Lei Wine Bar
Set on the most evocative street in Chinatown, and founded by one of the partners at King and Jupiter, Lei turns dishes served elsewhere in the hood on their heads. So a plate of chrysanthemum greens, which would normally be stir fried, is here served as a refreshing salad; a Uygher-style lamb stew with cat’s ear pasta comes topped with a dry fudge of fresh chopped herbs a third of an inch thick; and celtuce, a lettuce used for its asparagus-like stem, is fanned out in a geometric wedge, set atop a tart red wine vinaigrette, and stuck together with jellied kombu, for one of the most unusual but craveable dishes in the city.
That's the good news. The bad is that this is a VERY small restaurant, so you'll need advance reservations to get in, and those can be hard to snag. You can wait on line outside for a spot at the bar, but note that a few of those spots are standing only.
Set on the most evocative street in Chinatown, and founded by one of the partners at King and Jupiter, Lei turns dishes served elsewhere in the hood on their heads. So a plate of chrysanthemum greens, which would normally be stir fried, is here served as a refreshing salad; a Uygher-style lamb stew with cat’s ear pasta comes topped with a dry fudge of fresh chopped herbs a third of an inch thick; and celtuce, a lettuce used for its asparagus-like stem, is fanned out in a geometric wedge, set atop a tart red wine vinaigrette, and stuck together with jellied kombu, for one of the most unusual but craveable dishes in the city.
That's the good news. The bad is that this is a VERY small restaurant, so you'll need advance reservations to get in, and those can be hard to snag. You can wait on line outside for a spot at the bar, but note that a few of those spots are standing only.
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