Zagat Buzz
September, 2011
Chef Simpson Wong (Café Asean) is going “Asian-locavore” with his new restaurant Wong, opening today on Cornelia Street, ie utilizing Asian dishes and techniques with seasonal ingredients found at local farmers' markets. Expect dishes like lobster egg foo young with leeks, salty egg yolk, dried shrimp and tomato sauce. The 40-seat eatery features communal tables that keep things eco-friendly by using repurposed wood and secondhand furniture (which sounds about right, since pretty much every restaurant is doing that these days).

Wong: Asian Locavore Goodness in the West Village
September, 2011
Traveling through Asia requires being open to new experiences and cultures, which is only fair considering how "open" some of their "women" supposedly were to your roommate. For a resto bringing healthier experimentation back from Asia: Wong. Having traversed Southeast Asia, China, and India on an epic flavor quest, former Cafe Asean chef Simpson Wong has returned to NY with an arsenal of new culinary tricks, and's putting them on display (literally, thanks to the open kitchen) in a casual cafe with offbeat touches like communal tables pulled from his house, and carafes that're actually beakers and Erlenmeyer flasks, bringing new meaning to the term "cocktail nerd". Highly seasonal and market-driven, the pan-Asian menu's separated into three categories, beginning with composed Small Plates of Newport steak tataki (bone marrow brioche, pho, Amagansett salt), mackerel sashimi (nectarine, flounder roe, yogurt, popcorn), scallops w/ crispy duck tongue & jellyfish, and grilled corn w/ duck fat, chicharones, and "shrimp floss" -- unexpected, as normally you associate them with Po' Boys. Main options, meanwhile, run from "salty yolk" lobster egg foo young to Chinese-style pork chops w/ macadamias & Asian pear, while those craving Noodles, Rice, and Flatbreads can journey through Thai sausage- & fennel-topped Vietnamese 'za, clay pot sepia rice w/ squid-stuffed peppers & crispy tentacles, and handkerchief egg noodles w/ oxtail and garden snails, which oddly can't get into MSG. They've also got desserts from a former Daniel pastry chef, from roast duck-infused ice cream w/ star anise-poached plums, to the Chocolate Snowball: chocolate pudding, Italian meringue, and blackout cake, ironically the exact thing that could lead you to hanging out with some of those "open" "women".

Simpson Wong Brings the Locavore Movement to Asian Cooking with Wong
September, 2011
This week, Simpson Wong, who got his start cooking in New York at Café Asean in 1996, opened Wong, the chef's first restaurant since the now-closed Jefferson debuted eight years ago. Here, Wong is serving up a cuisine he's deemed "Asian Locavore," which means they'll be freshly picked herbs, Greenmarket-sourced ingredients and a menu that changes with the seasons. In other words, the usual suspects one expects from new openings these days. The restaurant's decor places an emphasis on reclaimed materials—there's wood from a neighbors floor, shelving left over from Wong's recent apartment renovation and other quirky, rustic details. What makes the project different, though, is Wong's pedigree and the fact that Asean is still open sixteen years later (an eternity as far as New York restaurants go). Hit play to see Wong describe his vision for the restaurant and get a look the space along with a few opening menu dishes like lobster egg foo young and a "Vietnamese Pizza."

Wong, Salume Kiosk, Wild Rise Now Open, Mexicue on Friday
September, 2011
Simpson Wong, a chef who made a name for himself at Jefferson, and then later Jefferson Grill (both closed) and Cafe Asean, will open his newest restaurant Wong on Cornelia Street on Monday. He's calling the cuisine here "Asian Locavore," and he'll serve local ingredients, grass-fed beef, and sustainable foods with an Asian flair and a special section of breads and noodles. So expect bonito crudo with seaweed and Japanese rice crackers, pork belly with taro root tater tots, clay pot sepia rice, and lobster egg foo young. Items range from $6 - 16 for small plates, $15 - 18 for noodles, and $19 - 24 for mains. The restaurant will seat around 40 and is constructed of mostly reclaimed materials. She opens to the public Monday. Pictures of the dishes are all over the Facebook and a full menu rundown is below.

Where You'll Be Eating This Fall

September, 2011

In late September, Chef Simpson Wong of the Asian fusion spot Cafe Asean will open Wong at 7 Cornelia St. in the West Village. “All I wanted to do was cook and feel like I’m having people over to my place,” he says, and he means it: Wooden beams from his apartment renovation are now a waiter’s station, and low counters invite diners to pull up a chair and watch the kitchen churn out affordable, locally sourced dishes like green curry pizza or raw bonito fish with purslane and Japanese crackers. Everything reflects Wong’s commitment to sustainability — even the wine, which is served from a tap to avoid shipping heavy glass bottles.

The Feed Openings
September, 2011
Wong Chef Simpson Wong (Café Asean) puts a locavore spin on Pan-Asian plates at this 40-seat restaurant in the West Village. The seasonally changing menu will showcase dishes like wood-grilled corn with duck fat, chicharones and shrimp floss; handkerchief egg noodles with oxtail, snails and lovage; and lobster egg foo young with leeks, salty egg yolk, dried shrimp and spicy tomato sauce.

Hot Plates
September, 2011
Simpson Wong is back with, well, Wong: his new West Village joint offering “Asian-locavore” bites that include noodles and rice dishes, as well as Asian pizzas.

New York Post Fall Preview
September, 2011
Wong: Casual Asian-locavore dishes with communal dining — eat your noodles on chairs rescued from the Red Hook flea market — from Café Asean chef Simpson Wong.

Wong Opens in West Village
September, 2011
Some of the best Asian food you can hunt down in New York is served in places that are, shall we say, very down home. The garish lighting, no nonsense service and tattered menus are the norm. But if you’ve ever been to Simpson Wong’s Café Asean in the Village, you know he has a different motto. With the opening of his restaurant Wong, also in the same neighborhood, he kicks it up yet another notch. The industrial, modern room seats about 40 people, and there’s a communal table in middle with a cozy bar in front. You’re surrounded by refurbished wood flooring, chairs from local flea markets and other recycled trinkets. There are also stools surrounding the small open kitchen. I’ve known Simpson for a few years (full disclosure: I consider him a friend and have volunteered at a fundraiser with him before), and it’s not a complete surprise that he’s put together a menu that’s described as “Asian locavore.” Before his more recent travels throughout Asia (China, Indonesia and Vietnam), he had opened the New American restaurant Jefferson back in 2003 before closing it due to some health concerns. Eating healthfully, especially with a locavore sensibility, has been important to him. The menu here includes appetizers, noodle and rice dishes, house-made flatbreads and a variety of entrees. At a family and friends dinner last week, I scarfed down a steak tataki topped with Amagansett salt and rau ram (a Vietnamese herb) served with a pho broth on the side with a brioche topped with bone marrow. With chef de cuisine Blake Joyal, Simpson also features dishes like the cha ca la vong, a dish for two people where hake is tossed in turmeric and dill with bowls of rice noodles and shiso on the side. Pastry chef Judy Chen’s menu includes a roasted duck infused ice cream served with star anise-poached plums and five spice cookies that you have to try. For beverages, there’s an array of craft beers, domestic sakes and organic, biodynamic wines to choose from along with signature cocktails like The Cornelia, a concoction of bourbon, local cider, lemon juice, simple syrup, cinnamon and a garnish of fresh apple slice.

