Jeff Orlick (far right) looks on as a tray of food is checked in.

Keeping track of all the delicious regional Chinese food in Flushing is impossible. Even cataloging the offerings from any one food court is mind-boggling. Thus I applaud Jeff Orlick for organizing Saturday’s Flushing Mall Grazing Experience. The event was a potluck of sorts with each participant spending $10 on dish or to be brought to a common grazing area for all to feast upon. (Many thanks to Dave Cook of Eating In Translation who serendipitously stopped by to snap the above sky shot.)

Before the grazing began the dishes—various dumplings, soups, Sichuan streaky pork, literally oodles of noodles, stinky tofu, and Korean pajeon to name just a few—were photographed by ace shutterbugs Stella Dacuma Schour and Ravi Jolly. The result is a visual catalog of most of the food court’s offerings. Normally this would be pretty cool in itself, but it takes on special significance since Flushing Mall will be razed next year to make way for a parking lot. 

One of eight dishes that stumped me at the Flushing Mall Grazing Experience.

Grazers also played Stump World’s Fare. The first eight participants whose dish I had no clue about won a tour of downtown Flushing. Identifying items from Xi’an Famous Foods as well as most of the stuff from Chengdu Snack was pretty easy. The one item that really threw me was the spicy jellyfish. Looking at it I had no idea. Had I tasted it, I would have guessed correctly right away.

This ginseng-laced samgyetang was not part of the FluMaGrEx.

Korean Restaurant’s pajeon and dumplings were a popular pick. One item from that simply named stall that didn’t make it to the grazing table was the samygyetang ($12.50), or medicinal chicken soup. The dish exceeded the $10 cap. Also I doubt anybody wanted to carry a bubbling cauldron over to the grazing table.

In the run-up to the event I told Orlick the abbreviation FluMaGrex sounded like a cold medicine. The day after the festivities I found myself in need of such a cure. So I returned to the Flushing Mall and its food court to try the aforementioned samgyetang. Inside the cauldron was an entire bird stuffed with rice, jujubes, chestnuts, and a goodly amount of ginseng. Pine nuts floated in the soothing broth. It proved to be good medicine indeed.

Although the name is Korean Restaurant the stall’s owners are from Jilin Province in northeastern China. When I asked the gal behind the counter about the mall’s closing she told me that her stall is closing at the end of this month. So if you want to get samgyetang at the Flushing Mall get there soon. While you’re there, grab some other grub, so you too can say, “I grazed before it was razed.” 

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 Ploy Thai’s miang kana: like a miniature Thai
grocery store wrapped up in a green bundle.

I am still in a state of wondrous shock over Monday’s first-ever Asian Feastival. It was quite an experience to see cuisines from all over Asia and all over Queens represented in one place. The Phoenix Ballroom at Flushing’s Sheraton Laguardia was packed with all manner of deliciousness ranging from the Thai snack miang kana from Elmhurst’s Ploy Thai to freshly made xiao long bao from Flushing’s Nan Xiang Dumpling House. The former—filled with red onion, ginger, peanut, chili, and bits of pork—was one of the tastiest items I tried. The latter received a shoutout from ghetto fabulous Taiwanese wunderkind Eddie Huang as being his favorite soup dumplings in New York City. (It’s my favorite too, but I didn’t have any as there were plenty of other items to taste that day.)

Hahm Ji Bach’s short ribs helped it earn the honor “Most Delicious.”

When Chinese food expert Jackie Newman’s husband Lenny gets excited about a dish I usually agree wholeheartedly. So when he urged me to try Hahm Ji Bach’s short ribs I complied. They were tender and flavorful and helped the restaurant win the honor Most Delicious. (Nan Xiang’s soup dumplings took Most Popular, and Filipino newcomer Payag took Most Creative.)

Katsuno’s takikomi gohan: rice with chicken, mushroom,
carrots, bamboo, fried bean curd, and rice.

It was also a real treat to say hello to many of the restaurateurs and chefs who brought their A-game that day. Each of the offerings from Katsuno mackerel, kobucha, and takikomo gohan sang with clear, bright flavors. Next door Java Village’s Chef Dewi was ladling out daun kinkong, a wonderfully rich curried Indonesian kale in coconut milk. My friends at M&T were there too serving refreshing Qingdao cold noodles.

Himalayan Yak brought plenty of its namesake momo.

And then there was the terrace, which featured not only the opportunity to sample exotic fruits like durian and jackfruit, but a chance to savor creamy coconut milk-based Singapore laksa from Taste Good in Elmhurst, dosa from Dosa Place in Jackson Heights, and yak momo from Himalayan Yak, as well as those wildly popular soup dumplings.

