Eton Take-Away

From Asiate alum Eton Chan, this eponymous Carroll Gardens alcove offers a simple menu of dumplings, pork buns, bubble tea and Hawaiian shaved ice. Outside, a couple sat with their Husky in the two wicker chairs with dog bowl left beside. We ordered the pork buns and dumplings with beef, pork and cabbage. With twenty-minutes until our take-away would be ready, we decided to mosey around the neighborhood.

Upon our return, we waited another ten minutes, content with the Zaytoons staff putting on a show of playful combat. The dumplings come with your choice of sauce, we chose two (worth the 25 cent up charge!) -- hot chili oil and ginger vinegar. While the sauces stood alone, the marriage of the two provided succulent palate for rolling the dumplings in.

Plump and juicy, the dumplings come in a portion of five. Quite dense and flavorful, they are a filling meal. If I wasn't sharing, there would be no need for the second dish of pork buns. The moist meat in the buns came dressed in sweet Asian barbecue sauce and wrapped in a rice bun.

The cheap eats venue is spectacular from a quality per-price-point perpective. At $3.75 per dish, you're nibbling on a steal. It's worth the trip to Brooklyn.

Images: Felicia Sullivan, NY Serious Eats

photo series, through the west village and into chinatown

west village, fluff and arms.

west village, tucked.

Bayard Market. Why the frogs weren't trying to escape, I couldn't tell you. Mild in comparison to the Komodo Dragon Arms for sale.

"That's not legal," Vadim chirped.

"Come on."

"It can't be."

A slight pang of hunger snuck up on us.

As featured in New York magazine, we partook in the dumplings on Mosco street. On the edge of Chinatown, the tiny, disheveled shop opened to the street with a handful of people pushed onto the street, waiting for the single woman to plate them up pork dumplings. Mounds of flour crowded the counter with finely chopped pork and scallions. Three nearly empty bottles of Sriracha littered the shelf peaking over a the two stool 'seating area.' Five dumplings will set you back $1. And they're good. Really good.

Dumplings on plates.

Although other items are offered, when we requested pork buns, we were simply given a second plate of dumplings. Three young boys barked at the woman behind the grill, "I need one more!" Without looking up from her rows of plump hissing dumplings- she corrected, "Then you give me another dollar!"

Fortune telling.

Cards and communication.

Love and things.