JOE'S GINGER

Joe's Ginger is a big hit with the tourist and the non-Chinese crowd. It is a neighbor and a shoot off of the more well known Joe's Shanghai.

I must say that the food here is very tasty. It's considered a bit more expensive than the typical Chinatown restaurant but it's nothing that will break the bank. Their soup dumplings with crab meat were absolutely D E L I C I O U S!

The waitress recommended the Joe's Special Seafood Noodles and it was a delight! There were big chunks for seafood; including crab claws over yummy thick noodles.

The bill for two full people came out to be around $30+ including tip. That's still a steal in Manhattan if you ask me.

Joe's Ginger

25 Pell St

New York, NY 10013-5168

(212) 285-0333

WO HOP

I don't have much of a life outside of work. On a Saturday night, my buddies tried to kidnap me from work...

Dinner at Wo Hop is always a treat. We ate Peking Duck, snow peas, and wonton noodle soup. YUM!

We of course ended the night at CICF with ice cream! Saturday nights in Chinatown can be kinda awesome!

WO HOP

17 MOTT STREET

NEW YORK, NY 10002

COMPTROLLER THOMPSON IN CHINATOWN

In this picture Jan Lee (Chinatown Advocate, Owner of Sinotique) is walking with Comptroller Thompson. He will be running against Bloomberg for Mayor.

NAIL POLISH SELECTION IN EC

EC (AKA Elizabeth Center) has so many cute shops. I am convinced that I will never outgrow it.

Recently there has been a lot of new cute boutiques popping up. Among my favorite is a shop that sells a variety of nail polish. They carry the brand "Pa" there. I think it's a Japanese brand but don't quote me on that.

The quality of the cute little paint bottles rivals that of Opi and Essie. I like how they are less expensive because they are in smaller containers. It's more of a reason to try out a variety of colors. The shades are also more fresh and unique.

Perfect of our summer manis and pedis!

ELIZABETH CENTER

ELIZABETH STREET (btw Bayard and Canal Streets)

CHINATOWN FLOWERS

Like every other girl on the planet, I love flowers. I’ve gotten flowers from this shop a handful of times. More times than that, I’ve bought the flowers for myself. (It’s called being an Independent Woman. ) =)

I am a huge fan of their multicolor rose bouquets. They also do local deliveries in Chinatown. (So, if you want to send me flowers, please do so!)

They also have some small house plants for sale. Moms usually like those too.

CHINATOWN FLOWERS

35 Pell Street

New York, NY 10013

(212) 608-1811‎

HAPPY EXPRESS CAFÉ

Happy Express Café is a HK style eatery. It’s kinda like Komba or M Star Cafe. It’s a good breakfast joint because the food is yummy, fast, and cheap. I like their versions of breakfast sandwiches. The chicken over rice is also yummy.

They also have hot and cold drinks available. HK style coffee is a must.

HAPPY EXPRESS CAFÉ

6 ALLEN STREET

NEW YORK, NY 10013

NEW MALAYSIA RESTAURANT

I like to ask my friends what their favorites places to eat are. A common answer that I’ve been hearing is the New Malaysia Restaurant.

It’s a place that I love too. It’s no frills dining. The food is really fresh, yummy, and affordable.

Malay food is one of the more popular cuisines in our Chinatown. The New Malaysian Restaurant isn’t written up nearly as many times as it should be. It’s our local secret top pick.

Most of us just call it “the tunnel”. It’s one of a series of restaurants that lie within the tunnel that connects Elizabeth and Bowery streets in the middle of the block.

I recommend the seafood and chicken dishes here.

NEW MALAYSIAN RESTAURANT

46-49 BOWERY STREET

CHINATOWN ARCADE #28

WATCH REPAIR

When I go to work and put on my Tokidoki watch, it is a good day. I’m simple minded and it takes very little to make me happy...

Today I dropped it on the floor and shattered the band and thought…”crap today is going to be a shitty day.”

Lucky for me; CICF is right across from the “Watch Repair Man”. For $5 bucks, he pieced together my watch and saved the day. The Watch Man is definitely a superhero in my book!

WATCH REPAIR

The booth across the street from CICF

FOOT LONG LIVE

I do manual labor. In a nutshell that means everything hurts all the time. Massages for me are a small piece of heaven.

Foot and back spas have been popping up all over the place. On Bayard Street alone, there must be at least 4 places.

Foot Long Live is definitely a no frills place. It's a dark walk down which at first scared me. After going down, I was pleasantly surprised. I really liked the place. The decor isn't much but the massages are good and the prices are pretty low.

I noticed over the last few weeks, that a lot of hipsters have discovered this hidden parlor. It has started getting very busy there!

If you ask for a frequent massage card, after 10 massages, you can get a free session.