With all of the sights, sounds, and flavors pleasantly buzzing in my head I almost forgot that I was to lead a walking tour of downtown Flushing called “Tastehunting” that day. (Actually I never really quite forgot and was more or less obsessing about it all day, which was probably a good thing.)

By the time 4:30 rolled I was getting pretty full, and truth be told pretty nervous, especially since the tour was to be filmed by eatTV.  Adding to my jitters was the fact that the group had somehow doubled in size from 20 people to 40. Rather than run away to Ice Fire Land to calm my nerves with a frigid bowl of tai shi bao bing, I decided to man up and give the people what they wanted, which I had predetermined to be chou dofu, or Taiwanese stinky tofu.

Avid Tastehunters sample Taiwanese pork intestines and braised tofu
from Temple Snacks (left) and cold skin noodles from Xi’an Famous Foods.

Sadly when we arrived at the Flushing Mall Food Court the Taiwanese vendor, Temple Snacks had none of the stinky stuff to offer. Instead we got some pillowy braised tofu, which while delicious was not all funky. We also tried chewy pork intestines with a wonderfully bright chili sauce. Liang Pi of Xi’an Famous Foods also graciously provided a plate of his signature cold skin noodles, which were as slippery, chewy, spicy and as bright as ever.

Kian Lam Kho holds the Tastemob at bay outside Tian Jin Restaurant.

I felt sort of like the pied piper of Flushing as I led the group to the nearby Tian Jin Restaurant on Prince Street. Restaurant is a rather grandiose term for this hole in the wall, which is really more of a snack shop. Nonetheless it turns out some of the neighborhood's tastiest roasted and braised meats. Rather than try to bring everyone inside my trusty translator Kian Lam Kho and I entered and asked after the owner Ma Gennian.

Tofu, rabbit, and chicken were served streetside, along
with an offal-rich board of fare that included pork tongue and trotters.

Once we tracked him down Gennian went to work with a cleaver and proceeded to prepare seeming endless variety of morsels which he placed on a table outside his shop. We marveled over firm tofu, succulent chicken and rabbit as well as a plethora of offal including chicken gizzard, chicken necks, and pork tongue and trotters. All of it was imbued with a wonderful five-spice flavor thanks to a technique called flavorpotting. It’s a shame that Gennian’s crew wasn’t cooking anything when we stopped by. When they are, the aroma emanating from the tiny shop is intoxicating. 

Our next stop was New York Tong Ren Tang where we sampled some ginseng tea and took a gander at some of the aromatic herbs used to make Taiwanese hotpot. The Tastemob’s last stop was one of my favorite places of all: the Golden Shopping Mall. Here we sampled Eric Ripert’s favorite Chinese head cheese at Xie’s Home Cooking, or Xie Jia Tsai, where Mr. Xie, who also hails from Tianjin was kind enough to provide each of us with a taste.

All in the Feastival itself as well the chance to take 40 foodies through the crowded streets of Flushing down into the Golden Shopping Mall was beyond my wildest dreams. So much so that I did ultimately calm my nerves with a bowl of shaved ice and vowed not return to the hood for at least a week. So much for that vow. I was back at Golden shopping mall last night for some fiery Sichuan fare from Chengdu Heavenly Plenty.

Many thanks to Tina Wong of The Wandering Eater and Suzanne Glickstein of eatTV  for providing the images that accompany this dispatch. A full list of the Asian Feastival participants can be found at Dinevore.

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Of all the dumplings out there, xiao long bao are among my favorite. The name of this Shanghai delicacy translates to tiny juicy buns, but they’re more commonly called soup dumplings. My go-to place for these succulent little treats is Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao in Flushing’s Chinatown. Nan Xiang turns out wonderful crab and pork dumplings in full view of hungry customers who can often be found waiting on a line that snakes out the door. The wrappers are exceedingly light; each puckered pouch practically bursts with broth and filling. Pick one up, place it in your spoon, and add some black vinegar. Then gently nip the side and carefully slurp the piping hot broth.

There’s nothing quite like freshly made xiao long bao.

Nan Xiang’s soup dumplings are a bit of heaven I never expected to experience on a Long Island City rooftop just a few blocks from Edible Queens headquarters. Leave it to Wendy Chan co-producer of the upcoming Edible Queens-sponsored Asian Feastival to bring Nan Xiang’s owner, Tai Viem Ma, and his chef to her apartment for a xiao long bao blowout. I’m very happy to say Nan Xiang Dumpling House was one of the first restaurants to sign on for this truly extraordinary event. Joining them at Flushing’s Sheraton Laguardia East on Labor Day will be other-top flight Asian restaurants like Katsuno, a lovely Japanese spot in Forest Hills; M&T, Flushing’s first Qingdao eatery; and Ice Fire Land, my go-to spot for the icy Taiwanese treat tai shi bao bing.

