Amazing 66 Restaurant, 66 Mott St., Chinatown, 212-334-0099
A few weeks ago I met a Canadian writer who was spending a month in New York researching a book on Jewish delis. You'd expect our conversation to focus on merits of, say, the Pastrami Queen versus Katz's. But the talk turned quickly to a new Chinese restaurant he stumbled on called "Amazing 66." It was so good, he said, he had eaten dinner there the last four nights in a row. What was so amazing about it?
I quickly found out when I visited soon after. There I met the owner, a woman named See Lin, a self-trained chef originally from Macau. See Lin cooks classic, deftly executed Cantonese cuisine but also offers a side menu with "chef's recommendations," like "bean curd skin with goose," "short rib beef in a pumpkin" and something called "twin rice." It's actually six kinds of rice, See Lin explained, rice that's first steamed, then sauteed with frog in a pepper sauce, and finally steamed again, this time on a lotus leaf. It was served in a square wooden tray, the flavors complex and sublime. I began to understand the return visits.
I brought my friends Reika and Jesse there last night. The place was packed with customers from the neighborhood. I watched See Lin dash between the dining room and the kitchen in the back, which was visible from our table. As she walked into the kitchen, she slipped a cotton toque over her head. In jeans, stylish grey pullover and the toque, See Lin directed her cooks behind the line. Off came the headgear when she returned to her customers.
As we were enjoying the twin rice, this time with crab and garlic, vegetables sauteed with dried squid and tiny fried fish, clams steamed with Chinese mushrooms and other outstanding dishes from the side menu, See Lin passed our table. I told her I thought the name of her place was perfect. But you know that's not the real name of my restaurant, she said. "Real" meaning the Chinese name. "It's called 'King of Kings,'" she said. "You know what that means?" I didn't. See Lin pulled aside one of her managers, a 40-something Chinese woman like her. "King of Kings?" the manager repeated the question and smiled. "The King of Kings is the queen!" She looked over to See Lin. "We're the King of Kings!"
ate here last night. had the goose with bean curd pouches, salt & pepper butterfish and a pork belly/dried squid dish. good stuff!
Posted by: Jeremy Campbell | January 11, 2007 at 09:55 AM