Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
The neighborhood has temporarily lost two reasonably priced quick-serve Chinese restaurants this year — A&C Kitchen on Avenue C after a fire in the courtyard and Asian Taste on Third and B due to a gas shutoff in the building.
In addition, New Double Dragon closed on First Avenue with the pending demolition of a three-building parcel.
Previously, we saw the closure of New Chinatown Restaurant on Avenue D and China Town Restaurant on Houston.
So it seems like there aren’t as many options for pork fried rice, sesame chicken and beef with broccoli these days.
So, we decided to take inventory. I recruited local Chinese food enthusiast Josh Davis (an EVG contributor under the name jdx) to help me visit the remaining old-school East Village options.
Here's our list. (Have we left any out? And note: We stayed between Houston and 16th Street, Avenue D to Third Avenue.)
• Chen's Express Kitchen: 223 E. 14th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue
(Menu here)
• Baji Baji: 145 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street
While we miss some mid-2000s casualties like Bamboo House and Jade Mountain, a decent variety of restaurants remain. (Instagram account here)
(Website here)
• Mee Noodle: 223 First Ave, between 13th Street and 14th Street
(Yelp info here)
• No 1 Kitchen: 265 First Ave. between 15th Street and 16th Street
Let us know in the comments if you have a favorite from this list...