Saturday evening, we went down to Chinatown for dinner. For those not familiar with Chinatown in Manhattan, it is very, very crowded. It's difficult to explain how packed every square foot is down there. We went into our favorite eatery to get some dinner. To help you imagine this properly, we are frequently the only non-Asian folk in the restaurant. Actually, we may be the only non-Asian people that we see on the way from the subway stop to the restaurant. We're probably the only people in the restaurant that need the English translation of the menu.
The basic process at this eatery is that once you walk in, you go to the counter to order food. Once the food is ordered, there is a fight to get a table. And it is a fight. Typically, about twice as many people want tables as can find a place to sit. If there's a spot, grab it. Honestly, most people in NYC just stay to themselves, so frequently someone may sit six inches from me, and we won't acknowledge each other throughout the meal. However, sometimes, we make new friends. A couple months back we ate there and some tourists were lucky enough to be sitting next to us. Wife and I helped them plan the rest of their trip (complete with drawing directions on the back of napkins).
Anyway, on Saturday night, I went up and ordered food with Katie while Wife fought for a table. I spent a total of $5.75 on dinner (which resulted in more food than the three of us could eat). We had three plates in front of us. One big plate was Wife's, one big plate was mine, and one smaller plate was Katie's. I took an assortment of the different foods, cut them up into small pieces and put them on Katie's plate for her. Katie was in heaven. She LOVED having me feed her with chopsticks.
About halfway through the meal, an Asian fellow, who who was about fifty-five years old and spoke broken English, came up to our table and grabbed the soy sauce off the table. He held it up to his nose trying to make sure it was fresh. It was a little funny because it looked like he was trying to use it as nasal spray. He kept repeating over and over, "Is this good? This any good?"
Then the really surprising thing happened - the guy, while laughing, poured the sauce all over Katie's plate, covering her small pieces of with probably about a quarter of a cup of sauce. As he poured, he said, "Taste it for me."
I, along with Wife and four or five tables around us were all pretty shocked. Taken aback, I asked with an irritated tone, "What did you do that for? She can't eat all that sauce."
The guy pretty quickly realized it wasn't funny and began to apologize. He ATTEMPTED to make it all better - he got a new plate for Katie. Not a plate of food, just a new clean empty plate.
Anyway, I made Katie a new plate. Not a big deal, but kinda funny.
After dinner, we went to our favorite Chinese bakery and got a variety of pastries to last us for the week. After sharing a piece of strawberry cake, we shared a strawberry smoothie.
The total amount that we spent in Chinatown: ten bucks and change.
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