Home projects

[philo]

True, there is a similar designed house across the street that has siding and a nice yard where they pay more property taxes than I do.

Out interior is just as nice, but appraisers only look at the outside>

BTW: Another neighbor had some trees removed and they destroyed their fence. They have a dog so scheduled a new one to be installed. I offered to prop up the old fence just to keep their dog in. It looked like hell and I told them if they just left it, it would surely lower their property taxes.

[philo]

True

Here is the Balkan Restaurant...I see a photo I took has gone public

[Marilyn Manson]

Looks like you can get a great meal...and maybe a loan too.

What's the vig? ;-)

[philo]

<snip>

I had been passing by this place for *many* years but it was never open. One day I decided to investigate and saw this it was only open until 2pm

The Burek is a big hit an made to order, so one must get there by noon if one expects to have it.

Here is a photo I took

[rbowman]

Yeah, Thai Spicy makes a wicked funnel cake. They've also culturaly appropriated teriyaki. The pad thai is excellent but even that's a little off since the Moua family are Hmong. Still it's a lot more edible than the mess I make.

I enjoy ethnic restaurants but I'm also aware many aren't exactly dishing up mom's home cooking. We had two Indian restaurants. My favorite was owned and staffed by Indians. It went out of business. The other one where the owner and chef is Theo Smith is still going.

[gfretwell]

Sounds like "Jeff's Chinese restaurant". The food is not much like chinese food but most American "Chinese food" isn't. He still does a good business because he delivers and you get a lot for your money. I tried it once. No thanks. We do have a few real Mexican restaurants here but we also are about

28% Latino in the 2 county area..

[angelica...]

Thank God for college towns. We can get tons of ethnic food: Thai, Ethiopian, Indian, Syrian, Chinese, Korean, Tibetan, Moroccan, Jamaican, Vietnamese, Japanese, Malaysian, Israeli, Cuban, Turkish, and Mexican. Multiple restaurants for most of those.

In the 1980s we had an Afghan restaurant that I absolutely loved. But it was a little ahead of its time and only lasted a few years.

Cindy Hamilton

[Marilyn Manson]

I grew up in NYC (not Manhattan). Chinese food for us was a subway ride to Chinatown, then a stroll to one of the many back-alley, basement Chinese restaurants. No fake chandeliers with tassels, no english menus, no linen table cloths. I'm pretty sure that adherence to most health codes was optional at best.

The food was authentic and plentiful, usually served family style.

I'll always remember the huge bowl of sizzling rice soup with the big ladle being placed in the center of the table for all of us to share.

[Scott Lurndal]

Sounds like Monterey Park in SoCal or San Francisco in NoCal; back-ally dim-sum shops and family restaurants.

Sizzling rice soup with _abalone_ at the Spring Garden in Pasadena (now closed), and their hot-n-sour soup was sublime.

[rbowman]

I don't know if they'll have it this year but the University has a culture fair or whatever they call it where the kids whip up their ethnic specialties. My boss was an adviser to the Indian group but by the time I got there they were always sold out. I felt sorry for the booths that weren't attracting too many customers and give their offerings a try. Some were edible.

A Syrian food wagon has shown up lately and another with some sort of Arab cuisine. I've been trying to hunt down the Syrians. It's rumored they have lahmajoun. I grew up in an area with an Armenian community but I don't know if the Syrian version is the same.

[rbowman]

When I was working in the Boston area I liked to hit Chinatown. The wind cured duck hanging in the front windows of the butcher shops probably was pushing the health department's sense of humor. I was drawn to the bakeries in particular, mooncakes and all that good stuff.

[invalid unparseable]

Had dinner several times traveling with a Chinese coworker. He was great one night with several of us in ordering in a Chinese restaurant. It was quite a spread. Then once we went to an Italian restaurant and he wanted me to order spaghetti and he would order lasagna and we would eat like China-men splitting the dishes. I said, no.

[Scott Lurndal]

"China-men"? Your dickheadedness is showing again, Frank.

Family-style service is available in many restaurants regardless of nationality, and is particulary common in Italian restaurants.

[Marilyn Manson]

In certain parts of NYC - outside of Manhattan - there are now clusters of Asian residents that far exceed the original lower Manhattan Chinatown in both geographic size and population. I haven't been back in a while, but a walk around of some of my old stomping grounds via Google Streetview supports that.

I can't speak to the restaurants in those areas but I imagine that there is a mixture of the "American" style as well as the truly authentic ones, just like in the original Chinatown.

[rbowman]

Elmhurst and the neighboring Corona in Queens have a heavy Chinese population. You might remember that Elmhurst was also Covid Central.

[gfretwell]

My wife built 8 houses right in a cluster in her neighborhood for a bunch of Chinese folks. They had to get a special variance to the HOA rules because they all wanted the same house. They weren't supposed to put the same house next to another one like it or even directly across the street. Five million bucks or so in one nut can get people bending the rules ;)