Destination Dumplings

A single xiao long bao: commonly referred to as "soup dumpling" The best part about riding the 7 train is that it goes outside. Unlike most New York City subway lines, which are confined to dank, underground recesses, the 7 train, which cuts east-west from Times Square to Flushing, Queens, bursts out into the fresh air somewhere around the Queens border at Vernon Boulevard. From that point, as you barrel across Queens, rooftop scenery flashes by, and people look at the windows in lieu of books. It is exhilarating, being out in the open like this—like a monorail at an amusement park, or a double-decker bus without the tour guide. The 7 is not the only train to see the light of day—the A train, the N, the Q, the D, the F, the J, M, and Z, plus a handful of others – make it above ground at some point in their journey, usually towards the end, in the nether regions of the outer boroughs. And for those willing to ride it out, the treasures at the outskirts of the city can be great.

The outer boroughs are the best places for ethnic eating adventures. Many immigrant groups, squeezed out of Manhattan, settle in the vast spaces of Queens or Brooklyn, where they set up shops, restaurants and markets hawking goods from their home countries. Russian street vendors sell fried pirozhki next to the ocean in Brighton Beach, Mexican taco trucks dole out tortas under the BQE in Sunnyside, and Indian bakeries sell sticky-sweet gulab jamon by the pound in Jackson Heights. But my favorite field trip is to Flushing, Queens—the last stop out on the 7 train, and commonly referred to as “the real Chinatown.” Flushing is sprawling, ugly, and hugely intimidating to outsiders. All the storefront signs are in Chinese (or Vietnamese, or Korean, or Taiwanese), endless miniature women pushing carts full of vegetables run over your feet, and the eating options are literally endless. Although it is possible to find everything from lavish dim sum halls to dollar bakeries in Flushing, I am perhaps most enamored with the simple snack of the dumpling.

In the past decade, Flushing has surpassed Manhattan’s Chinatown as home to the nation’s largest Chinese population east of the Rockies (Lee 1). Between 1970 and 1980, New York City’s Chinese population nearly doubled in size, forcing many Chinese families out of the traditional Chinatown in lower Manhattan and outward to Brooklyn and Queens. As new family members continued to arrive from overseas, they oftentimes bypassed Manhattan entirely and settled directly in the outer boroughs. During the same decade, Queens’ Chinese population grew by 207% (Zhou and Logan 401). Within this Chinese population there are dozens of sub-populations, depending on where in China families hail from.

The New York Times this past August published an article on dining options in Flushing, noting that from the 1970s until recently, Taiwanese and Korean groups made up the majority of Flushing’s population, until recent immigrants from mainland China started arriving in the past decade or so. “Fujian, on the southeast coast, is still the primary source of immigrants to New York…but many who arrive from there actually have roots in the north, center and west of China” (Moskin 1). More specifically, Flushing is the relatively new home to a notable Northern Chinese, Beijing and Sichuan contingency, though many older Taiwanese businesses still thrive. This has contributed to a vast array of Asian foodstuffs with flavors as varied as their home regions. Each of these smaller groups carries with them culinary remnants of their past, and there is perhaps no better food that illustrates this point than the dumpling. There are delicate xiao long bao (“soup dumplings”) from Shanghai; doughy jiaozi from Beijing and the North; thin-skinned steamed won tons from Canton in the south. Each dumpling has its own regional characteristic, as evidenced by variety in fillings, wrappers, cooking methods, and even dipping sauces.

Should you ever find yourself wandering the streets of Flushing, I have put together a walkable dumpling tour of the neighborhood. While it may be convenient to categorize all dumplings together, Chinese diners and chefs distinguish between a variety of different dumpling styles: jiaozi are usually horn-shaped, with a thick, chewy skin and a flat bottom, then steamed or fried and eaten with a soy sauce/vinegar/ chili sauce. Wan-tans have a thin skin, are rounder in shape, and are usually served in broth. Steamed dumplings are known as zhengjiao, boiled are shuijiao, and pan-fried (i.e, “potstickers”) are guotie. Cantonese-style dumplings commonly seen in dim sum are collectively gau; they are usually wrapped in a translucent rice skin and steamed. This tour provides you with a sampling of most of these kinds of dumplings, though there are more variations still even within each style. Use this as an introduction to regional dumpling differences, and go deeper from there.

Sifu Chio

40-09 Prince St Flushing, NY 11354

(718) 888-9295

Sifu Chio features delicate Hong Kong hawker-style wan-tans, noodles and soup. Hawkers are popular street food vendors in Hong Kong that sell a variety of inexpensive, filling snacks. The wan-tans at Sifu Chio are served in soup, with or without the addition of egg noodles. They have a meaty filling with large pieces of whole shrimp, black mushrooms, and ground pork inside of a translucent yellow wrapper. Sifo Chio is one of relatively few casual Hong Kong style restaurants in Flushing. Although elaborate Cantonese/ Hong Kong dim sum halls are numerous in Flushing, the majority of inexpensive, small eateries in Flushing feature Northern Chinese or Sichuan cuisine, as we’ll see below.

