this one time, when we were newly married and living the crazy life in brooklyn, brandon took me to a dumpling place in chinatown on a date.
i couldn't really tell if he knew where he was going ahead of time or if he just happened on a place and claimed it was on purpose, but there it was, this hole in the wall on a side street in chinatown that he claimed his friend recommended to him, and so we ate there and it was really pretty amazing and we decided we'd come back again very soon.
and i'm pretty sure--although not entirely positive--that the next time when we tried to find that place again with some friends that we may have actually gone to a different dumpling place on accident, thinking it was the same place, and just pretended it was definitely the same place, just to save face.
it's likely because those kinds of things happen all the time to us.
anyway, the moral of the story is, on saturday we decided to take some friends back down to chinatown for dumplings at our dumpling place that is maybe our dumpling place but at this point who can really be certain?
we set off downtown with all sorts of determination on our faces. once we got to chinatown we let the spirit take over. "i think it was this way?"
"does this feel right to you?"
and then when we maybe found our dumpling place and we went inside to see if it really was our dumpling place, and then it turns out--it really WAS our dumpling place! it was kind of exciting and unexpected.
our dumpling place is called--wait for it--EXCELLENT DUMPLINGS. for once i made it a point to remember the name of it.
and now! some photos of chinatown, all gritty and dirty in just the perfect kind of way.
you're wanting the good fakes in chinatown? they're in the black plastic bags, like in the photo above. ask to see what's at the bottom. i mean.... not that i buy fakes anymore. but i used to, and i was a PRO. :)
huck's new face. it's sort of my favorite.
it's excellent!
and it's on lafayette.
I laughed soo hard at the look on Huck's face. Perhaps his sanitation rating was more like a c minus?? Maybe you should have a caption naming contest. He is just too cute!
ReplyDeleteHIS FACE WITH THE CHOPSTICKS!!!!!
ReplyDeleteomg that face! Same face I'd be making if I got to pretend chopsticks were drumsticks, too!
ReplyDeleteoh my gosh!!! Huck's new face is hilarious!!!! so cute!
ReplyDeleteWe ate at Betos last night, which has to be a b (or worse) in sanitation, but the food was so good ... Maybe why the drive through line was so long?? Anyway, I would probably eat at Excellent Dumplings. At least once.
ReplyDeleteah Huck's face!! Hilarious!!
ReplyDeletemy hubs and i have the same "our" coffee shop when we visit portland once a year. we wander around and say "was it THIS street?" until we find it again :)
ReplyDeletehaha huck's face is so cute. such a simple name to be forgotten haha... the B doesn't scare me! I would try it if I were near!
ReplyDeleteThe photos of your son are incredibly adorable! That caption is hilarious.
ReplyDeleteSome great photos of Chinatown, another place on my NYC visit wishlist that you just keep adding to!
http://cupcakesandcalamity.blogspot.co.uk/
http://deadlinesanddamsels.blogspot.co.uk/
My husband and I used to eat there all the time on his lunch break when he was working for the Blue Man Group ( just a couple streets over on Broadway and Canal)! And to think all that time it had a "B". Oh I miss New York!
ReplyDeletesuch a sweet post. Loved it. :)
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Monterey Park, CA (still live there) which is basically China, and if anyone knows I know B for a really excellent chinese restaurant stand for BEST!
ReplyDeleteLove your blog and all your posts. They literally make me LOL!
-Sonya
agrayrainbow.blogspot.com
Ha! Huck has the perfect De Niro face, such a city kid! Love it!
ReplyDeleteomg Huck. I can't take the cuteness!! My boyfriend does that sometimes. He'll get recommendations for places from friends with the least amount of details possible and will take me on a wild goose chase to find said place, who knows if we're on time or late if it's an event, and who knows if we'll know how to get home from there. It used to irk me but now I think of it as an adventure that could last all night. At least i'm not the one driving!
ReplyDeleteOh, huckeronious. He's so CUTE!
