Natchez and discovering Elmhurst

Went to Natchez for dinner for the second time this past Friday. Showed up around 7pm this time and it was much less crowded and the ambience was much more pleasant. The first time we were there for Amy's law school friend's b-day, we didn't get seated until about 9pm and it was packed and loud. The small dining room actually felt quaint this time. We sat by the window, it was still light out, and the room felt pleasant and we were able to talk comfortably. I tried the gumbo this time. Very good but it had quite a kick, so I was dripping sweat. We also shared bbq shrimp for a starter and the shrimp tasted fresh and were covered by a sweet and zesty sauce. The sauce was so good we were sopping it up with bread. Like last time, I ordered the pork chops and Amy ordered the fish. My favorite part of my entree was the corn and orzo side that came with the pork chops. It was not described as such in the menu, but big chunks of shrimp was generously mixed in with the corn and orzo, which made for a rich tasty side that could almost be a meal to itself. I was very impressed by the oyster po'boy my sister ordered. It had a mild bbq sauce in it rather than the thousand island style sauce. The oysters were not over greasy and the bread was softer and less crusty than with the usual po'boy. Overall, it made for a less messy sandwich and also tasted lighter.

Going back to Natchez, I was reminded of my expert insect extermination skills the last time we went. There was a big cockroach running along the wall behind where I was sitting. I wasn't sure what to do at first, but I decided it was too big to let it run loose, so I took my cloth napkin and snatched it up. Then I handed the napkin to the waitress and said, "I killed a cockroach with this." The waitress seemed a bit surprised and just said "Oh, thanks!" I just hope she really was surprised because I do reallly like the food there and want to keep going back.

Amy and I went to eat in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens this past Sunday. We were meeting up with our friends visiting from out of town. We actually regularly go to Elmhurst to shop at a chinese grocery store there after church on Sundays, but typically we eat lunch at church and then go shopping, so we never had opportunities to sample the restaurants in the area. I think most people consider Elmhurst to be the "third" Chinatown, behind the one in Manhattan and the one in Flushing. I would agree with that in the sense that it is not nearly as big as the other two, but the great thing is that it is not nearly as crowded either. We went to a restaurant called King 5 specializing in Taiwanese beef soup noodles. We ordered various types of soup noodles and Amy ordered her usual Taiwanese fried pork chop over rice. All of the stuff we ordered were very authentic. In particular, the noodles tasted like they were made from scratch and Amy's pork chop rice came with the soy sauce hard-boiled egg and salty ground pork like it should. We also found out that there was a restaurant in the area that specialized in Taiwanese dishes including some of my favorites such as oyster pancake and smelly tofu. From now on, we will look to sample the restaurants in the area by picking up some dishes to supplement dinner before heading home.

We were in fact planning on going to Joe's Shanghai in Elmhurst. We found out that it had been closed, probably b/c it wasn't doing as good business as the other locations. So I still haven't had the soup dumplings at Joe's Shanghai. I wonder how impressed I would be though since I've tried them at lots of places and they all taste about the same to me.

Natchez
31 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10003
(212) 460-9171

King Five Noodles
82-39 Broadway
Elmhurst, NY 11373
(718) 205-7888