The Last Arcade in NYC

[Gizzmonic]

Even in 2011, a real-life seedy Chinatown arcade still exists!

You can't play tic-tac-toe with a live chicken anymore though.

[Arky Vaughan]

Even in 2011, a real-life seedy Chinatown arcade still exists!

You can't play tic-tac-toe with a live chicken anymore though.

How long until Alkie posts that this is only a seven-minute walk from him, just like everything else in super-convenient Manhattan?

[chuck]

How long until Alkie posts that this is only a seven-minute walk from him, just like everything else in super-convenient Manhattan?

You know damn well that Alkie never ventures south of Canal Street and if he did one day by mistake he certainly would not get out of the cab in Chinatown.

That NY Noodletown is not nearly as good as everyone wants it to be.

[Ron Brand]

That NY Noodletown is not nearly as good as everyone wants it to be.

Wo Hop, baby!

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

Favorite Noodletowns Chinatowns Urban Asian Villages in North America:  Vancouver, Toronto, San Francisco, Little Saigon, New York City.

[chuck]

Favorite Noodletowns Chinatowns Urban Asian Villages in North America:  Vancouver, Toronto, San Francisco, Little Saigon, New York City.

Which Little Saigon?

I highly commend to the interested two secondary New York UAVs, one in Flushing, Queens, lots of Taiwanese out there, and the other on 8th Avenue in Brooklyn.

In my view the most overlooked and under-appreciated UAV in the US is Spring Mountain Rd in Las Vegas. Two of my favorite Japanese restaurants in North America are on this impressive stretch that includes lots of Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants and businesses.

The biggest Chinatown I have ever seen, by far, is in Yokohama. It's otherwise almost totally uninteresting, sadly. My favorite would have to be Sydney's, although Melbourne is a close, close second. Sydney's is bigger and includes the Haymarket which is an outSTANding place to shop for fruits and vegetables and contains some thoroughly decent restaurants upstairs as well as some interesting fishmongers. Sydney also has a very substantial concentration of Vietnamese restaurants and businesses way the fuck out there in Cabramatta. I wouldn't necessarily urge a special trip out there unless you're obsessed with this sort of thing like I am.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

Which Little Saigon?

Garden Grove, Westminster... that part of Orange County.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

The biggest Chinatown I have ever seen, by far, is in Yokohama. It's otherwise almost totally uninteresting, sadly. My favorite would have to be Sydney's, although Melbourne is a close, close second. Sydney's is bigger and includes the Haymarket which is an outSTANding place to shop for fruits and vegetables and contains some thoroughly decent restaurants upstairs as well as some interesting fishmongers.

My desire to seek out such places also includes venturing into any kind of Open Air Market/Farmers Market or Flea Market when abroad. I never had the opportunity in Sydney but did visit some huge market in Melbourne, the name and location of which escapes me.

The Market in Barcelona was one of the most fantastical places I've ever been. Talk about interesting fishmongers, they had sea creatures on display that look like various kinds of aliens from outer space.

[Matt]

Garden Grove, Westminster... that part of Orange County.

My band's practice studio is right in the middle of Garden Grove and Westminster so I get to frequent all the places there. Also Garden Grove has a decent little K-Town going on with some good K-BBQ.

[chuck]

My desire to seek out such places also includes venturing into any kind of Open Air Market/Farmers Market or Flea Market when abroad. I never had the opportunity in Sydney but did visit some huge market in Melbourne, the name and location of which escapes me.

The Market in Barcelona was one of the most fantastical places I've ever been. Talk about interesting fishmongers, they had sea creatures on display that look like various kinds of aliens from outer space.

It's Victoria Market in Melbourne. That place is out of control. I found a guy there who wanders around the wine producing regions buying product that for one reason or another the various vineyards have no use for. Maybe this year's batch of grenache doesn't mix properly with the shiraz, you know, who knows. Anyway, he buys a shitload of cast-off product and mixes it himself or sometimes just sells it straight depending on what he's working with. I've never had anything from that guy that wasn't at least very good, it's bizarrely inexpensive and even more so if you bring your own bottles!

And you are quite right about the market in Barcelona. Next to Tskukiji of course the Barcelona market has the most fucked up assortment of seafood I have ever seen. The Boqueria just shames damn near any other market I know. Fuck, you can buy figs the size of a speed bag.

While we're talking about it, London is a pretty damn superior city for markets. Borough Market is well worth a visit.

[VirtualBob]

My favorite would have to be Sydney ... includes the Haymarket which is an outSTANding place to shop for fruits and vegetables and contains some thoroughly decent restaurants upstairs as well as some interesting fishmongers.

+1

[Ron Brand]

They used to do a Market Days in downtown Pflugerville before the weather got cold. You could even buy a can of Coke until they ran out of them.

[Gizzmonic]

It's Victoria Market in Melbourne. That place is out of control. I found a guy there who wanders around the wine producing regions buying product that for one reason or another the various vineyards have no use for. Maybe this year's batch of grenache doesn't mix properly with the shiraz, you know, who knows. Anyway, he buys a shitload of cast-off product and mixes it himself or sometimes just sells it straight depending on what he's working with. I've never had anything from that guy that wasn't at least very good, it's bizarrely inexpensive and even more so if you bring your own bottles!

two buck chuck?

