Hang Ry at Hung Ry

We ate lunch here and I was not amused. The location in question is Hung Ry, 55 Bond Street. The Chinese characters beneath it’s name card simply says ‘pulled noodles’ which does not translate phonetically or in any other way to ‘Hung Ry’. Taken in this light the name of the restaurant runs along the same lines as a puerile ‘cream of some young gai’ Asian joke. What is the name of this place really meant to convey? Sadly, I would say that, after one eats there, one would still be hungry.

Considerable effort (and likely expense) was spent on developing the identity of the restaurant. I heard about the restaurant through the fanfare of a large PR trumpet. I don’t recall precisely, but was it in Vogue that I read about the restaurant with stylish photographs? Anyway, the long and short of this noodle fiasco is that they are trying very hard. Too hard in my opinion, but meanwhile missing the main point; Hung Ry’s website claims they produce the finest organic hand pulled noodles, along with additional blurb about natural, locally grown farm fresh food. Additional mention of how the restaurant is furnished with hem stitched linens and organic soap, Limoges flatware, reclaimed wood décor and even organic paint! Will someone stop all this fluff and nonsense?  Surely what matters to me is how the noodles taste in my mouth.

The service was ingratiatingly polite. No matter that I could barely understand the waiter at all. Common sense and a degree of deduction will inform you of what the waiter is trying to convey to you. We were three that day, Russ and I were joined by our friend Rebecca. Russ ordered the ‘Duck Breast, leg, szechuan, goji berry, long beans, Chinese broccoli’. Rebecca went the vegetarian route with ‘Carrot broth, charred kazu, seasonal vegetables’ and I went with the ‘Bo-Bo chicken, orange cauliflower, Chinese broccoli, fermented tofu broth’.  

Rebecca is smiling.

I didn’t know what Bo-Bo chicken is and I couldn’t figure out a Chinese translation either. Nor could I be bothered to ask the waiter who spoke his own version of English. Shortly after placing our order, a petit amuse bouche of pork gelatin arrived. A little challenging and perhaps not to everyone’s liking. After all pork is not one of the many available flavors of Jello at the supermarket. Then we waited for our main courses…and waited…and waited…

The duck breast soup.

For a restaurant that is a quarter to a third full, the amount of time we had to wait was not good. So, as prophesized, we were hungry. Deliverance did finally come, but without much reward. Looking at Russ’s duck noodles, the broth was dark and flavorful, however it was loaded with so much salt that it could have sent a heart attack patient to the grave. The dark wheat noodles it came with were mushy and broke into little pieces. I would liken them to cardboard confetti. How a restaurant that specializes in noodles could serve noodles like that is beyond me.

The Bo-Bo Chicken soup. 

The Bo-Bo chicken was equally uninspiring, the chicken being dry and tough. Accompanying vegetables were fine, but neither here nor there. No amount of fancy sounding menu description could save this bowl of ennui. The only glimmer of light in this meal of despair turned out to be Rebecca’s noodles with summer vegetable broth. I had fully given up all hope and didn’t think I would have anything good to say at all, yet the same poor noodle quality aside, the broth was surprisingly good. It had a intriguing depth of flavor with a central note of ginger.

Well at least Rebecca is still smiling...

If you think I am being hard to please here, you are correct. The average price for a bowl of noodles here is $18. That price point is over three times what one would pay in a typical Chinatown noodle restaurant, where I might add you would have a far superior bowl of noodles. There is a pulled noodle restaurant that we frequent regularly. The place is a dive, but the noodles there are simply genius in a ‘they made this all their lives’ kind of way. A bowl of noodles there costs $5.

Ian.

Rating 1 star out of 5

Likelihood of return: Extremely low.

Keeping it in the family at Ippudo

Ippudo, the only US branch of the Japanese Ramen chain located at 65 4th Avenue, is old news to NY foodies, but when my West Coast, food loving cousins came into town and wanted some noodles, it was at the top of my list of places to visit. My cousin Harvey (Harvey, feel free to use the comment section to elaborate on the true nature of our relation...... second cousins, cousins once or twice removed etc), his wife Kitty, and their son Jordan joined Ian and I for an early lunch this week.

