My First NYC Chinese Food Delivery

You read that title right. I've lived in Brooklyn for three and a half years and I hadn't once ordered Chinese food delivery before last weekend.

Delivery is a staple in New York City, as I suppose it is in any city where people work late and/or have dollhouse-sized kitchens. It's not just Chinese food, although come to think of it, that probably is the standard. Pizza, of course, is also popular, but almost every place around here delivers. Greek, Japanese, Middle Eastern, my favorite Thai restaurant a few blocks away -- they could all be at my door in 30 minutes or less.

Yet we had never done it. I think there's two reasons for that:

1. Paul cooks better food than many restaurants, and he enjoys doing it.
2. If I want to eat restaurant food, I want to have a restaurant experience.

But last Saturday was a different story. We were both looking forward to trying a new neighborhood burger place, but it was frigid. The temperature was barely above freezing, and the wind gusts were so strong that they literally almost blew me over when I was walking along the sidewalk earlier in the day. (In fact, Paul woke up that night seriously wondering if there was going to be a tornado.) We weren't going outside again.

So Paul wasn't in the mood for cooking, and I'm never in the mood for cooking. Instead we got out the menu for our very favorite Chinese place -- and probably Paul's favorite neighborhood restaurant -- Grand Sichuan House, six blocks away. We ordered our favorite dishes: ma po tofu with minced pork for me, beef with cumin flavor for Paul. (You can see photos and descriptions of the dishes at my previous post on Grand Sichuan House.)

It came with the stereotypical Chinese take-out container of rice, and two fortune cookies. And the spicy food was the perfect antidote to the freezing cold weather.

And like any good New Yorker, Paul gave the delivery guy an extra tip for making the trip in such weather while we stayed cozy and warm.