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Picture: San Wei
I’m all the time completely happy to take credit score for locating a brand new restaurant by means of hard-won reporting strategies like canvassing a neighborhood in unhealthy climate, scanning social media for hours, and beginning impromptu conversations with a whole lot of strangers. However typically, an excellent spot simply will get handed to me, as was the case with San Wei, which I realized about when a pal texted me a photograph of a food-court Chinese language stall promoting — between a plate of garnished dumplings and Coca-Cola rooster on rice — a copiously heaped rectangular sandwich, beneath which was written “finest pastrami on the town.”
Given the incongruity of the folks making it, this declare required instant scrutiny. I satisfied some associates to drive me over in alternate for pastrami and Chinese language meals. One among them assumed we had been headed to a Chinese language “mall,” à la New World in Flushing, a good conclusion primarily based on my description and what number of occasions we now have executed that previously. However San Wei is positioned at Queens Middle in Elmhurst, which is as near a stereotypical suburban mall as you will get with out taking a ferry. There’s a JCPenney, an Aldo, and, on the backside of the escalator, previous the conveyor-belt sushi, a real American meals courtroom anchored by a Chipotle, a Chick-fil-A, and a KFC. Of their firm lies the independently owned Burmese Bites and, as of two months in the past, San Wei.
On a latest Saturday afternoon, the ground was swarmed with folks in seats and ready in lengthy strains in entrance of the cheesesteaks and fried rooster. At San Wei, issues had been quieter and an obtainable worker supplied to assist us make our choice. Pastrami on rye was a given, however the remainder of the menu required extra consideration. I didn’t even know in regards to the ramen, as an example. After a lot deliberation, I ordered — along with the half-pound sandwich — the San Wei noodles, Chongqing noodles, Coca-Cola rooster, and a few pastrami bao.
Once I began asking questions in regards to the origin of the pastrami fusion menu, the cashier directed me to a person engaged on the road who turned out to be the proprietor. Whereas he forked a brisket out of one of many steam trays and deposited it on the chopping board, he advised me they don’t truly make it from scratch, revealing solely that it comes from “a 3rd occasion.” Once I requested why a Chinese language restaurant would open with pastrami as certainly one of its core proteins (it’s additionally served reduce into cubes on rice), he replied, “I don’t actually consider this as a Chinese language restaurant,” pointing to the images of ramen and saying he added further cuisines as a result of he felt he may do them justice. “I identical to to prepare dinner what is sweet.” As he reduce dark-barked slices with a easy sawing movement, one other chef was expertly slapping and stretching noodles on the desk behind.
As soon as the meals landed, the pastrami did one thing I may need thought not possible: It overshadowed a number of bowls of noodles. The rye bread was delicate, barely toasted, squirted with spicy brown mustard, whereas the portion of thickly sliced meat was sufficient to weigh it down within the heart. It had the salty, peppery kick you’d count on however was leaner — and thus much less tender — than the melting pattern slices Katz’s cutters hand out whereas getting ready sandwiches. I wish to let you know this was the very best pastrami I’ve ever eaten, however I can’t. “It’s pretty much as good as what they serve on the Mets’ stadium,” my pal stated precisely.
However each bowls of noodles had been glorious: The thick, flat hand-pulled San Wei noodles had been tangled with egg and fatty pork in a numbing tomato broth. The skinny noodles had been one other hit, spicy and peppery broth with a slick of crimson oil and nothing else.
The largest shock of the day was the pastrami bao, cubed meat in steamed buns with a squiggle of mustard and chile crisp on high. They had been excellent: zingy mustard and assertive chile oil balanced by the delicate, candy mitten of white bread holding the whole lot collectively. The buns had been simply the best dimension for anybody who desires a style of pastrami with out committing to a full, nap-inducing sandwich.
The proprietor, who was completely happy to speak on the store however didn’t return any of my follow-up messages, has additional ambitions for San Wei. He advised me throughout our speak that he has been creating a churro recipe and desires so as to add shrimp Alfredo to his menu subsequent. I recommended he strive making it along with his store’s hand-pulled noodles, and he nodded in settlement.
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