New York is living in what’s surely just the beginning of a golden age of Chinese food. Where Chinese-American and Cantonese once reigned, diners can now sample dishes from more than a dozen regions of the country. Restaurants respond to an increasingly competitive market with newfound creations, no longer bound by tradition or American expectations of what Chinese food should be. The settings, too, are different from their predecessors, with far more focus on contemporary art, music, and furniture. They range from upscale to fast casual, meaning one can reasonably have a splurge Sichuan meal one night and a modern counter-service one the next. And many restaurateurs no longer fear alienating customers with spice levels or textures that aren’t as common in Western cooking, instead aiming to recreate the best of what’s happening in China right now.
That’s because today’s dynamic Chinese dining scene is largely driven by a surge in foreign-born Chinese people living in the city — discerning diners from varied backgrounds who are seeking a true taste of home. Between 2000 and 2015, the population of Chinese immigrants in New York grew by nearly 50 percent. In that group, a highly influential crew of Chinese students is both fueling demand for more stylish restaurants and opening them, in the East Village and in Flushing.
It’s a robust restaurant ecosystem, but one where some of the most popular restaurants don’t break through to New York dining obsessives who can’t read Chinese. As reporter Shen Lu finds, many of these businesses don’t need to care about Yelp, Instagram, or English-language media and reviews. They’re packed anyway, mostly with young people who are instead tuned into food influencers on China’s social media behemoth WeChat.
For a Chinese-food fanatic who doesn’t read Chinese, it can induce a big case of FOMO, a fear of missing out on the best Chinese restaurants in New York. But in this guide, Eater NY is exploring all the factors shaping the cuisine in New York right now — and, of course, offering guidance on where to eat and how to navigate the scene, with nods to both the new wave and the best of the old-timers. Chinese food has been an integral part of New York’s cultural fabric for decades, but it has truly never been better than this. — Serena Dai
Edited by Serena Dai
Contributors: Robert Sietsema, Stefanie Tuder, Carla Vianna, Ryan Sutton, Shen Lu, Tony Lin, Pelin Keskin, Patty Diez
Copy editors: Emma Alpern, Yanyan Tang
Fact-checkers: Shen Lu, Jennifer Geddes, Dawn Mobley
Art direction: Brittany Holloway-Brown
Engagement: Milly McGuinness, Adam Moussa
Editorial assistance: James Park
