A square meal in Chinatown: Big Wong and Chinatown Ice Cream Factory

Did I say I was sick of Asian food? Obviously a temporary respite was all I needed, because I found myself in Chinatown's Big Wong with MH a few days later, about to dive into a giant plate of beef chow fun. You could fry a whole second meal in the oil that puddles under these noodles, but I love chow fun all the same. It's definitely one of my favorite junky indulgences; I just have to keep those indulgences at "occasional" and not "frequent."

We also got a side of veggies, the "steamed seasonal vegetables w. oyster sauce" for $3.75. The funny part was, after we ordered we tried not once but twice to change our request—we wanted a different type of veg, which at $7.50 actually cost more—but both times we were told in no uncertain terms that we'd be better off getting the dish we'd originally asked for. "Too big, too much vegetable," was the general message from both our waitress and a manager. They were each so insistent that MH and I just laughed and went with it. Oh, the joys of Chinatown!

We followed our meal with another joy of Chinatown: the Ice Cream Factory. I'd never been impressed with their popular green tea, red bean, almond cookie, or black sesame flavors—I always found that they all tasted too much like basic vanilla—but this time I got a combination of lychee sorbet and mango-papaya sorbet, and I thought they were awesome. Like the cilantro-lime sorbetti I'd had in Philadelphia, both were wonderfully fruity and refreshing. I know now that while I quickly get sick of ice cream or creamy gelatos, sorbets are a sure way to rock my world.