Dining Dispatch
September, 2011
Chef Simpson Wong has opened this West Village restaurant. The cooking reflects the flavors of China, Indonesia and Vietnam--all with a locavore touch.

5 Great Openings You Missed
September, 2011
Having traversed Southeast Asia, China, and India on an epic flavor quest, former Cafe Asean chef Simpson Wong has returned to NY with an arsenal of new culinary tricks, and's putting them on display (literally, thanks to the open kitchen) in a casual cafe with offbeat touches like communal tables pulled from his house, and carafes that're actually beakers and Erlenmeyer flasks, bringing new meaning to the term "cocktail nerd".

Operators Join the Asian Appetizer Movement
October, 2011
Even the most jaded New York palates may be stirred by the novel combinations found on the small plates of Wong, chef-owner Simpson Wong’s new “Asian locavore” eatery in Manhattan. Wong credits a dish like his Shrimp Fritters, featuring gulf shrimp, jicama and garlic sprouts fried in a savory batter and served on a bed of rice noodles, Asian pears and sunflower sprouts, to his experiences with street foods in China, Indonesia and Vietnam. “I found tons and tons of inspiration there,” said Wong.

Blackbookmag.com Directory
October, 2011
Simpson Wong coins a genre with “Asian Locavore” cuisine. Malaysian-born chef (and Martha Stewart fave) follows up Café Asean with another inspired spot. Sausage, fennel, and stinging nettle on your Vietnamese “pizza,” coconut vinegar and almonds for your monkfish liver. Ample claws join leeks in the lobster egg foo young. Finish up with roast duck ice cream, sadly neglected from most lists of 31 flavors. Petite spot features distressed brick, dangling bulbs, schoolhouse chairs for educating yourself at a communal table.

Wong in the West Village: Asian Fusion That's (Usually) Done Right
October, 2011
Billing itself as "New York's first Asian restaurant to emphasize local and seasonal fare" (a bold statement, to say the least), Wong brings together the talents of Temple Wong, the well-traveled chef and owner of Café Asean, and New York newcomer Matthew Nathanson, whose experiences are mostly in California with a stint at Philly-based wine bar chain Vino Volo. Pan-Asian cuisine can be a gamble at best. The flavors of China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia—all of which make an apperance on Wong's menu, sometimes in a single dish—are so diverse that more often than not, endeavors like this end in confusion rather than triumph. For the most part, Wong avoids the typical pratfalls of overzealous menus, serving food that's incredibly fresh, refined, carefully thought-out for the most part, and reasonably priced even when it's not. A couple of meals here revealed a strong menu with a few low points, mostly in the second act. The dining room continues the somewhat disturbing trend of communal tables. You can expect to bump elbows with strangers if the restaurant is full, and don't plan on having any meaningful personal conversations unless you enjoy airing your dirty laundry over your neighbors' rice noodles. That said, the space is surprisingly quiet and pleasant when not full, considering its openness and hard surfaces. The best seats in the house position-wise are the ones ringside, by the kitchen, where you can watch all the action. They're also the worst seats in the house ergonomically speaking—repurposed high school chemistry class bench seats with hard wooden seats and backrests that force you to sit up straight and pay attention.Wong certainly knows the value of good first impressions, and meals start off strong with a cup of mildly hot red curry, homemade paneer, and a sprig of fresh herbs—sometimes mint, sometimes cilantro—to wrap up inside a disk of naan that's rolled and baked to order. Of the times I've had it, once it was near perfect—moist, fluffy, and supple with a hint of char—while the second time it was a rush job, with less browning and a slightly doughy center that was rescued by the awesoThings continue on a strong foot with a whole series of excellent appetizers. Both a Bonito Crudo ($13) and a Steak Tataki ($15) boast bright pink, supple flesh under a blanket of textures. The former mixes mitsuba—the Japanese soup herb*— with peanuts, crunchy disks of radish, and a hot chili sauce; while the latter skews slightly more Southeast Asian with sweet and sour pickled onions, aromatic rau rom (a cilantro-like herb), and slices of chili (which I could have used more of). The menu mentions Pho and bone marrow, but it wasn't evident on the plate.Diving further into Southeast Asian fusion, Shrimp Fritters ($12) have the texture of perfect Indian-style baaji, full of nooks and crannies for absorbing the nuoc cham-style sweet fish sauce that gets poured over. Does it have the bright, vibrant flavors of true Vietnamese food? Not really, but it's delicious enough on its own merits that I really didn't care. The ultra-thin fried shallots might be the best thing on the generous plate. It's meant for sharing (try offering some to the couple sitting next to you at the tightly quartered communal table). Other fried foods are not quite as succesful. While the scallops and crunchy jellyfish in a plate of Scallops with Crispy Duck Tongue ($16) come together beautifully on the plate, a ball of fried duck tongue seems extraneous. If I wasn't told they contained duck tongue, I would have confused it for dry falafel. The Fried Oysters with Kimchi Broth and Kimchi Ravioli ($12) suffer from too much breading and too much time in he fryer, rendering the oysters juice- and flavor-less. Kimchi ravioli, on the other hand, is a brilliant idea, and the little pasta purses underneath the clams are filled with spicy, garlicky kimchi. The pasta tends a bit on the thick side, but in a town full of near-perfect pasta, even the most minor errors like this show more than they should.Hakka Pork Belly with Gakurei Turnip, Taro Root Tater Tots, and Greens ($12) is the nearly flawless in execution. A sweet soy-based glaze coats a meltingly tender hunk of pork belly. Taro root tater tots are a study in textural contrast with a crisp, grease-free shell and a starchy, chewy interior. This Hakka cuisine classic has a tendency to be heavy, but a perfect little nasturtium salad offsets the fattiness of the pork belly nicely.After the excellent appetizer section, the larger plates come off a bit disappointing. BBQ Chicken with Chrysanthemum Greens and Frisee Salad ($19) is a reasonably priced and large-portioned entree with really well-cooked chicken, but If I were to order it again, I'd ask them to go a little easy on the powerful chunky sauce that its topped with. It dominates the dish. Similarly, your palate is overwhelmed with black pepper in the Rice Noodles with Pork & Sea Cucumber Ragu ($18). It's an interesting take on a bolognese sauce, to be sure, with nicely chewy and resilient rice noodles. If you've ever been afraid to try sea cucumber, this is the dish to break yourself in with, as the gelatinous chunks are disguised in the saucy ragu. Our batch was so peppery that we ended up only finishing a few bites of it, despite wanting more.Surely the most interesting looking item on the menu is the Vietnamese Pizza with Isan Sausage, Fennel, and Stinging Nettles ($15), but it was one of the bigger headscratchers of the night. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with it—a crisp shell cooked in a skillet topped with perfectly cooked shrimp and nuggets of flavorful (but dry) Isan-style sausage—but the dish lacked focus and synergy. I couldn't make heads or tails of how everything was supposed to come together. The Lobster Egg Foo Young with Leeks, Salted Duck Egg Yolk, and Dried Shrimp Crumble ($24) suffered from the same lack of focus. The really expertly cooked lobster makes this dish almost worth it, but what do fried eggs, lobster, crumbled salted duck egg, dried shrimp, and some sort of tomato-ey chunky leek sauce have to do with Egg Foo Young, or even with each other? I didn't get it.Luckily, dessert is one of the most stunningly original and creative dishes I've had in recent memory. Duck a la Plum ($9) is sweet and savory with an unmistakable roast duck aroma that comes from steeping duck carcasses in cream. Star anise-poached plums and a plum soda shooter complete the dish, and it's a real keeper. Who knew sweet duck ice cream could be so delicious? Wong has several dishes on the menu that are worth returning for—the hakka pork belly, the kimchi dumplings (because I'm convinced that if they get the frying right, this'll be one of the best dishes around), the roast duck ice cream—and many others that I wouldn't be disappointed ordering. True to its ethos, everything I tasted was impeccably fresh and prepared with precision and care. Like all fusion concepts, a few dishes didn't quite come together in the way that I hoped they would have, but it's to be expected. With so many languages vying for space, something is bound to get lost in translation.

