Christmas Joy New York City Entry #46

This being Christmas in New York, orthodox tradition demanded dim sum. Last night we slept with visions of dancing dumplings and steamed buns. Tonight we spin our dreidels. With Jing Fong largely filled with a private party, we walked to Ping, the two-story Cantonese seafood restaurant on Mott Street. Ping is somewhat more sedate, elegant, quieter, and smaller than the larger Hong Kong dim sum halls, but its ambiance was just right.

Ping’s dim sum included suitable renditions of traditional choices (the larger seafood dishes seemed the more creative, but we preferred quantity of selections to quality). As might be expected from the expertise of the kitchen, the choices tended toward fish and shrimp away from pork dishes. Ping does not wheel carts between the closely spaced tables, servers bear trays. There was no disappointment among the buns, dumplings, and rolls, even if they didn’t redefine dim sum. The dish that I will recall was a dessert: coconut balls filled with a runny grey-black center of sweet sesame. The contrasts of rich sweetnesses was a splendid surprise for Christmas noon.

And a Merry Christmas and Hanukah to all. And, if Bill O’Reilly will forgive me, Happy Holidays as well.

Ping Seafood Restaurant
22 Mott Street (near Worth Street)
Manhattan (Chinatown)
212-602-9988