Jordan and I,  we are blurry in real life too

Kitty and Harvey

Ian going through his pre-noodle eating calisthenics routine

When we walked in, we were greeted loudly by all the staff, as is the custom at Ippudo. It's always nice to be welcomed, but be careful about straying from the rules. Ian arrived later than the rest of us, and even though we had a table with PLENTY of seats, the policy at Ippudo is once your party is seated, there are no add-ons. MEANING, your friend cannot arrive 5 minutes later than the rest of your party and order a meal.  Ian, who arrived 15 minutes after us and casually tried to order a bowl of Akamaru Modern Ramen,  was REFUSED service. Fortunately, they didn't yell at us for sharing food with him, but Ian did receive the glare of death from the waitress, and they also conveniently took the opportunity to automatically apply the mandatory gratuity for parties of 5 or more, even though they wouldn't serve one of us.......harumph!

Some annoyances are just worth dealing with though. We arrived at the restaurant at 11:45 AM on a Tuesday and didn't have to wait, but I'm used to waiting an hour or more to be seated at Ippudo and to me it's worth it, because I think Ippudo serves the best Ramen in NY. We started out the meal with some pork buns which are no bargain at $4.50 a piece ($9 for an order of two)  Harvey was comparing them to Chinese pork buns that can be bought for less than a dollar in Chinatown, but the quality of most Chinese pork buns just isn't on the same level, and of course, these are made with tender pork belly and not sugary Char-su. The pork on the buns at Ippudo really melts in your mouth, and the schmear of mayo adds a nice counterbalance to the salty sweetness of the pork. Served with a sprig of lettuce on a rice bun, this is more akin to a sandwich than the pork buns many of us are used to. The flavor is intensely stimulating, one is really enough but at the same time it would be hard to say no to seconds. Richness of flavor is one of the themes at Ippudo, I highly recommend people with gout completely avoid the entire block of 4th Avenue between 10th and 11th streets, lest they expose themselves to meaty pork vapors emanating from the restaurant that could dangerously aggravate their condition.

You know you want me.

We felt liked we needed a little greenery at the table, so we ordered up some flash-fried Shishito peppers, which have a flavor reminiscent of snow peas, and are served with a salty, peppery dipping powder. I recently saw lots of these peppers at the Union Square Farmer's Market which makes them a good seasonal choice although Ippudo serves them year round. Generally rather mild,  the peppers we had today were much spicier than I remember. Peppers are notoriously susceptible to cross-pollination and peppers that normally register as "flaccid" on the heat index can sometimes be very spicy if they are grown to closely to hotter peppers. If the Shishito peppers are too spicy for you, simply eat only the tips and avoid the base where the seeds and most of the heat are located. 

Slightly Spicy Shishito Peppers (say 10 times fast).

I've been to Ippudo a good dozen times and I've tried many of their broths and long ago I decided the best bowl of soup at Ippudo is the Akamaru Modern.  To this I always add a hard boiled egg, since I love it when the yolk soaks up the broth. The Modern is served with a "Tonkotsu", a broth made from long-cooked pork bones,  as opposed to a "Shoyu",  or soy based or broth, or the fish based broth knows as "Shio". While all are good I'm sure, the pork broth is so spectacular it's hard for me to critique the other variations of broth, I haven't had them in years. If  menu space dedicated to Tonkotsu is any indicator, there's really no choice, nearly all of Ippudo's ramen offerings are based on the porcine edition.

Two slices of roast Chasu pork, a  dollop of spicy miso paste,  and a bowl of Akamaru Modern;  about to be devoured.

The Modern comes with Miso Paste you can mix in to your liking,  two very thin slices of Chasu pork that are almost an aside, and some cabbage, seaweed, and scallions. At lunch, you can add a mini-portion of tasty fried rice and salad for $3 more, but at $14 for a bowl of soup, it's not really needed, especially if you started the meal with a pork bun. The broth, cloudy with bits of porky goodness,  is the richest I have ever tasted. To give you an idea of the intensity of flavor in the Tonkotsu broth, imagine the heartiest french onion soup  you ever tasted, then substitute onions for pork,  then multiply by two.  There may be a whole pig in every spoonful. This broth is so packed with pork essence that it can be used as holy water against rabbis, although I would ask my readers to refrain from actually trying it. 