Gael Greene's Insatiable Critic: Wong is So Right
September, 2011
What keeps a restaurant critic dining out after 43 years besides love, money and irrational hunger? For me, it’s the undying dream that dinner will be wonderful. It mostly is tonight at Wong. Our friends have arrived ahead of us. His Hudson corn whiskey cocktail with lavender and fresh peach is surprisingly tart, just to my taste, so I order a Cornelia, the only other cocktail option - Jack Daniels with unfiltered apple cider. It looks very fashion week, accessorized with a big slice of crisp apple. There’s a tad too much cinnamon but lemon juice makes a citric tang. Not sweet at all, as if custom-made for me. I’m definitely in a good mood. Then come luscious shrimp fritters crisped in a sweet potato-jicama batter, served in an improbable toss of ham, rice noodles and watermelon (Asian pears replace melon this week). The waiter pours on noun mum sauce. So much is happening in my mouth: smooth saltiness of ham, rich fritter crackle, the sauce’s preserved fish salinity, a grassy crunch of greens. The table is covered with plates. My friends have moved on. I’m still hooked on fritters. And egg foo young. I never stop craving egg foo young, always with a flash of memory, my mother ordering it in the ‘50s, “sauce on the side, please.” Now with lobster and a dried shrimp crumble on top served in its own black iron skillet, it’s regal and uppity. “It’s just poor food,” Chef-owner Simpson Wong says. “We were poor and I was the youngest. I always ordered the egg foo young. Here I wanted to make it luxurious.” Our companion tosses it, mixing in leeks and onions from below and portions it into our four celadon green bowls. Very pretty, but not practical when we’re sharing everything, and it all slides together. I want to add a slice of Hakka pork belly with turnips and marvelous little taro root tater tots to my bowl but don’t want to compromise the taste. Wong’s pork belly is unique too, judiciously trimmed, modestly fatty and moist, without that adepoise layer I always want to cut away. And why Hakka? “Because that’s my dialect,” he explains. Wong wants us to try the Newport steak tataki with rau ram leaves that comes with bone marrow on brioche and a sprinkle of Amagansett salt. We hadn’t ordered the scallops with duck’s tongues but they’ve come anyway, the scallops deliciously caramelized. It’s the weird little tongue he wants us to taste. One of my least favorite parts, I must admit, but frying them crisp does make a difference. I’m won by the stickiness of rice noodles with pork and sea cucumber ragu, more egg and chestnuts – no, not water chestnuts - European chestnuts. Creamed corn - without cream here - is the essence of summer, warmed in the field seconds after shucking. “I press some of the corn to make the cream,” the chef confides. Go soon. Local corn can’t last much longer. Nothing, it seems, is more life-focusing than a heart attack at forty. When Wong was well enough to return to his Café Asean, and the newer Jefferson on West 10th Street – renamed Jefferson Grill - he focused on more healthful eating. It did not survive the big economic stall. Recetly he gave himself a long sabbatical, traveling to Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Bali and home to Malaysia. Now he’s translated all those tastes and more into a highly original menu, abbreviated, at least for now – he calls it Asian locovore - in this small Cornelia Street storefront with 44 seats. He did most of the interior design himself on a shoestring, with white-washed brick, flea market tables, reclaimed metal school chairs (there’s a space below to park your school books), cupboards left from his home kitchen renovation and shelves he hung himself. He’s collecting books by friends to display. There are a handful of stools at a counter around the kitchen, and there’s even a small chef’s table on the edge of it where you can watch him working with chef de cuisine Blake Joyal. The prices are modest too. Small plates, $9 to $16, are meant to share. Large plates and noodles, $18 to $24, go a long way. In fact, the only disappointment is the Vietnamese pizza with Iscan sausage and fennel – kale replaces the stinging nettles advertised on our menu. It tastes not quite cooked. But then it’s only the first week. A work in progress. Crushed rice crackers on top of the Spanish mackeral crudo tossed with seaweed, purslane, mitsuba. is a nice touch too, but the fish could be a bit colder. After our small plate binge, the four of us don’t have much appetite for barbecue chicken with chrysanthemum greens and frisée salad. Perfectly cooked, moist and painted with savory marinade, it deserves better. Suddenly, a little after 10, there is music. Fleetwood Mac, the expert at our table observes. Wong wouldn’t know. A friend did the tape for him. “I’m too old for that club crowd,” he says. “I did this place for food lovers.” Judy Chen, a veteran of Daniel, puts her French touch on a real dessert shocker - duck à la plum. Roast duck ice cream, served with star-anise poached plums, a crispy sugar tuile, delicate five spice shortbread cookie and sparkling fresh plum soda. Yes, it’s true, Wong confirms. Chunks of roast duck get immersed in the ice cream mix till time to freeze it. There is a subtle something pleasant in the flavor. I can’t say it tastes exactly duckish. The cookie and plum fizz are great. I would never dare to judge a restaurant on one thrilling evening. Consistency and stick-to-it-ivness are crucial. Yet here I am. Those shrimp fritters and the egg foo young haunted me all week. The chef tells me he’s been looking at whole pigs in the market and plans to buy one. “I’m thinking of roasting a whole shoulder with Hubbard squash and Brussels sprouts.” I’m haunted now by pork shoulder. I can’t wait to go back.

