In the last several years, my bookmarked map list of places to try and eat at in New York city has exploded. And especially since Kaia has been in school in Manhattan Chinatown for the last 1.5 years, I keep running into interesting things I want to try. This then presents a very (first-world) conundrum where my old favorites battle with trying interesting new places because you can have only so many meals or snacks in a given day. One place that I’ve neglected for the last nine to ten years has definitely been Super Taste on Eldridge Street. Once upon a time, it was this tiny long hole-in-the-wall with just a handful of tables and the skinniest kitchen you can imagine. They had a small menu specializing in Lanzhou hand pulled noodle soup, a dry noodle version, as well as dumplings. Their signature dumpling was a bit unusual in that it was minced beef, celery, and cilantro (the usual tends to be pork and cabbage, or pork and chive). The last time I remember going here was before I moved to the Upper West Side, in 2017 with my friend, who loves cheap noodle joints.

This friend mentioned to me a couple months ago that Super Taste had exploded on social media a while back, and so all the food influencers were hyping it up. Now, they actually accept credit cards (they were always cash only before!), and they’ve even expanded their menu to have more options, including dishes like Mount Qi noodles, dan dan mian/noodles, and chicken (gasp!) dumplings and fully vegetable dumplings to accommodate people who don’t eat red meat or meat at all. This made sense to me because the few times I walked by it on Eldridge Street, I noticed a small crowd around it. I was never used to seeing this before.

Before I picked up Kaia from school this late afternoon, I decided to finally stop by Super Taste again to pick up some dumplings and noodles. And it was a challenge to get in: every single table was taken, and the majority of the people eating there were not Chinese! It’s a world difference from 9-10 years ago. I put in my order, paid by credit card, and waited for about ten minutes for my order. In that short time, there was a constant stream of people coming in and out to dine as well as to order/pick up takeout. I was happy for the growth of their business, but honestly, I was also a little sad that the secret was out about this place.

I took the food home and shared it with Chris and my friend who came over for a quick dinner before we were scheduled to head to the opera. We all concluded that the dumplings were excellent. They were having Super Taste for the very first time, but this was my third or fourth time having it. I am happy to conclude that they have not deterred from their original quality, and all the dumplings are just as good as I remember. This just means I’ll have to add them back into my rotation for northern style dumplings and noodles and stop neglecting them!