Rejoicing in the Return of Great N.Y. Noodletown | The New Yorker

"Reopened after an anxious, months-long renovation, this fifty-eight-year-old Cantonese institution felt both comforting and renewed: I found the food as good as—or better than—I remembered and the dining room cosmetically refreshed with new flooring, wall tiles and brighter chandeliers. The place briefly closed in March with a notice promising a June reopening under the same management, and patrons cheered when the metal gates finally rose in early September. Highlights included the lo mein with ginger and scallion, a slippery mass of thin, curly noodles; a clear, fragrant wonton broth dense with shrimp-stuffed wontons; the return of soft-shell-crab season and salt-baked crab quartered for a delicate crunch with fresh green chili; thick e-fu noodles strewn over a lobster chopped in its shell; a ceramic crock of clams steamed in rice wine with hunks of ginger and scallion atop glass noodles; long strips of sweet, buttery eggplant flecked with diced chicken and salted fish; and deeply bronzed eggrolls bursting with chives and mushrooms. Behind the counter a man hacked golden ducks and suckling-pig skin with a cleaver, staff now close the kitchen earlier (10 p.m. Sun–Thu, 11 p.m. Fri–Sat) and a complimentary plate of orange slices signaled the end of our meal. (Dishes $3.95–$38.95.)" - Hannah Goldfield