Chinatown

Ok so I’m on a Chinese food roll lately, so here’s another Chinatown mention….

I like the Chinatown in NY better than the one in San Francisco. I know the one in Frisco is supposed to be bigger and better but I beg to differ.

I have checked out markets, vendors, eaten Dim Sum and gotten massages (torturous ones - to be expected) numerous times here and love the area. It is unbelievable what you can find. Everything from fresh produce, dried herbs and vegetables, fresh fish (and frogs and turtles), lots of bakeries and shops where you can buy Asian imports and all sorts of cookery gadgets.

We also discovered lots of bakeries in the area who sell a mix of both Asian and Western desserts. Totally random. Those sweet, chewy steamed dessert buns are so freaking good, they’ve become staples.

The grocery stores in this area are also generally cheaper than anywhere else in town. Shoot, you can buy fruits and veggies right on the street, since there are plenty of street vendors selling from their little tables or carts. Many exotic things that you would buy at a specialty or gourmet store for an arm and a leg can be picked up in Chinatown for half the price, sometimes even better. Take for example a whole pineapple. In Chinatown I saw some for $3 total, at the regular store, it’s at least twice that. Chinatown’s got the little box of tangerines or clementines for $2.99 and Trader Joe’s has them for $6.99. Obviously I want to buy everything at a bargain but being the health nut that I am, I also insist on buying organic. That’s one thing Chinatown does not do. So I have to pick and choose what I can buy non-organic and won’t lose sleep over, such as bananas and tangerines. Even if they are sprayed with pesticides, at least their thick skin protects the actual fruit and you discard it. So that’s what I’ll start buying there. In addition, I’ll probably start picking up pineapples, papayas, mangoes, fish and other seafood such as shrimp and mussels. All are great bargains and relatively safe to buy there, at least that’s my thinking.