July 28, 2005
Red Chopsticks
This is yet another in a series of queued-up restaurant posts. I think it was two months ago I ate at Red Chopsticks in Flushing with my friend Ben and his visiting friend from Pittsburg. I've seen this restaurant several times in my wanderings there, and it was always full, which is a good sign. The food was Cantonese in style, with an emphasis on fresh seafood.
We ordered a variety of dishes. As a vegetable we had Si Gua, or Chinese Okra as it is called. I almost always like this vegetable, and this time was no exception. It is sweet and slightly crunchy, which was a good contrast to some of the saltier, tangier dishes we tried.
A specialty of Red Chopsticks was the sticky rice in bamboo. There were several kinds, we got the plain sticky rice, which was delicious. And, as you can see, quite elegantly served.
We also got one of the unusual dishes on the menu, basil snails. The snails were out of the shell, which is the first time I've had snails like that. They had a semi-crunchy, semi-chewy texture, not unlike conch. The dish was surprisingly spicy. Not overwhelmingly so, but more than I would have guessed.
Also slightly unusual was the dish with stir-fried deep-fried anchovies with peanuts. A bit salty, as you might expect. However, it was full of flavor, and had a great chewy texture. This would be good bar food, I think. The most amazing thing about it was contemplating how many creatures actually had to die just to give us an appetizer.
All in all, a very good meal. I'd say this is the best Cantonese-style food I've had in New York, although that isn't saying much. The Cantonese offerings here are fairly limited in comparison to San Francisco. However, this place is good on it's own merits, regardless of location. Keeping in mind that I didn't have any of the fresh seafood that they specialize in, for what I had I'd say that it is perhaps not great, but it certainly was good.