We had a half day at work today, and I left to meet up with my sister (Stacey) and her boyfriend (Shane) for lunch in Chinatown. As I mentioned, the two of them are here to see Umphrey’s McGee at The Vic. What I didn’t know was that they had first seen this band when they were newcomers, around 1998, playing at a small venue called "The Vogue" in Indianapolis. I guess Shane met the guys in the band, became friends with them, and has followed them ever since. Now, they’ve sold out the Vic two New Year’s Eves in a row, and are supposedly on their way up. To top things off, just as they’re about to break things big… the drummer has decided to leave, to finally pursue his lifelong dream of attending medical school. Apparently, tonight is his last show with the band.
To make a long story short [tim curry] It’s a bit late for that! [/tim curry], they’re in town. We met right across the street from the Statue Garden, at the front door to Phoenix. However, when they arrived – we talked about going elsewhere. I had already been to Phoenix (excellent dim sum), and seeing how both of them were vegetarian… dim sum might not be the best way to go. In fact, they were planning on ordering off a menu, so dim sum made little sense (except to satisfy my cravings).
We decided on Joy Yee’s Noodle Shop, located inside "New" Chinatown. Last night, I was flipping around on the television when I came across an episode of Check, Please. Lo and behold, one of the places the reviewer had picked was in Chinatown. I remembered the name, and the three of us decided to go there to eat.
Line like you would not believe.
To get a seat (and the entire eating area was only about four times the size of my living room, max), you had to sign yourself up on a clipboard that seemed to perpetually float around. You didn’t tell a server or a hostess, you just jot your own name down. To do this, I had to squeeze through all the other folks stuffed into the entryway, and then squeeze my way back out.
And sorry – no pics of the outing. Realized my batteries were dead as we were waiting outside.
After a good 30+ minutes, we finally got a seat. Good, good stuff (I had salted fish with chicken, over baked rice). Joy Yee’s is also incredibly popular for all the "bubble tea" type drinks. Their variation on it was to use fruit smoothies. For those who haven’t had it, the "bubbles" are really very small (or very large, depending on what you order) pearls of tapioca. Definitely an interesting taste, and even though I’ve been rather indifferent to them… I seem to get one everytime I go to Chinatown. For some reason.
Before we left, we also ordered two additional entrees to go (cold sesame noodles). The server really only spoke Cantonese, and she seemed suspicious of the fact that I couldn’t speak Chinese all that well. My sister, after working at my parents’ restaurant (Yummy’s) has improved her command of the language remarkably. Essentially, the server started belittling us (in Cantonese, of course) for not having placed the to-go order earlier. Roughly translated, it was something like "What are you doing ordering this now? Why didn’t you order this earlier? If you would have told me, it would’ve been ready by now." And trust me, given how limited the seating was, it was quite a bit meaner in its tone. We had been trying to flag her down, but that place is one constant blur of motion when it’s busy. Ah well, food was still pretty great.
Oh yeah, the noodles. According to Chinese tradition, eating noodles on the first day of the new year is supposed to bring you longevity. So… I know what I’m having for breakfast tomorrow. :)
Before we left, we went into a tourist-y shop to buy some bamboo plants. Shane and Stacey wanted to leave some for their friends (where they were staying, while their friends were out of town). I decided to get some, just because. Good luck and all that. I’m not sure why they’re considered good luck, but they are. My parents have them at home, my uncles and aunts have them, they’re at the restaurant. Lucky bamboo plants seemed to have exploded sometime in the last five years.