The noodles are very thin, half as thin and of no relation to the ubiquitous  yellow Top Ramen accompanied by a packet of MSG in the "five for a dollar" bin at your local supermarket. You might think that a slender and freshly made noodle could easily be cooked  to a soft or mushy consistency but not at Ippudo. The ramen is cooked to a perfect degree of slight chewiness and pliancy. In some ways, and please stop me if this is sacrilegious, these noodles are God's most beautiful and perfect creation. I suspect He/She must have dedicated at least a full day to their creation.

And on the 6th day God created....Ippudo Ramen Noodles!

I'm kidding here, but only slightly. They are very delicious and quite perfect looking noodles, unfortunately my photography skills were no match for them on this day. Kitty didn't agree about the noodles, she said they were a little too thin, and Jordan said that he needed more Ramen experience before he could judge the quality of these particular noodles.  He did give a big thumbs up to the broth although he thought Ippudo could be a little more generous with the roasted pork portions beyond the two razor thin pieces that came with our soup. In theory I agree, although it would be difficult for my body to absorb more pork than it already had through the pig delivery system known as Tonkotsu at Ippudo.  Ian and I, who have been coming here since they opened in 2007, both agreed that they consistently served the best bowl of Ramen in NY. Harvey had the Karaka Men, essentially a spicier version of the Modern. He thought it could have used a little more heat but was impressed with the flavor. 

Karaka-Men , just add spice.

Sure, Ippudo is a little pricey,  but the ingredients and the flavors are superior. Unless you can get there very early,  prepare to dedicate a good chunk of time to waiting for a table, and god forbid if your friends aren't there when you are called to sit down (they won't be eating). With appetizers and drinks, you may be looking at a $30 bowl of noodles (or North!), but to the ramen lover, and especially the rich ramen lover, this is no obstacle. Since Harvey decided to foot the bill today,  Ian and I didn't have to grapple with these types of unsavory economic issues that can plague us "food artists". I enthusiastically endorse dining at Ippudo, and especially with Harvey, Kitty, and Jordan (and Ian.....if he's paying).

Excellent Pork Chop House? Yes, actually.

This week we ventured down to my favorite little crooked street in Chinatown to visit our local Taiwanese noodle shop, Excellent Pork Chop House,  on Doyers street. As usual, Ian was there as well as our semi-regular guest-star, Eugene.We've been coming to the Pork Chop House for years and it has consistently been a great place to go for fantastic soup and some really interesting and tasty appetizers. For 5 or 6 bucks, you can have a heaping portion of  noodle soup topped with some slightly sour pickled greens (to counterpoint the salty broth of course). With your soup, you are entitled to your choice of a quarter chicken (leg and thigh) or a pork chop, both are served fried and slathered in omnipresent Five Spice powder, and either variation lives up to the restaurant's namesake adjective-- excellent if you forgot! To be honest, I've hardly had a better piece of fried chicken in New York.  It's moist, the skin is thin yet crispy, and for something that comes straight out of the fryer, it's not too greasy either.

Betcha didn't know you could have fried chicken with your soup!

Let me back up for a moment since this isn't how we started this meal and the appetizers are half the fun. Definitely ask for one of the picture menus they keep up front, they are an invaluable aid and we still ask for them nearly every time we eat here. As usual, to keep things blogworthy, we decided to order a whole boatload of appetizer.All of the small dishes are great along with some of the appetizers we didn't order like garlic cucumbers.

"Scalded Vegetable" with  Five Spice and minced Garlic

You can order half and half- seaweed and marinated bean curd

Delicate and Delicious Sichuan style Spicy Wonton

 The ground rice flour noodles At Excellent Pork Chop House are very tasty but are not made in house.  They come in three shapes and sizes, Mei Fun, essentially an angel hair, "Silver" noodle, which is Spaghetti or Lo Mein sized, and what the menu calls "board" noodles, which should really read "broad" or Chow Fun style. Ian opted for the Mei Fun noodle with pork chop.

