136-20 Roosevelt Ave., 3rd Floor, Flushing,. You can order off screens, there’s quality speakers and lighting effects.” Shatteringly crisp fried chicken wings, skewered fish balls, ramen, and boba tea are usually in her food order, accompanied by plenty of Lana del Rey and Jay Chao. “It’s very high tech,” she says, “with a good selection of English and Chinese songs. Kang’s business partners first turned her onto this karaoke-destination-cum-event-space-cum-snack-bar it’s hosted her company’s holiday parties a couple times.

Five Regulars on Why Wo Hop Still MattersĪmelie Kang, co-founder, MáLà Project Real KTV.

The Wonder of Chinese American Food, In Five Dishes.

With that in mind, we asked a chorus of chefs, restaurateurs, and other notables to share the favorite spots they’re thinking of most right now. Entrepreneurial restaurant owners have adroitly adjusted their kitchens’ business models for a post-pandemic world, and while closings happen everywhere, population density and a preponderance of dishes suited for takeout have given many old lions the breathing room to turn out bao and bing for another day.įew people eat their way through Flushing with the gusto of members of the hospitality industry.

However, Flushing’s reputation as the place for Chinese food in New York remains hard-earned. The short- and long-term changes have their positives and negatives. (Deluxe hot pot with a manicure while you wait? Don’t mind if I do.) That means menus catering to regional cuisines from across the mainland and throughout the greater Chinese diaspora, and new shops with a close eye on food trends half a world away. You can still find many longtime favorites like $1 Peking duck buns (they’re a buck twenty-five now), but such humble stalwarts now sit across the street from restaurants where dinner can easily clear $50 a head.įar from the tourist circuit of Manhattan’s Chinatown, and the generational property ownership in that neighborhood that’s led to relatively slow turnover, Flushing’s restaurants reflect the full spectrum of New York’s diverse and contemporary Chinese community. Over the past decade, rising rents, changing migration patterns, and frenetic bursts of development have fundamentally changed the neighborhood from a working- and middle-class Chinatown to a dining hotspot brimming with swagger. The Queens neighborhood of Flushing, and its Chinatown, have been in flux for a lot longer than the pandemic.

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