Top Ten New & Notable Restaurants
October, 2011
In this vibrant area of the West Village, chef Simpson Wong (formerly of Café Asean) is cooking what he calls “Asian locavore” cuisine that is simple and almost all family-style. The 45-seat space is set up with some communal dining plus two bars; some diners might get the feeling that they’re practically on top of one another. The atmosphere is fun, but it can get noisy. Puffy naan bread appears from the tiny open kitchen to kick off the meal. Small plates range from blowfish tails with herbed tartar sauce and spicy pear slaw to Hakka pork belly to scallops with crispy duck tongue, jellyfish and cucumber. From the larger plates, opt for the sweet and sour pork chop, rice noodles or the lobster egg foo yung served in a skillet with leeks, salted duck egg yolks and dried shrimp crumble. Judy Chen handles the sweet side of the menu, offering desserts such as local peach shortcake and --- for the more adventurous palates --- roast duck ice cream with star anise-poached plums, a five-spice cookie and sugar tuile. There are several local beers available by the bottle, as well as a couple signature cocktails and wine on tap supplied by the keg-wine company Gotham Project.

WONG Review
November, 2011
We went to Wong expecting to drop in for some simple, classic Chinese fare, and honey, this ain’t that. The superb dishes featuring decidedly unexpected pairings thrilled us; jellyfish admirably waltzed with scallops, and lobster and duck yolks were thrust into egg foo young. Reliable chef Simpson Wong from sister restaurant and mainstay Café Asean certainly does not disappoint at this approachable new venture that works as much as an intimate date night as it does a place to have a casual evening meal. From the selection of sustainable wines, the spicy, medium-bodied Three-Legged Red kicked off the proceedings for my guests, but I went right for the liquor. The Cornelia, crafted from Jack Daniels, cider and a dash of Vietnamese cinnamon, rocked on the rocks with a striking slice of a Granny Smith apple perched on the rim. A sampling of an El Jimador tequila-fueled Silk Root cocktail proved to be an earthy choice, similar to a smoothie but shaken and served straight up with a jolt of ginger beer. Scallops shared the perversely divine plate with crispy duck tongue and jellyfish of all things, keenly balanced with a lacing of cucumber. At our waitress’s behest, we ordered the shrimp fritters adorned with ham, elegant rice noodle ribbons, slivers of Asian pear and sunflower sprouts dressed in a vinaigrette comprised of lime juice and a hint of mango. Hakka pork belly was accompanied by Hakurei turnips, a handful of greens and a version of tater tots with taro root subbing for the spuds. The firm slices of tuna sashimi with fennel and radishes were overrun by sriracha sauce, which I usually love on everything. While the fish itself was quite good, it needed to swim unfettered and be allowed to speak for itself. A sole duck meatball rolled onto the table in a cunning cast-iron pan, well seared and so sweet and fluffy inside with a tangy tomato sauce on the side and a beautiful, speckled wheel of Hubbard squash to flatter the dish. We paused for something lighter with a fresh salad of venous, leafy dinosaur kale with mizuna lettuce, dandelion greens, seasonal beets, garlic chive vinaigrette and a smattering of paneer cheese before meeting our mains. The gorgeous egg foo young with lobster resonated considerably with leeks, a crumbling of dried shrimp over rice noodles with duck egg yolks spread on toast alongside. Juicy, wood-grilled Bobo chicken was a quieter symphony, with chrysanthemum greens and savory sorrel. A disappointing side of tempura cauliflower was undefined and lacked any punch; the peanut sauce for dipping didn’t do much to enhance it either. Duck à la plum, fabulous roast duck ice cream, was ridiculously good, a mind-boggling process that apparently takes three days to create. Star anise-poached plums pushed this dessert over the top with a sugar tuile and spicy cookie. The chocolate snowball was much like the Hostess version you may remember with a wicked blackout cake beneath the Italian meringue dusted with Sichuan cocoa. A Californian Dashe Cellars zinfandel rife with flavors of sour cherries, coffee and chocolate was the perfect finish for such a delightful, unexpected evening. SHORT ORDER: Expect the unexpected from chef Simpson Wong, like fantastically paired plates in an intimate great date environment equally suited for more casual dining. PETER’S PICKS: Scallops with duck tongue and jellyfish; shrimp fritters; lobster egg foo young; duck à la plum for dessert PETER’S PANS: Tuna sashimi overrun by sriracha sauce; indistinguishable cauliflower tempura