Ian happy with Mei Fun

Me happier with Silver noodle

Eugene dumbfounded with rice

Ian loved his soup and thought his pork chop, dusted in a coating of Five Spice powder, was just delicious. For those of you who aren't familiar with five spice powder, as with curry powder, it can contain a wide variety of spices. At Excellent Pork Chop House, the powder has a strong cinnamon taste as well as star anise. If you don't like the taste of Five Spice, you won't like Excellent Pork Chop House. Even the tea and water taste of it.  For inquiring minds that want to know more about five spice, here is a link.

Eugene was slightly disappointed by his braised chicken soup with rice on the side. This dish can also be had in a spare rib variant and with either one can choose a "dry" bowl of noodles to accompany it or rice. I've had this chicken several times and I think it is very good but not quite as good as the regular soup with the fried pork chop or chicken accompaniment.

Braised chicken soup with rice

The signature dish- Five Spice fried pork chop and soup with Mei Fun noodles

This is what the table looked like when all the food had been delivered.

We ate it all!

There are also a number of interesting rice cake stir fry dishes on the menu, a good beef stew (but not as good as Yogi Noodle) and a sour cabbage soup I would like to try one of these days when I'm not too tempted by the dishes I already know and love. With tip, this meal came in at $12 a person, but we could have done it much more cheaply if we didn't overindulge in the appetizers. Definitely visit Excellent Pork Chop House, because it really is!

Nam Son: The Good, the Bland, and the Fugly

The Good     There are many good thing about the Pho from Nam Son at 245 Grand Street in Chinatown. The meat used in the Pho Tai doesn't seem to be carved off of some frozen block of roast beef purchased at Western Meats. In fact, it's probably the best Eye of Round I have had in any of New York's many Pho joints. It's juicy and tender and doesn't arrive overcooked in the soup. The rice noodles are good too- they are firm and aren't overdone into a gloppy porridge. Properly cooked noodles are easy to cradle with your chopsticks, while overdone ones are often slimy and tend to slip back into the gelatinous mire.

No slippage

A perfect pink

It's difficult to top Nam Son for the meat and the noodles, they seem to do these better than just about everybody else serving Pho in New York. Still, however important these two staples are, there is a third element in the holy trinity of Pho ingredients: The BROTH, which brings us to  
The Bland  On the day we chose to eat at Nam Son, our dreams of Pho grandeur were dashed against the rocks of a lackluster broth. One may say it was even watery, which is generally not a good word to use when speaking of broths.We've probably been to Nam Son over 20 times, and to be fair, we have had much better broth than we had on our last visit. I'm not sure what it was like in the kitchen that day, but I do know that  Nam Son is constantly dishing out Pho, and water is constantly being added to a stock pot concentrated with the flavor of beef bones. A lunch rush can throw the delicate balance of flavors into disarray, especially if the pot isn't given sufficient time to "digest" the added water. Nam Son was busy the day we visited, as it often is, so to this we will chock up the bland stock, which was notably missing a good dash of salt and perilously deficient in star anise.

On another note, it's always nice to receive a heaping plate of vegetables to add to your Pho, but alas here we were disappointed too. No culantro or cilantro and no lime- but the biggest insult was they actually gave us lemons..

What, no lime? Surely you jest!

Limes are important. No one has written a song about eating up a coconut full of lemons. Nobody is dispensing unwanted, pithy advise about what to do when life gives you LIMES. True, there is a disease called Lymes, but that has absolutely nothing to do with the fruit. I don't want a LEMON in my PHO. You just can't create the right tangy/salty balance with a lemon. You can't tell me you are serious about your Pho when you bring me a plate with a lemon on it. I'll end this rant here; suffice is to say that every time I receive a lemony vegetable plate with my Pho I die a little....