Best Northern Dumpling Shop

135-08 Roosevelt Ave A4 Flushing, NY 11354

(917) 834-4991

Inside the Prince Shopping Center Best Northern Dumpling Shop is a booth inside of the Prince Shopping Center with a small bar and about five seats for dining in. The dumplings here are in the Northern Beijing style, with thick, doughy wrappers and heavier fillings like pork, cabbage, and sometimes lamb. They are served boiled. Areas in northern China use much more flour and wheat than their southern counterparts, which features more rice. Much Northern Chinese food features bread products and heavier doughs than traditional Cantonese cuisine.

Nan Shian Dumpling House

38-12 Prince Street Flushing, NY 11354

(718) 321-3838

Nan Shian specializes in Shanghai-style noodles and dumplings, including thicker pan-fried, horn-shaped guo tie and very good xiao long bao (soup dumplings). The restaurant has a fairly large dumpling selection, with more than one vegetarian option. While Manhattan’s Chinatown is home to a larger number of Shanghai-style Chinese restaurants (which traditionally feature heavier, oilier dishes) than Flushing, Nan Shian has done well for itself, staying in business in Flushing for almost 20 years. The kitchen staff is also entirely female, which is a rarity in any restaurant (and particularly in Chinese ones).

White Bear

135-02 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing, NY 11354

(718) 961-2322

An extremely small establishment, White Bear serves Northern-Chinese style dumplings, which are more circular and plump, with a thin but not translucent wrapper. All ingredients in the filling are ground into a uniform mince, and the owner sometimes uses unusual ingredients like sea cucumber. One of the most popular dishes is the chili oil wontons, which are served in a fiery red sauce and topped with pickled vegetables, ground chilis and scallions. The owners here speak very little English, so be prepared to point.

Flushing Mall Food Court

13331 39th Ave Flushing, NY 11354

Although there are many subterranean “malls” around the streets of Flushing, this is by far the largest and most well-established. In the lower level of the building is a floor-wide food court, featuring a variety of vendors ranging from Lanzhou-style hand-pulled noodles to shabu shabu. This food court closely resembles a dining setup popular across China. There are several dumplings of note:

At Chengdu, the spicy Sichuan dumplings are enormous and circular, served with a red chili sauce and raw garlic shavings.

The “Chinese-Korean” stand, which is technically outside of the food court area, has boiled pork-and-chive dumplings with kimchee, an interesting and relatively rare instance of Asian fusion in Flushing.

House of Yun Ho has large, meaty fried Shandong-style potstickers

Joe’s Shanghai

136-21 37th Ave Flushing, NY 11354

This is probably the most well-known Flushing restaurant, widely credited with jump-starting New York City’s xiao long bao (soup dumpling) craze. These Shanghainese dumplings are filled with pork and a cube of gelatinized pork broth that melts when the dumplings are steamed, creating a soupy liquid that necessitates the use of a spoon. Joe’s Shanghai has been successful enough to expand to two other restaurants in Manhattan, though Flushing is home to the original location.

Zhu Ji Guo Tie

40-52 Main St Flushing, NY 11354

A nondescript stand across from a Starbucks’s (look for a red awning with Chinese characters), Zhu Ji Guo Tie serves Taiwanese-style sheng jian bao, which are similar to jiaozi but with a much breadier outside and more circular, like little globes. One side is flattened and fried so the bottom is crisp, and they are sometimes garnished with sesame seeds. Bao translates as “bun,” and sheng jian bao are a sot of hybrid between fried crescent dumplings and larger steamed or baked buns often found in Chinese bakeries.

Mayflower Plaza Food Court Shaved Ice

40-48 Main Street Flushing, NY 11354

After a long day of dumplings, our last stop is a bit of light dessert, in the form of Taiwanese shaved ice. Toppings include sweetened condensed milk, syrup, mung beans, barley, taro, fresh and preserved fruit, tapioca, green grass jelly, and more. Shaved ice with toppings like these is popular across Southern and Southeastern Asia.

So there you have it. The ride to Flushing from Times Square takes about forty minutes, thirty of which are spent above ground. Step off the train, and you’ll be in a different New York City. It’s worth the ride.

Sources:

Lee, Jennifer 8. “In This Chinatown, Chinese Is Just a Start.” The New York Times. 23 July 2006. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/23/nyregion/23homefront.html

Moskin, Julia. “Let the Meals Begin: Finding Beijing in Flushing.” The New York Times. 30 July 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/dining/30flushing.html?_r=2&oref=slogin

Zhou, Min and Logan, John R. “In and Out of Chinatown: Residential Mobility and Segregation of New York City's Chinese.” Social Forces, Vol. 70, No. 2 (Dec., 1991), pp. 387-407. http://tinyurl.com/d8qgs2