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Try some Fujian - Ah Ping Snack Bar is great.

For great seafood - Fuleen's, Oriental Garden, and Ping's are all worth trying. Geoduck at at Fuleen's is fantastic, prepared two ways, sashimi & cooked. And something as simple-sounding as "Clams in Black Bean Sauce" at OG is ten times better than you've ever had it elsewhere.

@jo_wang, jenh718, etc - Neeki has the right idea. The right substitute would be to use a few shreds of potato (or a tablespoon or two of instant mashed potato flakes) rather than potato starch.

Leftover potato water is going to contain more than just starch. All kinds of things are given up by the potato when boiled - various amino acids (glutamic, aspartic, arginine among others) and vitamins - riboflavin, thiamin, and niacin primarily. Also, considering that starches will sink to the bottom, the starch level will vary greatly depending if you scoop the water from the top of the pot, stir it before using, etc. Not to mention that the contents of everyone's potato "water" will vary depending how long you boil your potatoes, your water/potato ratio, how small a dice you've cut them, what kind of potatoes you use, etc.

That said, I suspect there's a fairly small amount of potato molecules of any kind that wind up in this bread, unless you've got a really low water/potato ratio. I'd be curious to try the recipe in a blind tasting against the same but with regular water. I doubt that texturally it makes much if any difference, though I'm sure a bit of potatoeyness comes through in the taste.

I'd be more interested in trying it with something that carries a bit more flavor to begin with - yam or beet or sweet corn water might be interesting. Or dirty-water hot dog cart water. Mmm...

In addition to many of the above, I'd add...

...City Bakery for Hot Cocoa with homemade marshmallows
...Momofuku Noodle Bar for Ramen & Pork Buns
...Death & Co, PDT, Apotheke, or similar for cocktails
...one of the better Chinatown restos: I'd go with Oriental Garden or Fulleen's, personally.
...BBQ in Korea Town (take your pick of places)
...WD-50

(I'll second Katz's, R&D, Shake Shack, Shopsin's, Gray's Papaya, Patsy's in Harlem...)

But of course, it depends on the kind of tourist/eater we're dealing with...

"Authenticity" does not exist. After all, the Colombian food you ate growing up in Miami would not have been "authentic" to someone who grew up in Colombia. In fact, "authentic" Colombian cuisine would be viewed differently by those who grew up in La Guajira, versus Amazonas, versus Nariño, versus Vichada, versus...

I'm fond of Charles', Amy Ruth's, and The Redhead - but the unsung (and practically unknown, at least for fried chicken) Henry's End in Brooklyn Heights gets my vote. It's not their specialty - who goes to a wild game restaurant for fried chicken? - but it's perfectly (and interestingly) seasoned, perfectly crispy, perfectly juicy every time. They really should open a seperate FC take-out joint, it's so good.

Amazing. A day after I posted this talk topic, the review in question magically re-appeared. Guess someone at Menupages is reading Serious Eats.

I've been seeing a number of these "fancified" (or re-interpreted) banh mis pop up, what with the growing popularity of Asian sandwiches - kind of like the sudden explosion of $11+ Cubanos that happened a few years ago. And just like that epidemic of Cuba-fauxs, I expect to be disappointed in 90% of them - either because they're identical to sandwiches one can get mere blocks away for half the price, or because they wander a bit too far in their attempts to re-interpret, and wind up missing out on what made the original idea so special to begin with.

But the real question is: is it worth $11? Given that from the looks of it there's only half the meat you might get at Nicky's or Baoguette, I'm tempted to say I'm not gonna bother finding out.

Surprised that Henry's End in Brooklyn Heights hasn't been mentioned - lots of fans over on Chowhound. Yeah, they're known more for their wild game and whatnot, but I find their FC to be top-notch, really good spicing (clove, cinnamon, mace, lots of other stuff) - probably tied for first as my fave fancy-pants FC in the city, along with Redhead.