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“All Aboard! Next Stop Chinatown New York City”By David CurrierDazzling lights and sounds of Time Square and Broadway! Art-Deco glamour and pre-Depression architecture at the Chrysler Building! "Dirty-water" hot dogs with kraut and diced onion at 42nd and 'Lex'! Cristo's draping of Central Park! The stately and inspiring Statue of Liberty! Beaux-Arts styled Grand Central Station! MOMA! 5th Avenue shopping! Ray's Pizza on 6th Avenue @ 11th in the Village! With these choices available to visitors of New York City, even an overwhelmed Peggy Lee might have asked, "Is that all there is?" The answer is, "No, there's lot's more!" A vacation to New York City should include visits to the ethnic neighborhoods that are the fabric-squares of the vibrant quilt-of-life that is New York City and ultimately America.
What's more, Chinatown, the largest Chinese community in the Western Hemisphere, exhibits the soul of a true neighborhood not a tourist theme park. 150,000 residents call Chinatown home. As you plan your trip, do some research on seasonal festivals that may be scheduled during your visit: Chinese New Year and its accompanying Lantern Festival, Ghost Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and the Chung Yang or “Double Yang” Festival. These events are scheduled according to the Chinese calendar so do not occur on the same dates every year.
Within sight of the Empire State Building, tucked into lower "SoHo-Manhattan", east of Broadway, north of South Street Seaport, and south of Little Italy, Chinatown is located in the area of the Five Points (of Gangs of New York movie fame) where many ethnic groups first settled when emigrating to America .
As I meandered through various Chinatown streets my mouth watered at the sight of lacquered duck hanging from a spit in the "deli" windows at Mott and Bayard Streets.
Proprietor John Hung's May May Gourmet Dim Sum and bakery at 35 Pell Street shop has been a supplier to restaurant chefs for 40 years. While chatting with John, trays of steaming rice packets wrapped in banana leaves were delivered from the basement kitchens for anxious customers.
We Americans are known for eating on the run - never enough time. Chinatown will not leave you snack-less. The Ice Cream Factory (65 Bayard Street) features delicious flavors such as mango, lychee, and, my favorite, green tea. Then, for the adventurous traveler, check out the Chinese snacks tastefully presented at Aji Ichiban (167 Hester Street). Founded in 1891, this is the oldest shop in Chinatown. Sample unusual dried fruits and seafood snacks or stick with better known chocolates and candies.
There are several hotels near-by to Chinatown. The SoLita SoHo luxury hotel is at 159 Grand @ Lafayette. The rooms are cozy and suitable for two guests max. There is also a Holiday Inn at 138 Lafayette. The Tribeca Grand is located at 1 7th Avenue & 310 West Broadway. Off SoHo Suites at 11 Riverton and the SoHotel at 341 Broome Street are perfect for budget conscious travelers. Getting to Chinatown from anywhere requires you to first get into Manhattan. The most convenient method of getting into NYC is to fly in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport (just across the Hudson River in 'Jersey). I’m a public transit fan, so I recommend that you take the train directly from the airport to NY's Pennsylvania Station (about $12) (www.airtrainnewark.com). (Don’t get off at Newark’s Penn Station. They are not the same.) From there, unless you are familiar with the NY subway, take a taxi (appx. $5-10) to your pied à terre in New York. Unless you think sitting in traffic or being stuck in the Holland Tunnel is exciting, even if you are a family of 3-4, forget the taxi route. The train is easy, relaxing and dependable. Use the time saved to see more of Chinatown! All aboard! Text and Photographs © 2005 David Currier |
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New
York City's Chinatown provides abundant opportunity for good value and
memorable experiences during your Big Apple vacation. There may be no better
way in the USA for a family to expose inquisitive, impressionable children
to another culture, another pace-of-life, and fast-food options other than
McDonald’s (though McDonald’s is here).
Chinatown
is compact enough that escorted or independent walking tours are the best
way to visit the area. You’ll never experience the hectic and exhilarating
Chinatown through a tour bus window.
A
visit to Chinatown provides an opportunity to steep yourself in Asian
cultures without traveling 14,000 miles. Today's "Chinatown" is comprised of
immigrants from all over China and Southeast Asia, and the various languages
are spoken everywhere. If you are fortunate you may encounter sales clerks
in small specialty shops that do not speak much English.
Beginning
roughly at the coordinates of Grand and Mott Streets and spreading southward
across the main artery of Canal Street, Chinatown explodes with bustling,
dynamic, boisterous activity.
Historically
and today, several streets remain associated with specific types of
business- Mulberry (next to Columbus Park ) has its funeral parlors, Pell
Street has its barber shops and hair salons, and Mott (between Canal Street
and Park Row) is home to food emporiums and restaurants.
Scents
of mysteriously pungent spices waft from local grocery stores. At open-air
markets, the crackling cacophony of Chinese voices eagerly hawking fresh
fish, meats, fruits and vegetables (many unknown to most Americans) pierces
the air.
