There’s another new kid on the block in Elmhurst, Queens: Q Town Asian Cuisine at 82-87 Broadway. They specialize in Taiwanese cuisine, but their extensive menu (some 300 options) tiptoes into mainland cuisines as well. At the outset, I should report that we were a party of 14 with somewhat divergent tastes so our ordering attempted to cater to a cross section of palates. A few dishes we tried, in no special order…

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Beef Tripe with Hot Pepper Sauce. I know this dish as fuqi feipian (aka husband and wife lung pieces, although there’s really no lung in it). This Sichuan dish consists of spicy beef tripe with one other cut, usually tendon, but this seemed more like beef shin to me. Q Town Asian Cuisine did an excellent version of it.

Oyster Pancake. A classic Taiwanese appetizer.

Fly Heads. Another example of Taiwanese home cooking, this dish calls for garlic chives, bits of pork, and fermented black beans (the ingredient that looks like flies’ heads). On the downside, this version would have benefited from a slightly heavier hand with the pork; on the upside, for all the many times I’ve enjoyed this dish, I’ve never had a version that was quite this spicy. I don’t know about its authenticity, but I certainly liked that aspect of it.

Crispy Fried Shrimp. They did a great job with this one. Tempted to try their crispy fried oyster or cuttlefish next time.

Cuttlefish and Squid with Yellow Chives. I understand that this dish is subtle, but even with that, it was lacking in flavor. Fresh ingredients though.

Homemade Tofu Pot – Pork and Oyster. Delicious, but I wish there had been a little more pork or oysters in evidence. In fairness, that observation may be attributable to the fact that we were a convivial group of 14 and it’s truly difficult to portion out dishes like this one equitably, but their flavors made their presence felt. Or tasted, perhaps!

Clams with Basil. Tasty and flavorful. The basil flavor comes mostly from the basil leaves in the dish, not the sauce itself, but that’s fine.

Sautéed Squash – the loofah variety. It’s a gentle dish with a pleasant crunch, a change of pace for the palate; as such, it succeeded.

Kidney and Liver in Sesame Oil. If you’re an offal aficionado and a liver lover (like me), this one is for you. Perfectly cooked, tender meat with welcome slices of ginger to kick it up; excellent execution.

Three Cup Chicken. A Taiwanese classic, theoretically made using one cup of soy sauce, one cup of sesame oil, and one cup of rice wine, but usually tweaked a bit and fleshed out with additional ingredients including garlic, ginger, sugar and red chili.

Sizzling Black Pepper Short Ribs with onions and bell peppers.

Striped Bass swimming in Spicy Black Bean Sauce dodging slabs of tofu. Very fresh and truly delicious.
 
 

Instagram Post 7/6/2018

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A relative newcomer (about three months) to Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood and certainly a welcome one is Fan Fried Rice Bar at 525 DeKalb Ave. A cozy, sunny spot with only a few tables, they offer a number of Taiwanese delicacies like Popcorn Chicken, Fried Bone-In Pork Chop, Taiwanese Sausage, and Mushroom Mapo Tofu, but the real focus is on their novel fried rice variations.

[1] Numb Numb Pastrami Fried Rice with chili paste, scallions, pastrami, onions and peanuts. I get a pronounced Szechuan málà peppercorn hit delivered with a lot of char (as opposed to wok hei); the pastrami itself is salty, moist, and a little smoky, but unlike the deli style pastrami you might expect from the name. Definitely good eats.

[2] Breakfast Fried Rice is good any time of day with tasty thick cut bacon, eggs, peas and carrots, and everything-bagel seasoning. No numbing peppercorns in this one, but plenty of salt, intensified by the toss of potato chips atop.

And yes, I’m a fan of the Fan. 😉
 
 

Instagram Post 4/7/2017

 
Their website refers to it as Taiwanese Gourmet, their menu reads Taiwanese Specialties, but a rose by any other name, etc. Over the years, I’ve dined here more times than I can remember, à deux with a friend, as part of a group, and as the organizer of a few other groups and I have never been disappointed. Here are some of the dishes, in no special order, that we enjoyed on one such occasion.

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Oyster Pancake. A classic Taiwanese appetizer. If you’ve ever had Hangtown Fry, a dish dating from the days of California’s Gold Rush, you’ll see a connection, but in this case, there’s no bacon to be found.

Pork Roll. Bean curd skin stuffed with succulent pieces of pork and more, fried to crunchy deliciousness.

Squash with Dried Scallops.

Sauteed Live Eel with Yellow Chives. (“Live” simply means fresh.)

House Special Stir-Fried Rice Cake.

Hakkanese Style Pork & Dried Bean Curd.

Ginger Chicken with Sesame Oil, formally known as Three Cup Chicken. A Taiwanese classic, theoretically made using one cup of soy sauce, one cup of sesame oil, and one cup of rice wine, but usually tweaked a bit and fleshed out with additional ingredients including garlic and ginger.

Fly’s Head. Or Fly Head, Flies Heads, Flies’ Heads – you get the picture. Another classic Taiwanese dish. No flies were harmed in the making of this dish: the dark spots are fermented black beans that accompany the minced pork and Chinese garlic chives.

Taiwanese Sausage Fried Rice.

Beer Duck. Duck that’s been braised in beer, of course.
 
 
Taiwanese Specialties Gourmet Restaurant (take your pick) is located at 84-02 Broadway, Elmhurst, Queens.