Gettin’ Carried Away

Sometimes, when I read my friend Shanna’s food blog, I start craving all my favorite foods. What can I say? She makes me hungry. The other night, I got a taste for Chinese food. I ordered some from a local place near the city (Chicago, if you remember), but it just wasn’t what I was looking for. What I wanted was in New York City.

In this post I wrote last month, I talked briefly about a restaurant in Manhattan’s Chinatown called 69 on Bayard Street. It has the best Sesame Chicken I have ever tasted in my entire life. I’ve also tried the Beef with Broccoli, the Sweet and Sour Chicken and the General Tso’s chicken. But none of them hold a candle to the sweet, savory flavors of the Sesame Chicken. Couple it with some fresh broccoli and steamed white rice and you get… heaven on a plate (or a bowl if you like).

But perhaps one of the reasons I love 69 on Bayard so much is because of the experience you get while dining in the restaurant. It’s a small place, but I’d refer to it as charming, not tiny. People leave their signatures on dollar bills and tape them to the wall. I mean, you can actually leave a little “<insert your name> was here” message on the wall! It’s so amazing to see all the places people have come from… and stopped to get a bite to eat.

You get to hear (and for me… not understand) some of the locals chatting up with the 69 staff in their native language. And passers by always say a friendly hello. As I was taking pictures, one guy even asked me if I was a tourist. When I told him I used to live a few blocks away, his face lit up and he cracked a joke or two before heading out the door.

And in case you are wondering, I have eaten at other restaurants in New York City’s Chinatown neighborhood. It just so happens that 69 on Bayard Street has my heart… and my tummy.