Ian, deeply hurt and limeless

The Fugly Although we always enjoy dining at Nam Son, recently we made a discovery that was downright fugly.  The price of a bowl of Pho at Nam Son, averaging about $5.50, is generally in-line with what the rest of the Vietnamese restaurants are charging- unless you want the big bowl. For experienced Pho eaters like myself, this isn't even a choice, I always order the larger portion primarily for one very simple reason.... you get MORE. Also, sometimes its a little tough to work with a smaller bowl, I believe the Germans called this "Lebensraum", or "living space". Although I don't need to invade the Czech Republic, or even annex Austria, I do need my "Pholebensraum". Most restaurants will charge only a dollar and sometimes two for this privilege, but at Nam Son they actually charge DOUBLE for this. That means the price of my bowl of delicious Pho is creeping into Ramen territory.  Nam Son, when your broth is Good , your bowl of Pho is unmatched in Manhattan, but when it's watery and Bland like it was on our last visit, and when the price for a big bowl is four dollars more than it should be, AND you give us lemons, well, that's just Fugly.

Is the best Pho in New York actually in New Jersey?

Pho is just about my favorite thing in the world when done well. Indeed, I have often theorized that if the Buddhists have it right about reincarnation, I may very well come back as a steaming hot bowl of Pho. There is even some karmic justice to the idea. In this spirit, last week on my way to the Jersey Shore, I decided to stop off in Atlantic City in order to satisfy my degenerate gambling addiction, but also to satisfy another addiction by enjoying a delicious bowl of Pho at Pho Sydney at 2323 Atlantic Avenue. I was accompanied by Miss Charice Silverman, who I decided to initiate into the way of Pho for the very first time.

I don't wish to discuss the Asian gambling gene, but those of you who have spent any time in a casino know.... Asians love a little betting action. This has a beneficial side effect for foodies- whether in Vegas or Atlantic City, there is usually decent Asian food to be found. Almost every casino in Atlantic City has an Asian restaurant, and some even have Hong Kong style noodle bars. There are also at least three Vietnamese restaurants, and Pho Sydney is without question the best of them.

As usual, we aren't going to give demerits for ambiance. There is a large TV sitting on the bar, and the decoration is questionable although the diner style booths were comfortable.

Everyday is XMAS at Pho Sydney

We started out with some summer rolls- because it was hot and it was summer. Pho usually only takes about 5 minutes to come out and is filling enough, but I'm a glutton so I usually want something the moment I sit down, at least that's my expectation in most Vietnamese restaurants. The summer rolls were good if not slightly bland, they filled us up and helped us pass the time while waiting for our soup, but they weren't bursting with flavor and the peanut sauce was a little thin.

Summer Rolls-- good enough

So, let us get to the meat of things. When it comes to ordering Pho, I will invariably order the Pho Tai, which means the beef "Eye of Round" (think Roast Beef) that is sliced thin and served raw and cooks within seconds in the hot beef broth. There are many meat options that I usually pass on, including cartilage, brisket, meatballs, and other sorted and sundry animal parts, but Tai seems to work best for me although sometimes I will add the brisket if I know its especially good. Chicken Pho, or Pho Ga, can be especially delicious if cooked properly with a chicken broth but it is hard to find and many restaurants will cheat and offer some variation of beef Pho with some BBQ chicken on the side, in which cased it should be skipped. I'm excited to say that my friend and fellow newbie blogger Bryan Bui at http://phokingserious.blogspot.com/ will be having a homemade chicken Pho party sometime in the near future, so stay tuned for that post. The Pho should be served with a heaping plate of vegetables to add to it, which usually includes bean sprouts, Thai basil, a wedge of two of lime (although lazy restaurants will sneak in lemons), Cilantro (but not always), Culantro (the long leaves in the pic below),  jalapenos, and sometimes mint.

Fresh veggies to add to Pho

Pho for the very first time

Pho love

I've been to Vietnam before. One day while I was there, I ate Pho for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner. I'm not even kidding - that is how much I like Pho. Even now, I'm tempted to abandon writing this blog and go get another bowl of Pho. At the age of eighty three, my grandchildren will probably find me seated at the kitchen table with me head planted face down in a bowl of Pho.... hopefully only recently deceased.

