Our article from summerlin view newspaper

Family brings Big Apple-style Chinese food recipes to Summerlin area
By JAN HOGAN
VIEW STAFF WRITER

photos by larry cruikshank/ViewLeft, ingredients sit prepared for cooking on Dec. 12 at New York Chinese Restaurant, 9430 W. Lake Mead Blvd., Suite 1. Top, manager Daniel Lin fires up a wok at the eatery. The restaurant is an offshoot of the Lin Song family?s two restaurants in New York City. Advertisement

For a new eatery, it didn't take long for it to get a faithful following.

New York Chinese Restaurant, 9430 W. Lake Mead Blvd. Suite 1, which opened on Aug. 11, even does a steady business mid-afternoon. What's behind the response?

"This is New York-style food -- completely different in taste," manager Daniel Lin said.

The restaurant is an offshoot of the Lin Song family's two restaurants in the Big Apple, hence the name. Song is Lin's uncle.

The ratio of spices is not the same as Chinese food made elsewhere in the United States, and while the family's recipes set the standard, they have been tweaked slightly to accommodate American palates, Lin said. The 1,300-square-foot, 24-seat eatery uses only vegetable oil and no MSG.

"It's wonderful," Ann Mulvey said of the food. "It's the best I've had since I left New England 30 years ago."

She said the crab Rangoon was her favorite.

"We came here the first day they opened," her sister Mary Mulvey said. "There was a line out the door."

Even the presentation differs. The chow mein, for example, has fried noodles on the side and comes with vegetables for putting on top. It comes in seven varieties, including the spicy Singapore style, and starts at $5.25. There also are lo mein varieties -- vegetable, chicken, pork, shrimp, beef, seafood and the house specialty -- in two sizes -- ranging from $3.75 for the small to $6.25 for the large.

Lunch specials include curry chicken, pork lo mein, mixed vegetables and Kung Pao chicken and are $4.95. Bump up to the $5.25 lunch specials for choices like General Tso's chicken, beef with broccoli and shrimp with lobster sauce. Dinner items include orange chicken for $8.25, Hunan shrimp for $8.95 and Mongolian beef for $8.25.

Combination dinners offer a choice of egg flower soup, hot and sour soup, egg roll, crab Rangoon and a choice of pork fried rice, brown rice or steamed rice. Combination dinners include entrees like chicken chop suey, sesame chicken and shrimp broccoli. They start at $7.25.

Summerlin resident Carol Sage was introduced to the eatery by a friend. She now recommends it to others.

"Everyone I talk to that comes here, loves it," Sage said. "It's not like regular Vegas Chinese food."

Tom Thompson said he liked that the eatery brought variety.

"There's Taco Bell and Jack in the Box right here, but you get tired of them. We come here for better food, healthier food," he said.

General manager Daniel Lin said people may come for the food, but it's customer service he stresses to his staff.

"I try to remember all my customers by name," he said.

New York Chinese Restaurant is open 10:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

It plans to open a second site at 3545 S. Fort Apache Road, Suite 110, in January.

Contact Summerlin View and South Summerlin View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.