The Feastival’s mission is to showcase the diversity of delicious Asian cuisines in New York City’s most delicious and diverse borough. Korean, Thai, Malaysian, Filipino, Nepalese, Indonesian, and regional Chinese cuisines will all be represented under one roof.  There will also be demonstrations, including kimchi making and Chinese dragon beard candy. And there will be panel discussions, one of which features two of my favorite food writers Salon’s Francis Lam and Iron Chef America judge, Akiko Katayama. I don’t often explicitly say this, but I am getting very hungry and excited and not just because the day’s events include a guided tour of my favorite Flushing haunts. 

At a recent press conference announcing the Feastival to the Chinese-language media, I recounted the story of my first visit to Flushing’s Golden Shopping Mall some three years ago. Here’s what happened: I walked downstairs and within five minutes I left in a thorough state of culture shock without ordering a thing. It was truly another world, filled with the sights, sounds, and aromas of what I now recognize as five or six different regional Chinese cuisines. These days whenever I find myself in uncharted territory I stay and explore. And that’s what the Feastival is all about, staying to savor and learn about what’s on the end of your chopsticks or in your soup bowl and the culture that produced such deliciousness. Did I mention that I’m getting very hungry and excited?

The Asian Feastival is on September 6 from 12-4pm. Tickets can be purchased here. Be sure to check World's Fare for posts about participating restaurants and shops. FYI Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao is located at, 38-12 Prince St., Flushing, 718-321-3838. Arrive early unless you really like waiting on line for dumplings. 

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Xi’an Famous Foods and its cold skin noodles will be at this year’s Choice Eats.

With an eclectic list of restaurants handpicked by longtime Village Voice food critic Robert Sietsema and his culinary cohort Sarah DiGregorio, next month’s Choice Eats is one of New York City’s top tasting events, drawing upwards of 1,500 ravenous food fans. It's also my favorite because there’s always a contingent of Queens eateries. This year is no exception. The roster of more than 50 restaurants boasts six participants from New York City’s tastiest borough and includes Greek, Indian, and Tibetan cuisine. There’s also one notable addition, World’s Fare favorite Xi’an Famous Foods.

“It’s totally aligned with the culinary zeitgeist of today,” Sietsema says of Xi’an Famous Foods and its silk-road-inflected specialties. “You eat that stuff and it’s like, ‘This is the greatest stuff I’ve ever eaten.’ ”

Despite Sietsema's enthusiasm, Xi’an Famous Foods (which got its start slinging cumin-scented lamb burgers and liang pi in Flushing’s Golden Shopping Mall and has since expanded to Manhattan) almost didn’t make into this year’s event. Since they’re such a small operation, he held off on calling them.

So how did Xi’an Famous Foods wind up on the list for the Third Annual Choice Eats? Robbie Richter, a longtime Rego Park resident and pitmaster of the soon-to-open Fatty ’Cue reached out to both Sietsema and Jason Wang, the son of Xi’an’s owner Lao “Liang Pi” Liang. First, he contacted Sietsema and told him that Xi’an should be included. Then, he called Jason. “You guys have to do this event,” Richter told him. “I love those guys. Thank God they said yes.” No stranger to such tasting events, he even volunteered to man their booth. Now that’s going the extra mile. Clearly he is as crazy about their food as I am.

Jason and his Dad had intended to bring hand-ripped noodles and burgers, but then they found out there would be no stovetops provided. So they opted for their top-selling, dish liang pi, or cold skin noodles, a mélange of ribbons of wheat starch and spongy blocks of gluten awash in a garlicky piquant sauce, with hints of sesame. “It’s our signature dish," said Jason. "It’s traditionally a snack served on the streets of Xi'an to eat on the go.”

Sietsema, who has been both a mentor and eating buddy to me over the years, acknowledges that it’s sometime hard to convince Queens restaurants to participate in Choice Eats.  “The kind of restaurants that you and I chase down are more to difficult to recruit,” he said. “But I think we have one of the better lineups this year.” I’m inclined to agree Robert, so much so that World’s Fare will be highlighting each of the Queens restaurants in the run-up to the event.

Tickets for Choice Eats, which takes place March 22 at the 69th Armory on Lexington Avenue in New York City are expected to sell out in about a week. Want a chance to win special VIP tickets? Enter here before March 10.

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