New York Chinese

Ever have too much rich French food at La Belle Vie, then wake up at 5 a.m. to drink Italian coffee from your Italian espresso maker with your Irish oatmeal and wonder where all the Swedish smorgasbords went and how come there are sushi restaurants on every corner? Only in America, right?

Want a trip back to the smorgasboard era? Consider the patch in our culinary quilt that is New York Chinese, owned by Matshan Li, who moved to Minnesota to help a friend after toiling in Manhattan’s Chinatown for fifteen years.

Li’s food is not exactly Chinese in the way expatriate New Yorkers pine for, but you still will find the best house fried rice this side of Canal Street—it will envelop your mouth with chicken goodness and that authentic kissed-by-the-wok flavor. Or how about fried dumplings filled with silky pork and scallions? Try the gooey, shrimpy, egg foo young—that blazed the evolutionary food trail that leads to Eat Street. It was conceived in the good old USA, just like corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day, deep dish pizza, and Taco John’s Potato Olés. Olé!

Whatever you order, add “in bed” to the fortune cookie’s portend. Some traditions must be preserved (in bed). There’re a few tables for lunch, but most everyone does takeout. 

843 Sibley Memorial Hwy. (Hwy. 13), St. Paul, 651-451-0358