Post by Yori Yanover on Nov 30, 2006 8:17:08 GMT -5
Is Congee Village the affordable Chinese fusion?
by C. Menegakos
There’s been a lot of talk in food circles recently about the New Chinese. Upscale Cantonese is supposedly destined to become the next Thai, the next Northern Italian, the next French bistro: The next cuisine to be reinvented, and then become ubiquitous throughout New York.
Allen Street’s Congee Village, poised on the border between Chinatown proper and the most rapidly gentrifying portion of the Lower East Side, would be a natural place to find it. Beloved of foodies for obscure Cantonese specialties, and a landmark on the streetscape for its outrageous Tiki-hut design, Congee Village can also be seen as something else – an exploratory foray out of Chinatown and into the downtown mainstream.
The place certainly doesn’t look like a Chinatown dive – it’s big (two dining rooms and a full bar), bustling, and done up in a kitschy bamboo-and-vegetation theme vaguely reminiscent of the South Pacific. And although the clientele is overwhelmingly Cantonese, the rooms are dotted with the same groups of young people, of all races, that you’d find at any bistro within ten blocks. The camp factor, and a full bar with remarkably cheap prices, see to that.
So does the food. For starters, there’s the titillation factor – gross-out dishes like fish maws, goose intestines, duck bills, and the pungent preserved eggs in a favorite congee (they’re not really a thousand years old, but still well-past their expiration date by Western standards). If you look carefully, however, most people seem to be ordering something different – the kind of crowd-pleasing, bistro-like dishes that are difficult to find at most MSG-laden neighborhood joints.
Take the House Special Chicken, available half or whole, which comes with a remarkably crisp, savory skin, showered in sliced garlic. Although it’s served chopped across the bone, this is a dish that will be comforting to almost any New York palate. The same goes for standards like Chow Fun with Beef (with or without black bean sauce), which combines the comfort and clarity of Thai noodle dishes with a particularly Cantonese unctuousness, or any of the Sizzling Plates, which are essentially stir fries, well-cooked and gently seasoned without becoming gelatinous or sweet. Congee Village also offers surprisingly good dim sum – try the springy sweet potato pancakes for textural relief – and, of course, congee. This watery rice porridge is usually eaten for breakfast, but here forms part of the regular menu. Although it sends devotees into ecstasy, congee is an acquired taste, and, regardless of the mixins one selects, from squid to preserved pork, is pretty bland. A shot of fiery red pepper sauce helps, but you either like congee or you don’t.
Congee Village, 100 Allen Street ( bet. Broome and Delancey), 212.941.1818, Free delivery, lunch and dinner seven days, reservations for groups, full bar, credit cards accepted.
by C. Menegakos
There’s been a lot of talk in food circles recently about the New Chinese. Upscale Cantonese is supposedly destined to become the next Thai, the next Northern Italian, the next French bistro: The next cuisine to be reinvented, and then become ubiquitous throughout New York.
Allen Street’s Congee Village, poised on the border between Chinatown proper and the most rapidly gentrifying portion of the Lower East Side, would be a natural place to find it. Beloved of foodies for obscure Cantonese specialties, and a landmark on the streetscape for its outrageous Tiki-hut design, Congee Village can also be seen as something else – an exploratory foray out of Chinatown and into the downtown mainstream.
The place certainly doesn’t look like a Chinatown dive – it’s big (two dining rooms and a full bar), bustling, and done up in a kitschy bamboo-and-vegetation theme vaguely reminiscent of the South Pacific. And although the clientele is overwhelmingly Cantonese, the rooms are dotted with the same groups of young people, of all races, that you’d find at any bistro within ten blocks. The camp factor, and a full bar with remarkably cheap prices, see to that.
So does the food. For starters, there’s the titillation factor – gross-out dishes like fish maws, goose intestines, duck bills, and the pungent preserved eggs in a favorite congee (they’re not really a thousand years old, but still well-past their expiration date by Western standards). If you look carefully, however, most people seem to be ordering something different – the kind of crowd-pleasing, bistro-like dishes that are difficult to find at most MSG-laden neighborhood joints.
Take the House Special Chicken, available half or whole, which comes with a remarkably crisp, savory skin, showered in sliced garlic. Although it’s served chopped across the bone, this is a dish that will be comforting to almost any New York palate. The same goes for standards like Chow Fun with Beef (with or without black bean sauce), which combines the comfort and clarity of Thai noodle dishes with a particularly Cantonese unctuousness, or any of the Sizzling Plates, which are essentially stir fries, well-cooked and gently seasoned without becoming gelatinous or sweet. Congee Village also offers surprisingly good dim sum – try the springy sweet potato pancakes for textural relief – and, of course, congee. This watery rice porridge is usually eaten for breakfast, but here forms part of the regular menu. Although it sends devotees into ecstasy, congee is an acquired taste, and, regardless of the mixins one selects, from squid to preserved pork, is pretty bland. A shot of fiery red pepper sauce helps, but you either like congee or you don’t.
Congee Village, 100 Allen Street ( bet. Broome and Delancey), 212.941.1818, Free delivery, lunch and dinner seven days, reservations for groups, full bar, credit cards accepted.