out M&T Restaurant. I'd wanted to try as many different types of regional Chinese food as possible, and here was one I'd never experienced. M&T serves food from Qingdao, a seaport city in the Shandong region. For obvious reasons, the food is seafood-heavy, but also not very spicy. Luckily, Qingdao is also the home of Tsingtsao beer, which is fantastic for washing it all down.