Where The Food Critics Dine
November, 2011
As an investor, it’s invaluable to ferret out what the Big Guns are buying for their own account. Using the same logic, I asked the Grand Dame of New York food criticism, Gael Greene, to take me to a restaurant she personally ate at and offered the best value for money in New York.Greene was the esteemed food critic for New York magazine for four decades, author of several novels and the lively memoir Insatiable, while co-founding with James Beard the charity, Citymeals On-Wheels. Greene currently runs an invaluable blog ferreting out under-the-radar restaurants.Greene had trouble choosing between Salumeria Rosi on the Upper West Side where she ate regularly, and the three month-old Wong on Cornelia Street in the West Village. In the end, with much gnashing of teeth, she opted for Wong, where she had been once, was bowled over, and was gaming for a rematch.The restaurant is the relaxed but stylish creation of Simpson Wong, a chef of Chinese-Malay descent who made his name with the critically acclaimed restaurants, Café Asean and Jefferson. A heart attack in 2005 forced him to close his restaurant at age 42. Diagnosed with an inherited cholesterol disorder, he subsequently set about teaching himself a new, health-conscious style of cuisine. He calls his current style of cooking, “Asian-locavore”.I had eaten with Greene once before, 21 years earlier, and still had the stretch marks to prove it. Knowing what was in store, I had a bowl of cereal that morning – and that was it.I took my seat opposite Greene and Steven Richter, her partner and photographer, on the long table of reclaimed wood. Warmly reminiscing about the last time we saw each other two decades earlier in Madrid, we slurped a “Silk Root,” a house cocktail made of Root Liquor, Tequila, grilled orange and ginger beer. (A little too sweet. I preferred “The Cornelia,” made from Jack Daniels, cider, and Vietnamese cinnamon.)Wong, working in the open kitchen behind us, sent out “Shrimp fritters”, a rice noodle dish, topped with crispy shrimp, sitting on a complex and citrusy mix of green apples, ham, Asian pear, cucumber and sunflower sprouts. I thought the torn green leaves were tarragon, so pungent were their flavor, but Greene correctly pointed out the shape of the leaf was wrong. It was basil, with a haymaker punch, unusual to find so late in the season.This simple and delicious dish was followed by a small pot of shiitake, hinoki, and chanterelle mushrooms, topped by a poached egg, and covered in bonito flakes, which eerily rippled and waved as if they were alive. Braised duck with ginger, black beans, and Chinese celery was amusingly served in a fried bun wedge. A tad theatrical to say, but, really, the dishes stunned, brought me to my knees.The sybarites then attacked the pretzel-fried Blue Point oysters, on a mound of kimchee dumplings and tatsoi (an Asian green-cum-herb.) This dish had fire, and for the first time that evening I thought there was a slight misstep, with the kimchee a little too funky and overpowering for the delicate oysters. But Wong was basically on a roll – each dish was stunningly original, simple, and a nuanced mix of unusual tastes.A gourmand, the French say, is a gentleman with the fortitude and strength of character to continue eating, even when he is full. With this phrase ringing in my ear, I manned up for Wong’s piece-de-resistance: a complete duck stuffed with rice, sausages and garlic, wrapped in a lotus leaf, and slow cooked for five hours. It was glazed with sherry and sweet soy and just the lotus leaf’s unwrapping at the table was a theatrical event.But the moment I took a bite I knew something had gone wrong. The duck had a wet cardboard taste, and the rice was a goopy reduction of soy sauce so strong it was impossible to taste the sausages that were lurking somewhere. I instantly thought the dish had been overcooked and I blurted out my suspicion to Greene. “Too intense,” she concurred. “We must tell Simpson.”I shrank in horror at the thought but of course Greene was right – it was the honorable thing to do. The earlier dishes were spectacular and whatever had gone wrong with the duck was clearly an aberration. Greene was diplomatic but honest with Wong, and he, naturally, was mortified. He begged us to come back and try the duck again, which top chefs in New York were coming to try – and reordering. He confessed our duck had been ready earlier, but he had held off serving it so we could enjoy the string of tasting dishes sent to the table. It was a mistake.Greene, who had been pining for Wong’s Egg Foo Young (it’s made with lobster) because it was one of her mother’s favorite dishes, got her wish, and the pastry chef insisted on sending to the table, despite our pleas for mercy, a stunning “blackout” chocolate cake covered in Italian meringue, served alongside pomegranate jelly and a peppery Sichuan cocoa.Cost for all this? Can’t really say. Wong refused to fully load the bill with what we had eaten, including the wayward duck, and he wouldn’t budge, even when I returned the bill and insisted the manager add the missing charges. All I could do in the end was leave a generous tip.But even without a fully itemized bill, it’s self-evident the top-rate Wong experience is terrific value for money: starters modestly run from $9.50 to $13.50, while main courses run from $19.50 to $26. Greene had come through with a genuine “best buy” and I, for one, am returning for another round.Loved that duck bun.

Crowd-pleasers
December, 2011
The setup: Simpson Wong (Café Asean) dubbed the cuisine at his airy 40-seat eatery “Asian locavore” when it debuted in September, so it’s no surprise that the 12-seat communal table is made from a mixture of reclaimed timber—like pine and walnut—gathered from the chef’s own apartment apartment. The eco-friendly slab, surrounded by wood-and-metal school chairs, is set in front of the open kitchen, offering a close-up view of the blazing brick oven and wood-fired grill. The spread: Your crew can pimp out the table with Pan-Asian noodles, sides and large plates, including lobster egg foo yong with leeks and salted duck egg yolk ($24) or a wood-grilled chicken with chrysanthemum greens and jicama ($19.50). But if the members of your party are duck fanatics, the eight-course Duckavore Dinner is the way to go. The family-style supper includes a whole roasted duck wrapped in lotus leaves, and the dark-meat poultry is also featured in buns with Chinese celery and cucumber, crispy larb, Eight Treasure sticky rice, a broth and a roasted-duck-infused ice cream served with star-anise–poached plums. The nitty-gritty: Call at least 48 hours in advance to book the table for parties of 10 to 12. The Duckavore Dinner costs $60 per person and does not include tax, tip or beverages.

Year in Dining 2011: Going quack for duck!
December, 2011
Interview with Pastry Chef Judy Chen: MM: What do you think made duck such a popular dish this year? JC: I think duck has a rich, hearty decadence that really appeals to diners who want a special indulgence. Pork, especially bacon, has certainly had its moment, and I think it was high time for duck to get its due attention. MM: Do you think the ubiquity of duck dishes this year eased diners into trying a duck dessert? JC: Yes, I think so. Once there's enough of something around, there seems to be a point where a guilty pleasure turns into a socially acceptable object of rabid consumption, in whatever form it happens to take. A lot of people order it because they're curious. They enjoy it, but they're surprised it's tasty and it is an actual dessert. One woman expected chunks of duck in it. She said, "When we went to Maine we had lobster ice cream and it had chunks of lobster in it." I just wanted that duck flavor to be sweet and well balanced. MM: Did you have a favorite duck dish at another restaurant this year? JC: I know I may be biased, but I really do love all the duck dishes at Wong. We do a six-course Duckavore Dinner that includes an amazing lotus-leaf roasted duck, and then on the regular menu there's the deep-fried duck buns and duck meatball. Otherwise, I'd go old school with the Peking duck at the Peking Duck House on East 53rd Street, where my family has been going for decades. My mom's from Beijing, the birthplace of Peking duck and a true epicenter for the cult of duck. So in my book, Peking duck is practically the platonic ideal for duck dishes. MM: What was the process for creating the duck a la plum? JC: It took a week or so, a few different tries. There was a period before opening the restaurant when Simpson [Wong] and I met and talked [intensively], maybe a week. I was up for the challenge from the beginning, and when I hit upon it with experimentation it was like, this tastes good. It's going to stay on the menu, but we'll offer a new version, with red wine and poached pears. Because of the name, in the beginning, people expected the plum, but we'll change the fruit seasonally. MM: Is there potential for more savory desserts? JC: There are so many possibilities, but I think curry is really interesting. Some curries have naturally occurring sweet notes, and they certainly offer great counterpoints to the more conventional flavors within the pastry world. I'm currently working on a dessert with Thai green curry, which can have intense spiciness that's mellowed with coconut milk.

