Mission Chinese Food 1 – Ziggy 0

A short but sweet review on one of the hottest new restaurants in NYC.  If you haven’t heard of Mission Chinese food you either live under a rock or in Staten Island.  Sorry for the Iphone photos

Getting there at 12:30 pm proved to be a perfect time – No Meshugenah line.  While looking at the menu I was eyeing no less than 8 dishes for myself and my companion, The Hummus Whisperer, but settled on 6, still much to the dismay of the bartender who assured us we’ll be leaving with a hefty number of doggy bags.  Ha!  The joke is on him I’m thinking.  He doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.

I asked the bartender as I was giving him our orders if he can somehow arrange it so we could get the dishes in their proper order, from mild to intense as some of the dishes can be so intense they can burst your palates.  He said in a very polite way, No!  “They will come in a furious pace..Bla bla, bla” whatever.  Next time I will simply order the mild ones first and later will order the rest.  Here’s what we had in the order of arrival…

Cumin Lamb – Wasn’t too crazy about this one.  The lamb was way over spiced to my taste.  I understand its called Cumin lamb, but it still needs to taste good and it wasn’t.  And way too salty

Mapo Tofu – This is it.  Now I get it.  A flavor festival.  Like a beautiful Tofu with thos melt in your mouth tender Pork Shoulder spice de jour soup.  Delicious, but palates are starting to burst

Chongqing Chicken Wings – Palates burst.  After one, just one chicken wing, and that Tofu I needed to take a break.  Those wings were super spiced and very intense.

Thrice cooked bacon – I don’t know what to think about this one.  It came with those “I cant believe its not potatoes Rice cakes” and after having a few of those at this point I started to wonder where the explosiveness is coming from.  This was not one of my favorite dishes.  Maybe they need to cook the bacon a 4th time.

Kung Pao Pastrami – My favorite dish and the best Kung Pao I ever had.  They make their own pastrami, not from Katz’s as the rumor was.  Very juicy and flavorful Pastrami cubes and the entire dish really worked

Salt Cod Fried Rice – Very good but why are we getting the mildest dish last.  Loved the tiny Chinese sausage bits.

This was a defeat like I never experienced.  We couldn’t even finish the 6 chicken wings.  My request for milk from the bartender resulted with just a grin.  No, I’m serious, I want Milk.  Whatever! I’ll be back for a rematch now that I know what to order and how to order it.  I’m outta here.  With the doggy bags!