nytimes chinese jewish restaurant union square

When I revisited the Union Square branch a few days later, the menu was vastly expanded. Shanghai wonton soupīut a shock was in store for me. Despite the hype, this bing ($9.75) was almost all noodles. It was an unexpected take on the Taiwanese classic lu rou fan, since the menu’s marquee item is advertised as shi bing tong, a roll-up of sweet potato noodles, pork, squid, tofu, and multiple vegetables in a thin pancake said to be festival food in Taizhou in the Zhejiang Province, due south of Shanghai. The thing a companion and I enjoyed the most was a beef bowl ($12.50) featuring sweet, soy-braised chunks of meat poured over a generous quantity of rice, with pickled greens and yellow pickled daikon sharing the top of the bowl. The dumplings are all made in the larger kitchen of the Lower East Side branch. While some Chinatown stalls still vend them freshly made at four for a dollar, this price didn’t seem excessive given the location. The pot stickers ($6.75 for six) were appropriately thick-skinned, a little rounder than others around town and stuffed with flavorful ground pork. Atypically, Three Times also offers espresso beverages. Three Times comes from owner Jason Zhu, a former travel agent, and chef Jennifer Yang, who has had Big Apple stints in Flushing at Yu Garden and Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao, both places renowned for their Shanghai soup dumplings.īut on my initial visit, the menu was short and doctrinaire, not much different from the usually bare-bones dumpling stall, including dumplings fried and steamed, noodles, buns, bubble tea, and a rice bowl or two.

Nytimes chinese jewish restaurant union square