Find Your Craving
December, 2011
I’ve been a fan of Chef Simpson Wong for over a decade, frequenting his West Village restaurant, Café Asean, for Southeast Asian comfort food. Chef Wong’s new eponymous restaurant is not purely Asian but a harmonious mix of Eastern and Western seasonal ingredients and flavors. For example, I adore his lobster egg foo young. The lobster tail stays soft and tender while cooked in a small cast iron pan with onions, leeks, garlic and two eggs. The dish is served with the egg whites set but the yolks still runny, mixing beautifully with the warm tomato sauce and chili flakes. It’s topped with chopped scallions, fried shallots, minced dried shrimp, shrimp crumble and grated salted egg yolk — a key ingredient that adds a slightly gritty texture and savory flavor. A slice of toasted rustic bread accompanies this perfect comfort food! -Celia Cheng

Wong's Wildly Successful Duckavore Meal
December, 2011
My foodie friend Lucy (of cheeryvisage fame) read about Wong‘s Duckavore Dinner on a thread here and sent the link to a couple of us. Tempted by the promise of the duckiest meal we’ve ever had (even the dessert!), our friend Tiffany made a reservation for four with the required 48 hours notice, and we converged in the West Village restaurant amid candles, school desks, and beakers for a wildly successful large-format meal that was more than just novelty. • bread Although quite confusing at first, the bread service perfectly set the tone for the meal. We still have no idea why one piece of bread was puffed and one wasn’t, and we couldn’t find any of the cheese the server mentioned, but the four of us were in agreement that whatever it was, it was delicious. The bread was soft and warm and was so good on its own we didn’t need the sweet and sour curry sauce on the side but appreciated it, especially when combined with a basil leaf. • duck sung choy bao The words “fish sauce” haven’t exactly inspired confidence in me in the past, but this could change my mind. Our server told us the chef recommends using the lettuce to form wraps around the pulled duck pieces, but our lettuce all seemed to be fused together and impossible to separate for wrap-making; most of us used forks and knives and treated it like a salad. And what a salad it was, with elements fresh and crispy, sweet and spicy, citrusy and crunchy. • duck bun with Chinese celery and cucumber Three words: deep-fried bun. I was definitely looking forward to this course most, and maybe that’s why I wasn’t wholly satisfied by it in the end, but the bread sure was interesting. It had the thinnest crispy layer covering its exterior and just oozed oil all over my hands. The duck just couldn’t stand up to it, though; it was underseasoned and therefore underflavored, and there wasn’t enough sauce on the bun to make up for it. I did like the near-pickled cucumber, though, and you can’t beat those soft Chinese buns no matter what. • duck meatball with squash It was so unfair that there were only two of these for the table, because I needed four for myself. The sauce was so deliciously chunky and left such an unexpected heat in my mouth. The squash had the texture of a cooked apple and added a little necessary sweetness to balance the dish. I’m not sure I understand why paneer was used over a more traditional cheese, but I loved the added flavor and texture. • whole Long Island duck in lotus leaves One of the chefs presented us with the whole duck before taking it back to the kitchen, carving it up, and bringing it back in pieces on a tray with sides of greens and rice. • duck slices with greens In a word, the duck was incredible; all four of us were murmuring and nodding through our entire portions. I’m a big fan of tasting menus because the initial punch of a dish usually wears off for me after a couple of bites, but the sauce on the duck was a gift that kept on giving. It was sweet and rich, like a barbeque sauce for a dark, stormy night. The duck was tender enough not to need a knife, and the skin, though not crispy, melted in my mouth like it had been roasting all day. • 8-treasure sticky rice I loved the rice in theory but only liked it in practice. It was so chock full of fruit and nuts that it should have been bursting with flavor, but it seemed underseasoned to me. When the juices from the duck touched it, though, it took on the same deep, savory flavors, so when I go back for this dinner the second (and third and fourth) time, I’m going to pile my rice high with duck. • duck broth This was far too hot to drink when it was served to us, so we had to sit and wait for it to cool while the fat congealed on top. It was certainly the duckiest part of the meal, and the thick, oily broth stayed on our lips long after our cups were empty. • duck a la plum: roast duck ice cream, star-anise-poached plums, crispy tuile Almost everyone I’ve mentioned the duck ice cream to has been skeptical, so I’m not sure why I went into this thinking it was going to be the best dessert ever. (Was it Wylie Dufresne’s delicious everything bagel ice cream that convinced me?) Of course I was right, though; it was ice cream, all right, but instead of being flavored with chocolate or mint or caramel, it was flavored with duck, and it was excellent. Maybe it works because we’re so used to covering our meat with sweet sauces for savory courses, anyway, but everyone agreed that it did indeed work. The flavor was pretty intense, though, so the golf-ball-sized scoop was just the right amount. The super-crunchy caramelized tuile was another highlight, both in flavor and texture, and we all liked the floral notes of the plum. • five-spice cookie We almost seemed to like this simple cookie as much as the plated dessert, but how could we not love shortbread in duck fat? • plum chaser Lucy accurately described this as a sort of plum soda; it reminded my boyfriend and me of the homemade sodas at the Jean-Georges restaurants that are really the whole point of dining there. It was light and refreshing, perfectly topping off the heavy meal. my rating: 4 out of 5 stars It seems like the thing to do in Manhattan these days is to lure customers in with whole suckling pigs, whole lambs, and timballo enough to feed 14 people. In my experience, those dinners are exciting novelties that don’t really hold up in the taste department. I have an inkling that Wong was attempting to gain some attention by attempting the same sort of idea, but I think they were much more successful. Not only was everything delicious, but we got to try so many iterations of the protein; it wasn’t just appetizer, main, dessert. This is also the first time in my experience that the meal had a theme that was carried out from start to finish, and now the idea of having an unrelated pie with my whole suckling pig seems like a cop-out. At $60 per person, with friendly service and a casual candlelit atmosphere, I can definitely imagine myself coming back for this dinner just to be able to watch three more friends get to enjoy it.