[chuck]

+1

Do you know what I particularly like about Sydney's Chinatown? There are lots of non-coastal Chinese cuisines represented, lots of interior, sometimes Muslim cuisines that I have seldom if ever seen elsewhere. I don't know how many Uighur restaurants there are outside of Xinjiang and Mongolia, but one of them is in Sydney. It's BYOB.

[Bench]

I don't know how many Uighur restaurants there are outside of Xinjiang and Mongolia, but one of them is in Sydney. It's BYOB.

Bermuda, perhaps?

[chuck]

Bermuda, perhaps?

Who the fuck let them out?!

[Limey]

Who the fuck let them out?!

Who was President in 2009?  Couldn't have been the same guy who strongly and repeatedly justified Guantanamo by claiming that it housed the "worst of the worst".

[subnuclear]

I really need to read more cheap, partisan political points this morning. Please post more.

[Ron Brand]

Do you remember when Fred and Barney were trying to get elected as Grand Poobah of the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes and those cocksuckers rigged the fucking election? When they got their cronies to lock everyone in a room away from everybody else and did this prolonged bullshit count of all the napkins that the lodge members had scrawled their votes on, and eventually they got Mr. Slate's hired goons to validate the lie that they hadn't won?

Man, that really sucked.

[chuck]

Did I ever tell you about the time I got fired from a job counting votes for a teamsters election?

[Ron Brand]

Did I ever tell you about the time I got fired from a job counting votes for a teamsters election?

There's only one way to count those votes, son.

[chuck]

There's only one way to count those votes, son.

Well, apparently not. The moral of the story is when one finds one's self employed by the teamsters it aids those interested in continued employment to keep one's mouth shut.

[Ron Brand]

Well, apparently not. The moral of the story is when one finds one's self employed by the teamsters it aids those interested in continued employment to keep one's mouth shut.

Sure, but you had to get fired before you learned how to count those votes. Now you know.

[NeilT]

Do you remember when Fred and Barney were trying to get elected as Grand Poobah of the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes and those cocksuckers rigged the fucking election? When they got their cronies to lock everyone in a room away from everybody else and did this prolonged bullshit count of all the napkins that the lodge members had scrawled their votes on, and eventually they got Mr. Slate's hired goons to validate the lie that they hadn't won?

Man, that really sucked.

Didn't they have drivers licenses?  With voter ID this would never have happened.

[Ron Brand]

Didn't they have drivers licenses?  With voter ID this would never have happened.

They did, but sonograms hadn't been invented yet.

[strosrays]

Well, apparently not. The moral of the story is when one finds one's self employed by the teamsters it aids those interested in continued employment to keep one's mouth shut.

That, and don't accept any invitation to dinner at an out-of-the-way steakhouse somewhere near Detroit.

[Rebel Jew]

My band's practice studio is right in the middle of Garden Grove and Westminster so I get to frequent all the places there. Also Garden Grove has a decent little K-Town going on with some good K-BBQ.

I used to live in Garbage Grove, off Chapman at the intersection of Seacrest and Style. About a 2-minute drive from the Crystal Cathedral. I had a GIGANTIC crush on my Vietnamese optometrist.

There was a really good Korean BBQ place I'd frequent when I felt lonely enough. The habachi's were built into the tables. There was also a pretty good taco place on Euclid and Chapman that I'd eat at about 16 times a day.

[chuck]

I had a GIGANTIC crush on my Vietnamese optometrist.

And what happened once you finally got a good look at her?

[Bench]

And what happened once you finally got a good look at her?

That phenomenon is known as "too late."

[Gizzmonic]

And what happened once you finally got a good look at her?

Better one, better two?  OK, better one.

[Gizzmonic]

Apparently there's an eviction notice on the front door now.  This arcade probably won't make it much longer.  If you're in NYC and you're in to that sort of thing, go and visit it!

[Matt]

I used to live in Garbage Grove, off Chapman at the intersection of Seacrest and Style. About a 2-minute drive from the Crystal Cathedral. I had a GIGANTIC crush on my Vietnamese optometrist.

There was a really good Korean BBQ place I'd frequent when I felt lonely enough. The habachi's were built into the tables. There was also a pretty good taco place on Euclid and Chapman that I'd eat at about 16 times a day.

Yeah dude, you can pretty much spit in any direction and hit a good Korean BBQ place there now.  That whole stretch along the 22 is full of amazing food from Mexican to Korean BBQ.

[94CougarGrad]

In my view the most overlooked and under-appreciated UAV in the US is Spring Mountain Rd in Las Vegas. Two of my favorite Japanese restaurants in North America are on this impressive stretch that includes lots of Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants and businesses.

Yez yez, must agree.

[Rebel Jew]

Yeah dude, you can pretty much spit in any direction and hit a good Korean BBQ place there now.  That whole stretch along the 22 is full of amazing food from Mexican to Korean BBQ.

Yeah a couple of years ago I was visiting a buddy of mine who lives in Anaheim (my buddy's Vietnamese shockingly enough). He took me to a Korean BBQ place that was way better than my old spot.

[Gizzmonic]

It's official.  Chinatown Fair is gone.  Seems there just ain't no room in the modern world for seedy old arcades.  And darned if that don't make me a little sad.

[Gizzmonic]

I doubt anyone cares at this point, but in case you do, Chinatown Fair is reopening in a different location.  New name will be 'Next Level Arcade.'

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

I doubt anyone cares at this point, but in case you do, Chinatown Fair is reopening in a different location.  New name will be 'Next Level Arcade.'

Sadly, with a new location and new name, it just wont be the same.