Fei Ma returns with a takeout window

Fei Ma reopened this afternoon here on Avenue A at Fifth Street.

As you can see, they built a takeout window for quick pickup service (call ahead!). They'll be open daily from 11 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m. You can find their reasonably priced menu here.

Hopefully, some of the neighborhood's other quick-serve Chinese restaurants will also reopen. (It hasn't been easy.)

H/T Paul Gale!

Is a Chinese restaurant opening at NYU's Broadway Windows?

Just noticed this over on Broadway at East 10th Street... where there's paper in the windows at Broadway Windows, one of two NYU Steinhardt Windows Galleries ...



This sign is taped to the inside of the window...



The most recent exhibit, Stars on Broadway!, closed on Feb. 2.

So. Is this simply some kind of off-beat attempt at announcing the next exhibit? Or, is a Chinese restaurant really opening here? (And there are Ping's Seafood locations in Chinatown and Queens.)

We'll update as soon as we hear back from someone at Steinhardt.

Caller No. 12, you're on the blog: More about Chinese takeout/delivery

Several people thanked us (for some reason!) for our Chinese delivery/takeout post from Friday... Well, thank you for everyone who left a comment — 41 in total, including the person who chastised us for ending our headline with a preposition. Woo. (Read the post here.)

EV Grieve reader LesMis asked if we could drill a little deeper... Sure. What the hell. We take requests.

Per LesMis: "I love good old fashioned New York Chinese food, just like I ate as a kid. Sure, I like the fusion, the exotic, the healthy, the Thai-masquerading-as-Chinese and even the Sushi joint-afterthought-for-people-who-don't-eat-sushi-but-got-outvoted-by-the-group varieties. But sometimes, I just get a hankering for the now unfashionable and often ridiculed basic dishes. Chop Suey, Chow Mein and Lo Mein rule."

So basically, he's looking for a low-brow menu with some standards and specifications:

• Folding cardboard containers.

• High standards of hygiene and food protection.

• High quality (fresh oil, vegetables and meat well-prepared classic style)

As a guide, two of his favorite places for this fare are Charlie Mom on Sixth Avenue between 11th Street and 12th Street ... and Cottage on Irving Place and 16th Street. But a little closer to our neighborhood.

OK then. Uh, anyone?

So where do you order Chinese food from?

OK, so not the most pressing social issue. A diversion nonetheless. In any event, several readers — via email or the comments — have asked for recommendations for Chinese takeout/delivery. This question came up in the comments here ... and here ...

Seems like a lot of favorites have closed through the years. Like Mee's Noodle Shop and Grill on First Avenue. I liked Bamboo House on Second Avenue at Sixth Street. Until it closed about, what, five, six years ago?

China Town on Houston was OK the few times that I tried it... (Remember a few years ago when the 'N' fell off — China Tow?)

What about Happy Wok on Avenue C? The DOH recently paid them a visit. (Violations included "Duties of an officer of the Department interfered with or obstructed.") Let's just say that they're back open (only 4 violation points now!) ...

OK, we're ready for some Ma Po Tou Fu...

Hot Kitchen now open on Second Avenue

Hot Kitchen opened Thursday at 104 Second Ave. near Sixth Street. (The owners received the OK from the CB3/SLA in August to serve beer and wine with their Chinese cuisine...)

It seems like a nice, normal restaurant...

Nothing artisanal featuring tea seed oil from a grove of Camellia oleifera trees brought in daily from the southern Zhejiang province, the seeds of which are hand-pressed in the back room ... Uh, anyway, the food is pretty tasty — we got a few vegetable and rice dishes ... and there are more adventurous dishes on the menu, like "dry sauteed pig intestine with red chili" ($14) or "steamed fish head with minced pickle pepper" ($21).

Here is a quick look at part of the menu...

...delivery service starts next week ... so until then...