Apple Chinese is second to Hunan

By TATIANA DELIGIANNAKIS and RITA DELFINER

November 14, 2007 -- Hold the sour - it's all sweet victory for 11 Chinese restaurants in the Big Apple. The eateries were highlighted in the fourth annual Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in USA Awards.

In the Metro Favorites category - which salutes 100 restaurants in 10 cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami - 15 winners are in New York state.

Of those, 11 are in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens - including Mr. K's Restaurant on Lexington Avenue; Shun Lee West on West 65th Street; Tian Jin Restaurant on Remsen Avenue in Brooklyn; and Hua Rong Chinese Restaurant in Elmhurst.

The voting is done anonymously by restaurant customers through a Mystery Diner program via the Web site Top100chineserestaurants.com. Respondents nominated and voted for their favorite Chinese restaurants on a variety of criteria, from food and decor to cleanliness and service.

The field of contenders was huge enough to give General Tso a headache.

"There are 43,139 Chinese restaurants in the US - that number is bigger than all the McDonalds, Wendy's and Burger Kings combined," said Grace Niwa, media consultant for Chinese Restaurant News, which organized the event.

Julie Lau, the daughter of the owner of Suzie's Restaurant on Bleecker Street, which won an award at Sunday's event held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, cooed yesterday, "I am very, oh, so grateful.

"Our most popular dish is General Tso's chicken. I have tasted it at all the other restaurants, and ours has
the best flavor," she said.

At the Grand Sichuan Eastern at 1049 Second Ave., one of the celebrated 11 in the city, cashier Annie Wong said, "We were happy to get" the award. She said their most popular dish is sliced fish with white or red sauce and served as a soup.

At the winning Mr. K's Restaurant on 570 Lexington Ave., Marcy Shurka, of Long Island, really loves the hot and sour vegetable soup.

"Today, I ate the soup. I ordered it twice," Shurka said, noting that once she ordered six servings of the same soup at one sitting.

The Golden Unicorn Restaurant on East Broadway, which also made it onto the list of winners, "is known for its dim sum and is one of the biggest Chinese restaurants in New York," said Niwa.

The contest categories, in addition to Metro Favorites, included Overall Excellence, Take-Out, Buffets,Signature Dishes, and a new addition, Nutrition-Friendly Menus.

"We're trying to encourage Chinese restaurants to provide healthier menu options," Niwa said.

                                          an extract from New York Post on November 14, 2007