FOOT LONG LIVE

55 BAYARD STREET (BASEMENT)

CHINATOWN, NYC

212-240-9155

BANGKOK CENTER GROCERY

Mosco street is a cute little street that most people miss. I like this hidden grocery store there. Bangkok Center Grocery has a good selection of Thai items. If you're a foodie or love to cook, it's fun to explore these shops.

When I want to make a pat Thai or a pandan dessert, I usually stop by here.

BANGKOK CENTER GROCERY

104 MOSCO STREET

NEW YORK, NY 1oo13

US OPEN'S LI NA

The US Open is a huge deal every year in NYC. I've never been, but I experience the craze through the traffic coming into Manhattan.

China's Li Na has been spotted in Manhattan's Chinatown. In the New York Times article, she is spotted on Bayard Street!

She ate at Coluck and ordered Kimchi Bokumbop. I've eaten at Coluck a million times and have never eaten that. I will have to try it sometime. Li Na rated it as being 85 percent. I think she would have liked their mashed potatoes or chicken wings better. Coluck is a Chinese/American super fast food joint. Definitely not gourmet but fun to eat with friends.

I'm sad that she didn't come to CICF! Hope she kicks butt at the US Open! Chinatown loves Li Na!

COLUCK

located in the tunnel/alleyway btw Elizabeth and Mott Streets

WONTON NOODLE SOUP

My favorite restaurant in Chinatown is Hsin Wong. I must've written that a million times in my blog. Love it! It's cheap and convenient.

It's also comfortable eating solo here. Lots of people do. I eat most of my meals alone because my work hours are odd. There's always a small table waiting for me.

They have lots of good comfort food for days at work that were a lil more rough than you would've liked.

Rachael Ray is my homegirl and says Pasta is comfort food. I'm Chinese so I believe in mein and hoi fun.

In this picture: Wonton Hau Fun (Wonton with wide noodles) I usually add a lot of cha siu (roast pork.)

FYI all the waiters there know I can pack taht food down!

HSIN WONG RESTAURANT
72 Bayard Street

New York, NY 10013

NYC DISTRICT 1 CANDIDATES FORUM ON THE WEB

Here's the link to the NYC District 1 Candidates Forum. If you were like me, and could not attend, check it out.

www.aaari.info/09-08-27Forum.htm

CANDY SHOP USA

I like candy... & I love ice cream. My two secret remedies for broken hearts on rainy days...

Candy Shop USA sits around the corner of CICF. Yes, it is one of my many guilty pleasures.

The packaging is oh so cute! You can go in and mix up an assortment of candies and dried fruit. Among my favorites are the chocolate covered sunflower seeds, chocolate rocks and the salted plums. Miniature Toblerones are also a definite must!

There are little sample bowls near each of the items. Swing by the next time you're in the area.

CANDY SHOP USA

48 Mott Street

New York, NY 10013

212-233-8838

RALLY TO SUPPORT JOHN LIU

In Chinatown, John Liu is a superstar. There hasn't been one business, where I haven't seen his poster plastered up.

Tomorrow from 5-6pm in Chatham Square there will be a rally for John Liu. He is currently running for City Comptroller. They are calling for supporters and volunteers. Election is right around the corner! Hope that you will come and support.

CHATHAM SQUARE

(Corner of East Broadway and Bowery)

Tuesday 8/25/09

5:00-6:00

KUNG FU BING

A Kung Fu Bing has opened in Chinatown. This store is part of an international franchise. I like to call it the Kung Fu Panda and my workers all make fun of me.

This eatery is kind of an Eastern Dunkin Donuts. They have all types of good breakfast sandwiches; paired in value meals with bubble teas. I like their egg sandwiches and mint tea.

I fell in love with the place and had to try it because of their logo. How cute! I heart panda bears~!

Rumor also has it that there will be more Kung Fu Bings opening all over the city.

KUNG FU BING

79 DIVISION STREET

NEW YORK, NY 10013

212-226-2836

NYC COUNCIL DISTRICT 1

The Chinatown area is part of NYC's District 1. Right now the candidates for City Council are Alan Gerson, PJ Kim, Margaret Chin, Pete Gleason, and Arthur Gregory.

On Thursday, there will be a Candidates Forum at PS 124 from 6-9pm. If you live or work in the area, drop by to hear what the candidates are about. Translations will also be done in Mandarin and Cantonese.

This year, the candidates are very diverse and I expect that it will be an interesting race. Hope that you can make the forum and get involved with local politics!

DISTRICT 1 FORUM
PS 124
40 Divison Street
Thursday 6-9pm

NEW GREEN BO RESTAURANT

I love dumplings, as you can see from this picture. The waitress behind looks so shocked how many dumplings my little body can pack down. I do manual labor, so I tell myself I can eat all the dumplings I want. (This logic of course gives me a belly ache every now and then.)

In my opinion, New Green Bo has the best soup dumplings in the city. Their hot and sour soup is also a yummy complement.

