Red Farm’s Delicious Chinese Food Finally Opens UWS Location
Red Farm owner Ed Schoenfeld and Chef Joe Ng have been such an Upper West Side tease these past few months! Their West Village Red Farm, on Hudson Street, is one of the city's hottest restaurants going on two full years now, with nightly packed-house conditions, people flocking to Schoenfeld and Ng's fun and fantastic contemporary twists on classic Chinese restaurant fare.
But though the UWS Red Farm LOOKED ready for months–the familiar red-checkered booths and long communal table even had their set-ups all in place–every time I walked by the sign on the door still only promised "Open Very Soon". Well "soon" finally came! Last week Red Farm UWS started serving lunch, with dinner to follow.
Red Farm's Chinese Food Wizardry
I went to Red Farm UWS for a super-early supper at around 4:00 the first week the restaurant opened, and am thrilled to report that Schoenfeld and Ng seem to have transported their Chinese-food wizardry from downtown without losing any of the magic. There are a number of items on the Red Farm UWS menu that Chef Ng has created exclusively for this location–the Diced Tuna with Crispy Noodles and the Five-Flavored Chicken Dumplings look particularly enticing–but I decided to save those for next time (or the time after that… this will definitely be a regular part of my Upper West Side restaurant rotation). I ordered instead a few of my favorites from the West Village Red Farm. All three were just as good as I remembered from Hudson Street.
Must Try's Off Their Menu
For example, the Katz's Pastrami Egg Roll, which sounds either gross or gimmicky, but is neither: turns out that peppery, fatty meat tastes just as good inside a crunchy shell as it does on a nice rye. There's mustard on the side, of course, though of a more Chinese style than you'll find on Katz's Lower East Side landmark. Next up was the Pac-Man Dumplings, which, again, might be dismissed as gimmicky if they weren't so good. Each of the ghosts has a different flavor–including shrimp, lobster, and mushroom–and Pac-Man himself is a tempura-ed slice of sweet potato. Very cute, very delicious. Finally, one of my favorite dishes anywhere, the Neuske's Bacon and Egg Fried Rice, turns out to be just as amazing uptown as it down-. This a masterpiece of mixed-up flavors (sweet, salty, bitter, acid) and textures (chewy, crunchy, creamy) that I can never not order, and should find a way to your table, too.
More Information: Upper West Side Red Farm
The Upper West Side Red Farm is located on Broadway between 75th and 76th Streets, and is currently open daily from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Dinner service will begin "very soon". Eater has a shot at the Red Farm UWS menu, though the Red Farm website should be updated soon.
Posted in NYC Dining, Top Picks, Westside | Tagged red farm chinese nyc • red farm new location • red farm restaurant • red farm upper west side • red farm uws
