This week, Untapped New York is gearing up for what we believe may be the most under-publicized event in the history of Manhattan - Chinatown Restaurant Week, Restaurant Week's friendly Asian sibling.
The legend of the dollar dumpling has been passed down from entry-level professional to entry-level professional for eons. Though endangered, it does still exist if you know where to look. And we do.
"Where can I eat human flesh?" It wasn't a serious question, of course, but when Siri recommended Lunch Box Buffet, a restaurant I walk past often while on my way to dollar dumpling joints, I just had to know.
Long after most of Chinatown's restaurants have retired their woks and set their tea pots out to dry, Great N.Y. Noodletown's chefs remain poised, carving up meat until the sun comes up (or just about).
Wo Hop's larger than life dishes may not be healthy, but they're nearly everything else you'd want them to be - cheap, filling, and so, so good.
Tucked in a claustrophobic pedestrian alley joining Elizabeth Street and Bowery is one of the most overwhelmingly eclectic menus you'll find in Chinatown.
Though most of Chinatown's underground entrepreneurs offer men's haircuts at prices you haven't seen since you were a six-year old, restaurants like Hop Kee have also found their niche in the basements of brownstones.
The Untapped Cities family heads to the brilliantly excessive Golden Unicorn dim sum restaurant to usher in the year of the dragon in a special edition of 'Sunday in Chinatown.'
Your long, sorry history with ramen noodles ends today at Ajisen Ramen in Chinatown.
Untapped Photographer Chuck Lau took us on our first Vietnamese excursion in Chinatown in search of a fabled, signature dish - Pho.