NEW GREEN BO RESTAURANT

66 BAYARD STREET

NEW YORK, NY 10013

KSS BEAUTY SPA

My gal pal Gloria described Chinatown best. "It's one big spa, if you know where to go." Though I work lots, I make sure to spoil myself every second I get.

Now that it's summertime, we have to make sure that we have cute pedicured feet. KSS Beauty Spa offers a good deal. $20 for both manicure and pedicure (Monday-Thursday). This place is no frills but is quick and convenient.

They also offer a variety of skin treatments.

KSS BEAUTY SPA

187 CENTRE STREET

212-966-9531

CHINATOWN NO SMOKING DAY

Everyone knows smoking causes cancer and that's not cool...

The American Cancer Society (ACS) is holding Chinatown No Smoking Day this Sunday. They will be holding a Smoking Cessation Workshop and there will also be a free NRT Distribution.

Other distribution sites in Chinatown during this day will include Grand Harmony Restaurant (98 Mott Street) and Golden Bridge Restaurant (50 Bowery Street).

If you're a smoker, trying to quit, you should check it out.

Chinese Merchants Association
83 Mott Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10013
8/16 10am-3pm

RAINBOW CAFE

I've walked by Rainbow Cafe a million times but never took notice of the place. I've eaten here recently quite a bit. It has quickly become a brunch favorite for me.

The food here is very HK Style. The cuisine resembles that of Komba and M Star Cafe. Food is very affordable if not dirt cheap.

When I'm trying to be healthy, I'll order a papaya smoothie and some eggs. Most of the time, I opt for the super high calorie foods on the menu... i.e. the baked seafood deluxe in cream sauce. Can you say "YUM"?

Check it out. They have a location in Chinatown and one in Brooklyn!

RAINBOW CAFE
154 Mott Street
New York, NY 10013

773 60th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11220
212-343-7083

NATIONAL ICE CREAM MONTH CELEBRATION

Today, marked the end of National Ice Cream Month. CICF celebrated with the kids of The Chinese Planning Council (CPC). We closed off our section of the street, celebrated with live music, lion dances and of course ice cream.

I expected a small intimate group of about 2o kids who redesigned our sign, but closer to 50 came. Friends and community supporters also attended.

The Children's Museum of the Arts (CMA) was generous enough to donate free passes to their museum. Paul Seto; owner of Burger King also gave gift certificates for free burgers and toys.

It was so nice to see the community come together today!

Happy ice cream eating to all!

EXPRESSIONS OF ICE CREAM EATING

To end of National Ice Cream month, we unveiled Autumn Lin's collage. She designed this collage of Expressions of Ice Cream Eating.

Autumn is a local photographer and has roots in the Chinatown community. Come check out her work the next time you're here for a scoop!

AUTUMN LIN PHOTOGRAPHY

www.autumnlin.com

SKATEBOARDING IN CHINATOWN

I always wanted to skateboard but I'm a spaz. I've always lived vicariously watching the other cool kids skateboard. I have a fear of getting scabby knees!

The cool kids would be jealous now! I got to hang with Pro Skateboarder Mike Wright. Mike gave me the DL on skating C-Town.

There used to be two Chinatown Hubbas (Skating Areas). One is under the overpass that leads to South Street Seaport. The other one was at Seward Park but no longer exists due to their new construction. Skaters are bummed out about this.

BRA SHOP IN ELIZABETH CENTER

There are a lot of specialty boutiques in Chinatown. There is a nice bra shop on the ground floor of Elizabeth Center. Prices are quite affordable and the quality is very good.

Victoria's Secret is the big thing but sometimes I find them overpriced. At times, I also have had a hard time finding my size. This shop seems to fit more for the Asian physique which is nice. It kinda feels like the store was made just for you...

You can also buy cute panties to match! Fellow shopaholics should check it out!

ELIZABETH CENTER

ELIZABETH STREET (BTW BAYARD AND BOWERY)

NEW YORK, NY 10013

ELITE HK CORP

Victor owns Elite HK Corp in Confucuis Plaza. He's the definite go to guy in the community for plaques, stamps, and custom trophies. When looking at the samples, you can tell the man is very talented.

Mostly all the businesses that I know have their awards plaqued here. The non profits in the community also work with Victor.

Elite HK is also very generous and involved with the Chinatown Community. AWESOME!

ELITE HK CORP
5 BOWERY
NEW YORK, NY 10002
212-925-4968

OUR NEW SIGN!

The kids over at CPC designed our beautiful new sign! They are so creative!

FILMING FOR NBC

Today was a great day! A new sign, right in time for NBC shooting at CICF. This pretty little lady next to me does a summer series about where to go in NYC. Her focus this time was Chinatown. What an awesome idea!

