I’m a big fan of Xi’an Famous Foods, so I was excited when they opened a full, sit-down restaurant in Flushing: Biang! The name is supposedly derived from the sound that the noodle dough makes as it is slammed against the counter while being worked, and make no mistake: the noodles are good. But I like to think that the exclamation point at the end of the name refers to the bold, bright flavors that characterize the best dishes at Biang! In fact the few dishes we didn’t enjoy were the ones lacking that bright, exclamatory punch. For an example of what Biang! does right, take the bao’ji mung bean jelly pictured above. Served cold, the mung bean jelly is cut into noodley strips and sits soaking in a bath of soy and vinegar. It’s a wake-up call to the palate, impossible to ignore (and nearly as impossible to stop eating).

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Plenty has been written about Fu Run, in Queens, particularly about specialties like their Muslim Lamb Chop and the Taro dessert. One thing I hadn’t heard much about was their vegetarian food, and so on a recent visit with several of our friends we ordered a ton of food (see the photo above for partial proof), and a lot of it was vegetarian. Perhaps more importantly, most of it was fantastic, and much different than what you’d get at Americanized Chinese restaurants. Take for example the dish of greens you see above. Known as Tiger Vegetable, it’s an apparently simple salad comprised mainly of cilantro. But it’s actually far more complex than it seems, and quite refreshing — there’s sesame oil, vinegar, and scallions, but I’m not sure what else.

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Donny: Flushing in Queens, to many, seems like a legend, a myth, a food oasis. Maybe because it’s so freakin far out in freakin Queens that no one really want to be bothered with the train ride. That is certainly my main reason for not going to Flushing as often as I want. On a good day it’ll take me about an hour to get out there from Brooklyn.

My last trek out to Flushing was the Summer of 2008. And 3 years later I thought, “hey what the heck, let’s go check out Flushing!” and also Mr.Howard here has never been.

Howard: Yes, so we’ve been taking about going to Flushing for about three years now, but it was the news that Flushing Mall may be turned into a parking lot that spurred us to actually make the trip. I was concerned about finding vegetarian food, though Donny assured me that wouldn’t be a problem. (Donny: I did?!)

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