To sip on the broth at Pho Sydney is like being transported to Vietnam - side note-  Vietnam combat vets may wish to avoid this experience. The fragrance of star anise, the depth of the beef flavor, the umami finish, all are present. The broth is clear and light and once I squeezed a lime into it was slightly tangy too. Pho Sydney has the best Pho stock I have tried West of Vietnam, and that includes well known Vietnamese enclaves around Orlando, LA, and Dallas where I have had Pho more than a few times. The broth alone at Pho Sydney makes it worth the 120 mile trip from NYC to Atlantic city, which is fortunate, because the rest of the ingredients were of a lesser grade. The rice noodles were too soft, the meat in the soup was good but far from the best I have had. If one were to add the noodles and meat from Nam Son on Grand street (post coming soonish), this soup would be without peer. Still, the broth is that good, and Pho Sydney is the only place I've found so far that has the richness of flavor I would expect from a truly good bowl of Pho. At $7 for a big bowl, I'll keep coming back, and at that price, I can even afford it when I lose all my money at the poker table at the Tropicana.

Hubba hubba Soba Soba

On a steaming hot July afternoon we popped into Cocoron, where Japanese soba, a thin noodle made from buckwheat flour, is always the plat du jour.  It's conveniently located for us at 61 Delancey Street on the Lower East Side. Cocoron is a small little noodle joint with counter seating and a smattering of tables that would probably feel crowded with 20 people in it. On the day we went, it was busy enough with 10 other diners plus the four other people cooking and a waitress. It was hot too, the air conditioning labored on with nary a cooling breeze to be had.. There is a lot of activity in the kitchen, because just about everything at Cocoron is made from scratch, and it shows.

Noodle team GO!!

There is quite a selection of soba dishes, many of them cold, to choose from and dip in homey Japanese Curry sauce, pork and soy based broths, sesame paste, and even some vegetarian options. But lets not jump ahead. We started our meal with a miso cole slaw and some kimchee, which for a fermented cabbage lover like me is hard to resist.

Miso cole slaw (above) and kimchee

These were small portions but very tasty and priced nicely at $2.50 each. Although I liked the kimchee,  I'm not sure that item is made on the premises and I will probably opt only for the cole slaw next time , which was chilled and extremely refreshing given the heat of the day, not to mention pretty to look at.

For those uninitiated in the soba way, the waitress will bring you an  instructional leaflet detailing exactly how to eat your noodles, but somehow we amateur soba eaters made do without them. You can either dip the cold noodles in a sauce or order them hot in a soup. As a curry lover, Ian couldn't resist the chicken curry option with cold noodles. I decided to try the Stamina soba with thin slices of delicious pork, served in a hot soy/pork broth with a very full but clean flavor with soy and miso notes..

Soba with Chicken curry

You get a nice portion of Soba

Stamina soba- finishing was no problem

Preparing to attack

A friend of Ian's mentioned that Soba changes flavor according to the time of year when the buckwheat was harvested. Our noodles had a beautiful mouth feel and were cooked to a  perfect al dente texture. They were so fresh you they almost tasted the field and they had a fleeting, beery finish that I really enjoyed. I could see that the noodles, as with everything else, were made with great care and treated with respect, which is important. A disrespected noodle can do enormous arterial damage if it has the mind to. I believe that these noodles were loved. In any case, I didn't have to reach for the Tums after my meal. Here is a peek at what Ian's dish looked like when it arrived at the table:

Meanwhile, Ian was really enjoying a very large plate of noodles that are actually weighed out on a scale in the open kitchen. To get a big plate of fresh and delicious noodles like that- all for you- it's just..... exciting. I had noodle envy- the noodles in my hot soup didn't look as big in the broth so next time I'll be chasing that heaping plate sensation. The curry wasn't as thick as most Japanese curries I have tried but was very flavorful without actually being spicy. If you require to turn up the heat a little bit, there are pepper shakers on the counter with a dry red pepper mix the Japanese favor in their soups. After the noodles are consumed, a hot pitcher is brought around. It's full of near boiling water that the soba had been cooked in minutes before and poured into the leftover curry sauce, which you can drink as a soup. The starchy noodle water thickens the curry and adds some of the buckwheat flavor and is certainly something to look forward to when you finish your heaping plate of noodles too quickly as we did.

Hot soba-seeped water is added to the broth

In the name of the blog, we decided to finish off the meal with a little dessert. We tried the house made Mochi, a Japanese treat of ice cream served frozen in a dough wrapping. At Cocoron, the Mochi is served on a mound of soy powder, which actually tastes like cocoa. It was delicious and the dough was as fresh as the noodles, although at $5.50 we would have preferred more than one piece. However, one has to acknowledge the attention to detail and the freshness of the ingredients. Yes, we could have had 4 pieces of store-bought prepackaged Mochi for that price, but  would they have been remembered so well?

