Spicy Village – Lower East Side/Chinatown Manhattan
It’s unfair that the cuisine of China tends to get grouped into one category, Chinese Food or at best, one of the three regions that are the most popular (Hunan, Szechuan, Cantonese). Look at any menu from a typical Chinese take out restaurant, and you’ll probably find some combination of those three styles/regions. Luckily in New York, we have incredible diversity when it comes to recent immigrants from China, and with a little research and an open mind, you can enjoy the popular cuisine of lesser known regions of China. Spicy Village at 68B Forsyth St. on the Lower East Side serves Henan (not to be confused with Hunan) style food. A staple with many of the dishes served at this small restaurant is Hui mei, which are hand pulled home made wide noodles. You’ll find a lot of food shops and restaurants in this neighborhood make hand pulled noodles, but these are a bit wider than many of the other places that tend to serve Fujian style food (more on Fujian cuisine on a different post). My favorite dish at Spicy Village is the spicy chicken with hui mei. There is a larger version called “big tray of spicy chicken” but oddly, you have to order the noodles (hui mei) separately. The pancakes are another popular item (beef, pork or egg), and they also feature Henan style soups. The soups are good (I’ve had the Lamb and the Brisket), but the real winner is the spicy chicken hui mei. Their process of marinating the chicken gives it a dark shade, looking more like beef than chicken. The end result is mouth watering, and packs flavors I’ve never had before. One thing to note, the chicken pieces are mostly boneless, but not entirely. The bones don’t exactly hide, and it’s not at all an issue for me, but it’s worth mentioning.
Quick History: The 5000 year old land-locked Henan province is hailed as the birthplace of Chinese civilization, with many of it’s signature dishes rooted in royalty from long-lived dynasties throughout it’s rich history. The method of hand pulling the noodles dates back to a dish invented over a century ago by Empress Dowager Cixi’s chef who dressed a whole fish with these wide noodles acting like a blanket for the “sleeping fish” as the Empress described it. Henan cuisine is noted for being very seasonal, relying on fresh ingredients.
Spicy Village, 68B Forsyth St, New York, NY 10002
