Baltimore's Chinatown/Chinese Food

[synaesthesia]

This recently published article in The Sun discusses the fall of Baltimore's Chinatown, and an attempt to revitalize it by Tony Cheng the owner of the Mongolian and Seafood places in Washington DC. And points to the interesting fact, that the found of Republic of China (not the Communist one), Sun Yat-Sen lived in Baltimore at one point. There's still a decent Chinese place on Park Ave., but the name escapes me right now.

[Henry]

I miss Tony Cheng's! I remember back in the day it was actually a special occasion destination when the fam was jonesing for Szechuan. I seem to recall that after a long period of vacancy, the space was occupied by a Chinese carry-out briefly, before its current incarnation as a Mexican joint, El Patron. Which imo is really quite crappy in terms of both food and service. Now of course we have to trek out to Hunan Manor in Columbia, which since the tragic demise of Szechuan Best in Randallstown is the best option within a half hour drive of Baltimore I think.

As far as dim sum, there used to be Grand Palace in Glen Burnie, which provided a sturdy if slightly dingy option. Every several months I get wind of a rumor that it'll re-open. Other than that I guess it's Jesse Wong in Columbia, which my dining colleagues (heh how's that for pretentious) seem to enjoy, but I find almost everything to be overly sweet. Weird. The last time I had dim sum at Chinatown was probably 3-4 years ago, when they seemed to be getting a lot of local press. I remember it being OK. Lastly I thought the guy who runs Matsuri was Vietnamese?