I HAVEN’T rooted for The Knicks in the post-Patrick era, but now that we’re in the post-Willis era I might come around. Despite still having an owner who’s the NBA’s version of Daniel Snyder. The only exception to these lost decades of professional hoops purgatory were the 26 games that Jeremy Lin played for the Knicks in 2012. In my opinion this stretch was the most exciting period of the 21st century in the NBA. Which brings us to Chinese Sauerkraut Fish.
Yes, that triple-word mash-up is correct, and happens to be both a culinary delicacy and the name of a restaurant that has just opened in LIC. As described on the WWW: Suan Cai Yu can be translated as “hot and sour fish with pickled mustard greens”. The fish is thinly sliced and poached in a rich broth made from chicken stock, fish stock, and Sichuan pickles.
Located at 27-17 42nd Rd in Queens Plaza, the restaurant specializes in hearty bowls of fish or meat in different flavored broth options with various accompaniments and differing levels of spiciness.
Anyway the official name is Nai Brothers Chinese Sauerkraut Fish and it looks to be part of yet another local casual mini-chain based out of Flushing. With its arrival, given the high degree of specialization, I feel like Long Island City has really come into its own when it comes to being a hub of Asian cuisine. And just like the arrival of Jeremy Lin to NYC, that evolution is FANtastic!
//IN the equilibrium department – one opens, one closes, and this time Communitea appears to have closed for good. Originally located on Vernon Boulevard, it closed in 2014 after a rent hike and re-opened a year later on the considerably less trafficked 46th Road, despite having a top-5 LICtalk vegetarian menu item.
//LIVE at Culture Lab opens this Saturday, May 6. LIC’s free music series begins cranking this weekend. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes less so, but sometimes it’s awesome. That’s live music. Best of all it’s free, so you can wander in for a beer, check out the tunes, then wander out, or stay for another. And maybe another, you never know.
The line-up is linked to below, but I’m going to highlight two bands coming shortly. Martin Kelley and Affinity at 5pm on Sunday, whose namesake is a longtime LIC-based musician (and father). I’ve caught him in various local haunts over the years, including practicing out of his apartment window, and every time I do I always think to myself ‘What a wonderful world.’
On Sunday, May 14 the Robert Whaley 5 go on at 7pm. I first encountered Whaley and his band The Niagaras in the early 90’s at their main stomping ground the Ludlow Street Cafe, and was so taken aback by his performance …that I would catch them numerous times over the decade. Aptly described in the Culture Lab preview as “a dash of Herb Alpert, a pinch of David Bowie, and a handful of Andy Kaufman – Whaley turns things into an experience that always generates amazing word of mouth,” check him out.
// THE Chocolate Factory is throwing a Block Party and Open House on Sunday, May 14 from 12pm – 4pm to introduce themselves to their neighbors and to introduce their neighbors to the new CF home. Entertainment, hot dogs, popcorn and drinks. Come one, come all, just don’t try the gum.
Nai Brothers Chinese Sauerkraut Fish – Warning: do not look at website when hungry
Culture Lab Calendar – live music is better
This Was Ludlow Street – ahh the memories
The City’s Newest Cocktail Bar Is Hiding In The Back of a Taiwanese Snack Shop – Speakeasy 929 behind ‘Gulp’ in Queensboro Plaza, which we mentioned recently
JLL Arranges $350 Million Capitalization For The Construction of Trophy Residential Tower in LIC – banking crisis, what banking crisis?
[…] can hint it, they can say it, either way it’s out there: LIC is the new Chinatown according to Mahira […]