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We all know that NYC has a growth-hormone spurt of mega-Asian restaurants, especially below 23rd Street. We also know that these huge temples of food aren't exactly authentic. I mean, how many ninjas in history would have served food, rather than your head on a platter? But the review today in the New York Times of Buddakan had me thinking: lots of these restaurant reviewers and their hangers-on don't really know squat about Chinese food, other than the glutinous American modified cornstarch stuff that comes in those wax-coated boxes. The sort of stuff that Miranda on Sex & The City would order via speed-dial, you know, the beef-with-broccoli. The sort of stuff that my lady friend from Qingdao (who works at a Chinese restaurant downtown) giggles about whenever we discuss it.
We just don't know much here about Chinese food, the real foods actually eaten in China.
So reviewer Frank Bruni talks about mao poe tofu as a crazy, addictive thing. Our friends at Curbed rendered it as mae poe tofu. Well you pinyin lovers, if you ever went to pockmarked Grandma Chen's ma po do fu canteen in Chengdu—it is said to be the place where this famous dish came from—you'd know a thing or two about the harmonious flavors that make it so tasty. (Ack, it has lots of the dreaded MSG, the bane of every Upper West Sider's existence. The very thought of which gives every Upper West Sider a headache!) He writes: Cubes of silky bean curd act as crucial moments of calm in a wet, fiery mix of garlic, Thai chili peppers and, well, minced pork. And, well, your newspaper totally overuses this construction of ,well, and indeed, the integral component of ma po do fu is ,well, pork! Our friend continues: If you want tofu to bust loose like this, you have to give it meat as well as heat. Well that is true. And if you ever go to pockmarked Grandma Chen's canteen in Chengdu—which was placed over a decade ago on the list of most historic restaurants in China—you'll find it takes approximately five mouthfuls of rice to counteract the fierce heat of every bite of her mapo tofu. After lunch there, you could go to the Wolong panda reserve and watch the pandas eat bamboo.
Anyhow, from the picture that accompanies the article, you get the idea it's mostly fake. In other words, those who really enjoy the great Chinese restaurants of Flushing probably won't be seen at Buddakan any time soon. Enough said!
photo (c) John Lei for The New York Times
Tags:
buddakan, frank bruni, new york times, restaurant review, tofu
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Posted on 5/3/2006
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