City Guide: New York
Red Farm
This is not the New York City Chinese food of your youth, this is the New York City Chinese food for the rest of your life.
Ed Schoenfeld is the king of New York Chinese food, a big-hearted guy with red-framed glasses that you’ll probably notice patrolling Red Farm with a smile and a, “So, you like it?” With a restaurant résumé that runs back years, though he’s not of Asian descent, his passion and encyclopedic knowledge of Chinese cooking goes back decades. At Red Farm, Schoenfeld teamed up with chef and dim sum master Joe Ng, to huge success. This is a place to bring as many friends, heck even strangers, as possible, if only to allow for the sampling of more food.
Maybe you make a meal from just dumplings, as there are around a dozen on offer. Your assortment should definitely include the heart-breakingly good soup dumplings filled with pork and crab; the dumplings stuffed with shrimp and snow pea leaf; a basket of Ng’s signature ‘Pac Man’ Shrimp Dumplings—Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde in blue, pink, yellow and white, chasing a Pac-Man made of sweet potato tempura with a blueberry for an eye; as well as the crispy duck and crab dumplings. If you’re able to separate yourself from the dumplings, then have a platter of sautéed black cod with black beans and Thai basil, three-chili chicken, long life noodles with chanterelles and shiitakes, and a bowl of aromatic ginger fried rice studded with barbecued duck. Remember: Be nice and try to share.
Shrimp and Snow Pea Leaf Dumplings
- 1 to Christopher Street
Ideal for:
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