Other locations that were also filmed for this are Yummy Noodles and Red Egg Restaurant. They are also some of my favorite places to eat!

I love the food in Chinatown!

BEST DUMPLING WINNERS

I was reading Time Out NY and they were rating NYC's best cheap eats.. Of course their needed to be a category for dumplings. Ummm Ummm....my favorite! Cheap and D E L I C I O U S!

Not to my surprise, 2 of the winners were located in Chinatown.

One winner is located right next door to me. New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe is famous for their soup dumplings. They come in pork, or a pork/crab mixture. Locals and tourists come near and far for these small pieces of heaven. One of my customers is having her wedding their and renting out the restaurant because she loves their dumplings that much.

The other location, I actually haven't tried. Prosperity Dumpling was the other winner. They are famous for their pan crisped pork and chive dumpling. They also come in all veggie which is made from minced mushrooms and greens. I'm planning on trying it out tomorrow.

I heart dumplings!

Prosperity Dumplings

46 Eldridge St between Canal and Hester Sts

(212-343-0683)

New Shanghai Deluxe

65 Bayard Street

New York, NY 10013

212-566-4884

THAI SON

I might have blogged about this place already but I don't care. I love this place! The food is amazing and the prices are so affordable.

The decor makes you feel like you've escaped Manhattan and landed in South East Asia.

I'm a big fan of their noodle dishes (Bun). The seafood is fresh and DELICIOUS! I also love their Thai coffee which is made with condensed milk. Also be sure to try this spring rolls or other appetizers.

Their ice cream is also amazing because the buy it from us!

THAI SON

89 BAXTER STREET

NEW YORK, NY 10013

212-732-2822

A GIRLS' OUTING

My friend Gloria rescued me from work. It's an ice cream scooping vortex once I get in. I was in need of some R & R.

She brought me to this walk up hair salon. The drill is to ask for the "shampoo & dry" to get a scalp massage. It was only $13! It included a shoulder and scalp massage. They worked on each of us for a good hour!

I pulled out the $20 and realized that is how much they really should be making but don't. I left the rest for tip and it still seemed like a good bargain at $20. (Gloria has not let me disclose the location of this place yet. It's her "secret spot" I'm working on getting permission to disclose!)

We walked out of the salon, feeling like super models with our freshly blown out and styled hair off to dinner...

Then we went to eat Chiu Chao food at the New Chiu Chao Restaurant. According to my Chiu Chao friends, this is one of the only 2 Chiu Chao restaurants in our Chinatown. Get the #1 on the menu. It's amazing! You get a huge bowl of noodles, in an amazing broth with different types of meats.

Gloria looks particularly beautiful after the hair salon! The picture is of her posing with her bowl of noodles!

THE NEW CHIU CHAO RESTAURANT

111 MOTT STREET

& the hair salon TBA

CO-NAMING CORTLAND ALLEY

Cortland Alley is a little street that runs perpendicular to Canal Street. It will be officially co-named Dr. Thomas Tam Way. This will be one of the only two streets in NYC that is named after an Asian person.

My buddy Anthony that works at The Asian American/Asian Research Institute (AAARI) gave me the scoop.

Thomas Tam was his late boss. Dr. Tam was an amazing APA Advocate. He was the first director of AAARI, the co founder of what is now the Charles B Wang Health Center, co founder of Asian Cinevision. The list goes on and on about how this man dedicated his life to the community.

The new street sign isn't officially up yet and I'll update you when it's on its way.
We give thanks to the Anthony, the Community Board and City Council for making this possible.

CELEBRATING THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF ORDINATION OF FATHER NOBILETTI!

CICF KICKS DESIGNED BY SOLEFOOD

WWW.SOLEFOODNYC.COM

TOWN HALL BY THE ASIAN AMERICAN ARTS ALLIANCE

The Asian American Arts Alliance is holding a Town Hall at the Chen Dance Center. The purpose of their Town Hall is to look to bring together artists to collaborate on projects within the community. It's a great way to make connections. It's a cool idea.

Below is the how the lowdown:

(Written By Nico Daswani)

The format of the Town Hall is simple: the first hour is devoted to 2-minute announcements and the second hour is for networking. We have had more than 250 people join us since we started this series of gatherings, with announcements from artists looking for collaborators for their projects, presenters announcing their season, entrepreneurs presenting new arts-related initiatives, organizations like NYFA and LMCC announcing their grant programs and much more. The networking has been fantastic and we have many stories of new connections started at Town Hall.

The next Town Hall takes place on Tuesday, July 7 at 10am at Chen Dance Center in Chinatown (70 Mulberry St at Bayard). It’s a pot-luck, so please bring some food to share if possible. Here is more info about the event: http://aaartsalliance.org/townhall

HANGING WITH THE GIRLS AT HAPPY ENDING....We love the berry cosmopolitans! D*E*L*I*C*O*U*S!