In
one grocery store sat plastic boxes filled with live green frogs. Cartons of
imported Asian pears stacked on the curb, the squeaky hand-trucks laden with
baskets of crisp, green bok choy being delivered to vibrant colorful
markets, rough-skinned Durian fruit (tastes like Heaven, smells like Hell)
hanging from a Grand Street market's awnings, all brought back memories of
the now destroyed Les Halles, the ancient belly of Paris.
Purveyors
of fine teas like Ten Ren Tea and Ginseng Company (75 Mott) sell elegant,
exotic, even rare teas that delight our senses of smell and taste – and
comfort our soul or perhaps heal the body. Here, your hostess Miu Lui
performs a ceremonial tea service and teaches you the traditional art and
etiquette of serving fine tea.
Female
shoppers in Chinatown will enjoy an array of fine jewelry and clothing
shops, too. Contemporary American clothing as well as unique Chinese
influenced designs are available in boutiques throughout the area.
Like
a scene from Harry Potter, before your eyes, herbal pharmacies like the Lin
Sister Herb Shop (4 Bowery Street) blend ancient Chinese medicines from
boxes of traditional herbs, and provide relief from your aches and pains
with a Chinese foot massage or acupuncture.
For
most Chinatown tourists, eating at a Chinese restaurant is at the top of the
must-do list. You won’t have to spend much time trying to find a good place
to eat. Over 200 restaurant choices include China’s Cantonese, Shanghainese
and Szechuan cuisines as well as those from Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam,
Korea, Malaysia, Japan and Indonesia.
Several
1950's American diner-like establishments such as Dim Sum Go Go at 5 East
Broadway or Green Tea Cafe at 45 Mott Street are frequently packed with
neighborhood residents - always a good sign.
Silk
Road Mocha (30 Mott Street), Tea and Tea (51 Mott Street) and other small
tea houses are excellent places to experience the youthful energy of
contemporary Chinatown. Sip flavorful Italian coffees, relax with a pot of
hot Chinese tea, or enjoy one of various hip tea drinks recently introduced
to America from China, bubble tea - a frothy, milky concoction with fruit
flavors, tea and oversized, gummy pearls of tapioca. So you don’t miss the
colorful chewy pearls, this is drunk through an oversized straw.
Many
of the restaurants and tea houses are open late – until the wee hours of the
morning; so dining in Chinatown can be a spur-of-the-moment, late night
treat. 
Take-out-groceries
offer memorable experiences in Chinese-American culture and some of the
lowest prices on the island of Manhattan. For the home chef, Chinatown
markets may be the only place on the island where you will find uniquely
Chinese spices and ingredients.
The
upscale Peking Duck House at 28 Mott Street, with starched white linens, is
not as 'typical' as most dining options that thrive on the narrow streets of
Chinatown, but their whole Peking duck (with wraps) carved tableside, and
the Grand Marnier jumbo prawns with a few glasses of sauvignon blanc was the
perfect Chinese meal for three famished American travelers.
Chinatown's
energetic college students (NYU) and young professionals can be found at
Nyonya's Malaysian Cuisine at 194 Grand Street (@ Mulberry Street). Nyonya’s
menu selection is extraordinary and the quality and prices are excellent.
What's amusing (hopefully not intimidating) is that in addition to familiar
choices of red snapper, Chilean sea bass, satay, or Indian mee goreng, some
of the menu options like chicken feet with mushrooms include these words of
advice in the description: "Please ask server for advice before you order!"
Oh!
If you've run out of cute things to say on those postcards you’re mailing,
expand your dining experience by forcing yourself to eat with traditional
chopsticks. You'll laugh at yourself as your fingers work though various
hand-yoga contortions - and as that precious piece of shrimp is catapulted
across the dining room! (How do the Chinese eat that last grain of rice with
these things?) Describe that experience to the folks back home.
Perhaps
capitalizing on what brings many tourists down to Chinatown, "Have You Eaten
Yet? The Chinese Restaurant in America" is The Museum of Chinese in the
Americas' current exhibit, running through June, 2005. (
The
Tea Bag Open Mic (downstairs at 30 Mott Street) or Yello Bar (32 Mulberry
Street) provide evening entertainment. (Check their schedules.) Nightlife in
bars and clubs is a new addition to the Chinatown culture. Tea Bag Open Mic
was packed (its not that big) the Friday we arrived at 9:30 pm. A mix of
Latino, African-American and Asian aspiring artists presented slam poetry,
stand-up comedy and music. Additionally, Tea Bag has a private room for
guests to entertain one another with karaoke. Depending on the performers, a
small cover charge may apply. Yello Bar is also a comedy club. Performances
at both clubs are in English. Caution: This is New York City, folks, and
performers' language of the street is not for the faint-of-ear.