The Year In Review: Top 12 Meals Of 2011
December, 2011
Jellyfish is done proud at Wong, with scallops, crispy duck tongue and cucumber. Resounding lobster egg foo young waltzes with leeks, dried shrimp and duck egg yolks.

Gourmet NYC TV
December, 2011
Wong in New York City - Asian locavore restaurant - Opened in September 2011, Highly Rated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn4y2MH5Uyg

New York Times Restaurant Review (Two Stars): Asian Fusion, the Latest Chapter
January, 2012
IF you want to have some fun, bring friends to Simpson Wong’s new restaurant on Cornelia Street and watch them taste the duck-fat ice cream in a dessert called duck a la plum. First they stop talking. Then they stop moving. Their eyes shut, and just when you’re wondering how long this will last, they pop open again, bright with the pleasure of discovery. It’s been a long time since Asian fusion cooking has promised thrills of this sort. When it makes eyes roll these days, nobody smiles. Witness the lengths that some Manhattan restaurants operating in the Asian fusion or pan-Asian idiom go to avoid those terms. RedFarm has “Chinese cuisine with Greenmarket sensibility,” says the Web site. Kin Shop’s menu is “modern Thai,” and Rouge et Blanc’s is “French-Vietnamese.” At Wong, meanwhile, the euphemism of choice is “Asian locavore.” Maybe the owners of these places should meet to agree on a name that doesn’t evoke 900-seat nightclubs with giant Buddhas, because taken together with the shock troops at Momofuku and a few other places, they offer hope for New Yorkers who hunger for adventure, for something new. Duck tongues, anyone? Say yes, please, because I think you’ll like the way Mr. Wong prepares them, braising them to tenderness, then rolling them into small meatballs with a crunchy fried crust. If Mr. Wong sold them to go, I’d buy them by the bag and eat them like popcorn. The menu bills these tongue meatballs as the supporting players to seared scallops, but really, the two are equal partners on a surf and turf platter that’s as wonderful as it is uncommon. You are a fan of sea cucumbers, too, I hope? You’ll find slippery, crunchy bits of them in Wong’s slightly demented Bolognese. Made with pork and shiitakes, too, and served with fat springy rice noodles, it’s the kind of dish that tastes simply odd at first, but keeps luring you back for another bite. The flavors build as you eat until there’s nothing left. Like the scallops, the rice noodles appear on the menu beside the restaurant’s logo, a sign that it’s a specialty of the house. In general, dishes bearing that mark are roughly twice as delicious as the others, most of which aren’t half bad to begin with. You will eat well enough if you order the wreckfish or the pork plate, but your enjoyment of your dinner may be undone by your envy of everybody else’s. (Though I’d steer well clear of the mystifying crab pizza and the duck meatball, neither of which improves on the Italian original.) Let’s hope that Mr. Wong intends to put his logo next to the entire menu some day. Imagine what this restaurant could be if everything were as compelling as the lobster egg foo young. In any kitchen not owned by Mr. Wong, that dish is a Chinese omelet, usually in brown gravy. Some people like it. Here it’s half a lobster tail and a claw, poached to an angry red and cradled in a cast-iron skillet with a tomato-chili sauce, a dusting of dried shrimp, two fried chicken eggs with liquid yolks and shaved hard yolks from salt-cured duck eggs. The dish comes with a slice of toast. I used it to clean my skillet. The best dishes at Wong have a where-did-that-come-from quality. For some New Yorkers, so will the restaurant. Simpson Wong, the chef and proprietor, has kept a low profile of late, although a previous restaurant of his, Jefferson, was once an address known by car service drivers and executive assistants, especially around 2004, when its sleek minimalist dining room popped up on “Sex and the City.” The next year, Mr. Wong had a heart attack and closed the restaurant. He tried to restart it as Jefferson Grill, with smaller plates and a lower cholesterol count, but its best days were in the past. It was shut in 2006. Mr. Wong retrenched to his first restaurant, Cafe Asean (after 15 years, it is still on West 10th Street, still cheap, still pan-Asian and still over-performing). And he traveled. He flew home to Malaysia, where he was born, and rounded up his mother (who is nearly 80 and gets around in a wheelchair). Together, they went on a series of eating tours across Asia. In Hong Kong, they ate spicy crabs that became a model for the typhoon lobster at Wong. They bought shrimp fritters on the street in Ho Chi Minh City; in Hanoi, they went to Cha Ca La Vong to taste the house specialty, turmeric-scented fish fried with dill stalks, tossed over rice vermicelli and doused with nuoc cham. On Cornelia Street, the dish is renamed cha ca la Wong. The cooking at Jefferson, which was awarded two stars by William Grimes in 2003, often began with Western ideas to which Asian ingredients were introduced. At Wong, he has kept his freewheeling palate and his nuanced instincts for building contrasts, but the starting point tends to be Asia, which means that his cooking at Wong, at its strongest, resembles nothing else in town. That is the reason to go to Wong. The dining room is half Williamsburg, half Salvation Army, with wood salvaged from demolition sites and molded-plywood schoolhouse chairs, the kind with a wire basket under the seat for geometry textbooks. The interior probably won’t be seen in the pages of Architectural Record, as Jefferson’s was. But then Jefferson cost three to four times as much, Mr. Wong said in a telephone interview. These are more sober times, and among chefs more high-minded times as well. Mr. Wong is earnest about his locavore convictions, to the point that he won’t sell bottled water. Those beliefs also helped inspire an all-American and largely sustainable wine list that, unfortunately, simply can’t keep up with the kitchen. Without compromising his principles, Mr. Wong should be able to do better than the dozen lackluster choices. The list doesn’t have to be longer, just stronger. For proof, see the dessert menu put together by Wong’s pastry chef, Judy Chen. There are three choices. Two are first-rate and the third has that ice cream that makes time stop. At 48, Mr. Wong has closed a popular and acclaimed restaurant. He knows what a heart attack feels like. For future reference, if those things happen to you, there are worse ways to react than to invent duck tongue meatballs. Wong ★★

City Unlisted: Six Most Unusual Restaurant Dishes
January 2012
Duck a la Plume at Wong: Don’t be so quick to shun duck fat. It’s delicious, unctuous and makes most everything taste better. It’s no wonder that Wong’s Pastry Chef Judy Chen decided to slop it into the ice cream machine. But is the world ready to toss aside their chocolate cakes and apple pies for roasted duck ice cream with anise-poached plums? Only time will tell.