ReplyDeleteMy friends say that the dirty the asian food place the closer to Godliness is the food - just like the street food in Asia. They'd eat here even if it had a Z rating...or probably because of the Z rating. I love NYCs Chinatown (we have a pretty good one in Sydney, Australia too).
ReplyDeletehaha i love huck's face as well. i don't know why but he reminds me of macaulay culkin in home alone. do you see? or am i just crazy?
ReplyDeletethe mini snowglobe makes another appearance! love it.
ReplyDeleteHuck makes the most excellent faces :)
ReplyDeletethat FACE! that SNOWGLOBE!
ReplyDeleteNext time you are in the area and just want some quick, cheap, fried dumplings, check out this hole in the wall closet-sized place on Mosco street near Columbus park. 5 dumplings for $1!! Craziness, right?! Bring your own siracha and soy sauce tho, they water it down :P
ReplyDeletethe first thing i taught my niece and nephew were how to use chopsticks as walrus tusks. Now they do it with everything - pens, popsicle sticks, straws.
ReplyDeleteCase and point: http://jacpfef.blogspot.com/2010/12/bean.html
Huck needs to learn.
Hahahaha!!! that face is too cuteee! Children make the funniest and most adorable faces :)
ReplyDelete很好吃！
ReplyDeletewww.hedgehogchronicle.com
i think of it like flying in a plane...you just can't think about the risks ;)
ReplyDeleteand bucks new face? AAAAmaze! i also throughly enjoy that a snow globe is his entertainment....
mylettchronicals
Just like I remember Chinatown...dirty, crowded, slightly frightening, slightly awe-inspiring with all the STUFF the little women try to get you buy. And I love, love, love that cute little, stuffy-English-like face of Huck. It's like he's Thurston Howell III, talking to Lovey in that voice of his, "Yes, Dahling. While they aren't so clean, they do make a scrumptious dumpling, now don't they?"
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! His face is to way too cute! I love all his facial expressions. You are a lucky mama!
ReplyDeletei love china town in london but when we were in new york we didn't spend that long looking round china town, probably because it was absolutely freezing and i thought my hands were going to drop off.
ReplyDeletebut next time i will explore it more and even make a trip to excellent dumplings, b sanitation and all.
i'm learning chinese right now, so basically i should pretty much go to there.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.everywhimandnotion.com
oh gosh, all of huck's little faces are to die for! precious!
ReplyDeletexo TJ
Ok, have you seen "How I Met Your Mother". They have an episode where they are desperately trying to find their burger place and can't. Your post sounded exactly like it. YOu NEED to watch that episode.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.buddytv.com/articles/how-i-met-your-mother/how-i-met-your-mother-episode-23210.aspx
ReplyDeleteJust in case...it's a must see.
haha hilarious! I can't wait to try out little places like this when we visit New York this Thanksgiving! Love little places with stories like this.
ReplyDeleteThere's no way it compares to Vanessa's Dumpling House. Nowhere compares to Vanessa's Dumpling House.
ReplyDeleteAww, look at his face. He is such a cutie patootie!
ReplyDeleteYou have such a way with capturing his faces! He must get that cuteness from you! Such a sweet family.
ReplyDeleteThe first picture is amazing. It has such depth.
ReplyDeleteI love kids with chopsticks! So cute! He looks like he's really enjoying his food!
ReplyDeleteTheresa
http://bomamma.blogspot.com
My office is right around the corner, but I've never worked up the courage to check this place out. Now it's on zee list! And the B is a point of pride for a Chinatown joint, I think.
ReplyDeletehahaha Love that he insisted on bringing the snow globe.
ReplyDeleteI love how you said "save face" in a post about dumplings. That's something Chinese people say all the time! Also, as a Chinese person, a B rating only means good food! If it's an A, then we know it's not authentic.
ReplyDeleteJust discovered your blog, I love it!! Your little boy is a cutie :) x
ReplyDelete