Mochi love

Earlier in the week, we had eaten at one of our old standby's,Yogee noodle for Beef stew with Chow Fon noodle, reviewed here. That delicious meal came to $11 for both of us, an even $13 with tip, but man cannot live by Yogee noodle alone. Our lunch at Cocoron came in at a whopping $38, cash only,  which we rounded up to $45 with a tip. On top of that, it was my turn to treat, so it was a fairly damaging lunch from a financial standpoint. Ian's curry noodles were $14.50, and mine were $10. On the other hand, there are more economical options on the menu, starting at about $8. I feel that the quality of the ingredients, the care of the preparation, and the fresh flavor of the food merits the price. If we can practice some restraint, this is a restaurant that we would like to add to our weekly or monthly rotation. At a minimum,  we are going to need to taste the soba in every season to find out which one we like best. At Cocoron, there are a lot of soba combinations to explore, and we are planning to eat our way through the menu one dish at a time.

Grand Sichuan Chinatown- the redheaded stepdaughter of Grand Sichuan Chelsea

We decided for once not to have a hot pot dinner at Grand Sichuan on 125 Canal Street. This is a well known "hot pot" stop, where you should order your broth half spicy and half regular so you can dip a variety of tasty vegetables, meats, and seafood into the aromatic broth, swish it around for a few moments while they cook in the gurgling liquid, and summarily  gulp them down. When we walked in on a Friday evening there was a pot on every table ...except ours. We decided to order from the menu and forgo our usual favorite dish. We were daring, we were adventurous, but most of all, we were disappointed.

There is another, grander Grand Sichuan only a few miles North of Chinatown at 229 9th Avenue in Chelsea. They are the gold standard for Sichuan food in Manhattan (there may be other hidden gems in Flushing). At the Chelsea location, nearly every dish is delicious, with the exception of the Ma Po Tofu, which I found a bit salty and overpowering there. Still, everything else is glorious- dishes like fiery Au Zhou chicken are rife with tongue numbing Sichuan peppercorns and the Dan Dan noodles are the best I've had, although to be fair I've only had them in three or four places. The Canal Street restaurant is most likely of no relation to the Chelsea variant or to the 1/2 dozen restaurants also calling themselves Grand Sichuan in NYC, but I'm not sure- hey- I'm just a blogger!

We started out with a few appetizers, including wontons in a spicy oil, Dan Dan noodles, cold noodles in sesame paste, and some garlic cucumbers to cool us down.

Wontons in spicy oil

WIDE SHOT---- so so  DAN DAN noodles on the right.

All of the dishes in this pic were just OK. As a matter of fact, that seemed to be the theme of the meal, everything was just OK. I mean, do I look happy?

OK I look happy.

OK- so even so so noodles are enough to delight me. However,  Eugene was perplexed, and Ian tried to put on a happy face, but I'm not sure I believed him.

Eugene interrogates his dinner

Looks happy but crying inside?

The main dishes were all decent but vaguely disappointing. The kitchen is actually downstairs and dishes arrive via a dumbwaiter system. I imagine it's a lonely and dark existence down there in that basement, which might account for the lack of love our dishes received. There was nothing noticeably wrong with anything, but that's no great compliment either. For mains courses, we chose sesame beef, Kung Po chicken, braised beef filet in Szechuan sauce, sauteed water spinach and sauteed string beans. The braised beef was a spicy, oily, stew served on a bed of Chinese cabbage and was the most handsome  and the best dish of a middling bunch, but it still lacked star power.

Braised beef in Sichuan Sauce front and center

The best I can say about this meal is- no one went home hungry. DO come to Grand Sichuan for the hot pot. It's tasty and above all it's fun to eat, especially if you're with a big group. DON'T come to Grand Sichuan for a Sichuan dinner, instead head uptown to 9th Avenue and 24th street, to the other Grand Sichuan, where typical Sichuan dishes are much better.