The Booming Chinese Restaurant Corridor of the Upper West Side

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The Booming Chinese Restaurant Corridor of the Upper West Side

A year ago, I detailed how Hell’s Kitchen along Ninth Avenue had accumulated 15 Chinese restaurants representing several regional cuisines — a new Chinatown. The same thing has been happening lately on the Upper West Side, extending into Morningside Heights along the upper reaches of Broadway. The stretch runs from 98th Street to 113th Street, supporting dumpling dens, hot pot shops, bubble tea parlors, and sit-down restaurants that are destination-worthy from any part of town.

The proximity of Columbia University, with its diverse population, could be one reason the neighborhood is seeing such a collection of restaurants, period. However, the Upper West Side neighborhood has always been known for its Chinese restaurants. Beginning around 1970, it was the site of some of the city’s earliest Sichuan spots, as well as Cuban-Chinese places during the same era. Here are some of my current favorites.

Atlas Kitchen
On a side street just off Broadway, boasting a spectacular dining room, Atlas Kitchen is an anchor of the UWS Chinatown. Under Hunan-born chef Chef Kaiyuan Li, the menu takes you on a tour of China with dishes from several regions. 258 W. 109th Street, near Broadway

Atlas Kitchen dining room One of two dining rooms at Atlas Kitchen.

108 Food
This was one of the first prominent Sichuan dry hot pot places when it opened seven years ago, a harbinger of the influx of Chinese restaurants in the neighborhood to follow. The raw ingredients are displayed behind glass at the end of the room: You pick, they weigh, they wok, you eat. 2794 Broadway, at 108th Street

A man pointing at stir-fry ingredients as a worker fills a bowl with his choices Select your ingredients at the end of the room. Gary He/Eater NY

Happy Hot Hunan
Happy Hot Hunan is one of the more distinguished Hunan restaurants in town, where ingredients preserved by smoking, drying, pickling, and brining are frequently highlighted, and the food can sometimes be more fiery than Sichuan. 969 Amsterdam Avenue, near 107th Street

A white plastic bowl containing a stir fry. Smoked pork and smoked bamboo shoots.

Szechuan Garden
Founded a decade ago, Szechuan Garden was one of a raft of restaurants — many in Midtown and north of Times Square — that brought a reliable version of Sichuan cuisine to the masses at bargain prices, not stinting on chile oil or organ meats, but restrained in their use of Sichuan peppercorns. 239 W. 105th Street, near Broadway

Green awnings and signs on a walk-down premises. The exterior of Szechuan Garden.

Moon Kee
This restaurant, over four decades old, is a reasonable facsimile of the classic Cantonese restaurants of Chinatown. The menu begins with lap mei (preserved meats) like duck and pork, then runs to noodles, stir-fries, spring rolls, steamed vegetables, and dim sum, all in an elegant setting that suggests Hong Kong restaurants of days past. 2642 Broadway, near 100th Street

A pot with a handle, egg, duck, and rice inside. Hong Kong clay pot cooking at Moon Kee.

Mala Town
This new chain, with locations in California, Nevada, and New Jersey, specializes in malatang, with a choice of two broths, as well as dry hot pots, for which you select your favorite ingredients. 929 Amsterdam Avenue, near 106th Street

Green facade with bold orange logo. A second hot pot place recently arrived.

Ollie’s Noodle Shop
Ollie’s is one of the oldest Chinese restaurants on the Upper West Side, founded in 1989 and concentrating on Chinese American fare. Noodle soups, dumplings, stir-fries, and Cantonese BBQ are specialties from a sprawling menu. 2705 Broadway, near 103rd Street

A logo with chopsticks sticking out of the first O in Ollie. Serving Cantonese American fare.

La Salle Dumpling Room
This local chain turns out a plethora of very good dumplings, including fried pot stickers, steamed soup dumplings, shrimp and chive har gow, steamed vegetable dumplings, and pan-fried pork dumplings. Noodle dishes are also available. 2897 Broadway, at 113th Street

Six crab soup dumplings laid out on paper inside a wooden bowl. Soup dumplings in a bamboo steamer at La Salle Dumpling Room.

Nan Xiang Express
The Flushing original, named after the town near Shanghai where soup dumplings originated, has spawned several smaller dumpling and noodle dispensaries. The chain makes some of the best soup dumplings in town. 2783 Broadway, near 107th Street

Six soup dumplings with a wad of orange crab on top. Pork and crab soup dumplings at Nan Xiang Express.

Dim Sum Bloom
This dim sum mini-chain with another location in Elmhurst offers all the usual dumplings, as well as some Hong Kong innovations, such as deep-fried shrimp shumai, plus over-rice dishes, noodles, and a compact collection of appetizers. 2596 Broadway, at 98th Street

Four dumplings in a cardboard container. Hong Kong style fried shrimp dumplings.

Tea Magic
Matcha and brown sugar teas are the specialties here, along with frozen yogurt soft serve, crepes, and items like fish ball soup. 2878 Broadway, near 112th Street

A glass of green tea with a red straw on top. One of the matcha milk tea options.

Gong Cha
Dozens upon dozens of teas are served here, most of them cold and falling into several categories: milk foam, milk tea, fruit slush, and sweetened classic teas, in a kaleidoscope of colors, with plenty of brulee to go around. 2810 Broadway, near 109th Street

A woman in a blue T walks in front of a storefront. The Gong Cha bubble tea chain has an Upper Upper West Side branch.

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