Pete Wells Awards Two Stars to Wong in the West Village
January, 2012
For his very first review as New York Times critic, former dining section editor Pete Wells awards two stars to Wong, chef Simpson Wong's new Asian fusion restaurant. Wells is familiar with the food at Wong's other restaurant Cafe Asean, and at his failed projects Jefferson and Jefferson Grill, and here he finds that the chef is doing some of the best cooking of his career: At Wong, he has kept his freewheeling palate and his nuanced instincts for building contrasts, but the starting point tends to be Asia, which means that his cooking at Wong, at its strongest, resembles nothing else in town. Wells remarks that the dining room is "half Williamsburg, half Salvation Army," and pokes some fun at the names and cuisine descriptions at other modern Asian restaurants like Kin Shop and Red Farm. And so the era of Pete Wells as NYT critic begins with a warm two-star review of a somewhat quiet new restaurant. Expect assessments of heavy-hitters like Romera and Le Bernardin sometime in the next month or so.

Here’s Pete Wells’s First Review As the Times’ New Full-Time Critic
January, 2012
While our own critic recovers from the Herculean task of ranking the city's 100-plus best restaurants, Pete Wells drops his first review as the Times' newest full-time critic. So which spot does he deem worthy of the debut? Wong, Simpson Wong's "Asian locavore" spot on Cornelia Street. And he likes it, especially the duck-fat ice cream.

City Unlisted: Six Most Unusual Restaurant Dishes
January, 2012
Duck a la Plum at Wong: Don’t be so quick to shun duck fat. It’s delicious, unctuous and makes most everything taste better. It’s no wonder that Wong’s Pastry Chef Judy Chen decided to slop it into the ice cream machine. But is the world ready to toss aside their chocolate cakes and apple pies for roasted duck ice cream with anise-poached plums? Only time will tell.

America's Best Comfort Foods
January, 2012
The Skinny: How do you bring a modern twist to this age-old comfort food? Do to it what countless restaurants have done to French fries: add duck fat. At least, that’s the path blazed by this new Greenwich Village restaurant. And…wow. Sure, the first bite of any unique ice cream will wake your palate, but that initial thrill usually dies down mid-scoop. Not so with Wong’s “duck a la plum.” The duck fat adds a complex, underlying layer to this innocent-looking ice cream, and each bite brings a relentless release of flavor waves that cascade through your mouth, rendering you silent, stunned, and forever changed.

Restaurants Take Takeout Up a Notch
January, 2012
Simpson Wong, the chef-owner of Wong in Greenwich Village, shops at the Union Square farmer's market four times a week for produce to pair with Hudson Valley ducks and pork from an eco-friendly farm. His "locavore Asian" concept was inspired by the discovery that he could find local produce similar to the Malaysian markets of his boyhood. "More and more farmers realize Asian produce can be grown here," including napa cabbage, yu choy and Asian pears, Mr. Wong said. He said about 85% of his restaurant's produce is local, as is nearly all the meat, eggs and seafood.

Dragon Dishes: Go Beyond Chinatown for a Full, Happy Buddha Belly of Twists on Classics
January, 2012
The dish: New Year salad, Lo Sung ($26.88 for two people) The spot: Wong, 7 Cornelia St. The crowd-pleaser on Simpson Wong’s weeklong special menu, which begins tomorrow, will be the Malaysian Lo Sung salad ($26.88 for two people), which consists of raw tuna, red seaweed, fried noodles, orange slices and a citrus dressing. The usual tradition with this dish is for celebrants to use their chopsticks to toss all the ingredients together as high as they can into the air, for luck. In lieu of a dining-floor disaster, Simpson’s kitchen staff will be taking care of the mixing. Instead, leave the fortune for when you get to the bottom of the platter, where there will be a surprise lottery ticket waiting inside a waxy red envelope.

Duck Versus Duck: Pitting Ssam Bar’s Duck Lunch Against Wong’s Duckavore Dinner
January 6, 2012
NYT's Pete Wells does a side-by-side comparison of Wong's Duckavore dinner with Momofuku's Duck lunch. Read more.

Insatiable Highs of 2011
January 3, 2012
Gael Greene included Wong in her "Insatiable Highs of 2011!" She especially loved the shrimp fritters and our turnip cakes! Read more.

Five Affordable Alternatives to NYC's Hottest Restaurants
January 31, 2012
Eater called out Wong as one of NYC's Hottest New Restaurants. Read more.

Totally Sweet: 101 of America’s Most Crazy-Awesome New Desserts
February 10, 2012
Our Duck a la Plum has garnered national acclaim! New York Magazine's Grubstreet included Pastry Chef Judy Chen's dessert, saying it might be New York's most talked-about dessert at the moment. Read more.

The Strong Buzz Review: Wong
February 2012
There’s something quite unusual about Wong, the latest restaurant from chef Simpson Wong, who has in the past brought us Jefferson, and Jefferson Grill (both no longer) and Café Asean (still thriving after 15 years)... Read more.

Sinovision TV visits Wong
February 18, 2012
Sinovision visits Wong to talk to Chef Simpson Wong about his inspiration for the restaurant and food. Check out Episode 6 to view the segment! Click here.

The Best Thing We Ate Last Night: Shrimp Fritters With Ham and Asian Pear At Wong
February 17, 2012
We stopped by chef Simpson Wong's "Asian locavore" hotspot Wong last night in the West Village and among other items, ordered the shrimp fritters with noodles ham, Asian pear, and sunflower sprouts... Read more.

15 Wild Dishes To Try Out Now — If You Dare!
February 23, 2012
Refinery29 picks our Scallops with Crispy Duck Tongues in their roundup of hot, adventurous dishes in NYC right now! Read more.

Updating the Eater Heat Map: Where to Eat Right Now
March 1, 2012
Wong makes the Eater Heat Map. Read more.

‘Asian Locavore’ Dinner at NYC’s Wong
February 1, 2012
John DeMers features Wong on his Delicious Mischief food and wine radio show in Dallas! Read more.

NYMag Best of New York 2012
March 5, 2012
NYMag chooses our Duck a la Plum dessert as one of the Best of New York 2012! Read more.

Malaysian Potpourri Wong's fragrant, flavorful chicken
March 15, 2012
Chef Simpson Wong culls taste memories from his Malaysian boyhood for menu inspiration at his restaurant Wong in New York City. His recipe for Bo Bo chicken, which refers to a brand of chicken popular among New York City's Asian population, calls for eye-popping amounts of lemongrass, garlic, shallots and fresh ginger. Read more.

New York Social Diary Bits & Morsels: Wong Restaurant Review
March 28, 2012
Erin Frankel loves Wong and takes you through a visual experience of her meal at the restaurant! Read more.