As a non Asian person I always thought New York offered quite an array of Asian cuisine etc. the old Chinese communities especially seem pretty legit. any comments on this?
I'm not Chinese so I can't speak to it, though I found Flushings to be solid.
I can speak as someone of South and Central Asian descent though. There are options for that in NYC, but I'd need to commute over an hour to New Jersey, Midwood, or Brighton Beach. Meanwhile I can get Aush or Charsi Kebab within at most a 40 minute BART ride from SF, and have 4-5 different options.
If I want to get HK Cha Chaan Teng style Yu Char Kway I have like 8-9 options within 3 miles of me within SF, or if I want to try some cool Thai Chinese style crepes there are 4 options in SF alone.
If I ever want to find a specific Asian sub-ethnic group's food - I will always find 3-4 options for that in the Bay Area, but it's difficult even in NYC
Furthermore, Asian and Latino culture is extremely normalized in California compared to NY. The same way a New Yorker is a fanatic for an Italian sub is the same way a Californian is for their Banh Mi
And finally, it's hard to discount the representation all over California. In the east coast you will feel like the other - people absolutely do look at you weird if you ain't white or black - but in the West no one bats an eye.
Basically, imagine if you were an Italian New Yorker. Italians have been well represented politically, culturally, and socially. You're basically the top dog. In NYC you can try every single type of ethnic Italian cuisine at every single price point. For Asian ethnic groups, that's most of California (and the West in general).
Meanwhile NYC alone has more Asians than LA/SF combined in a much smaller area and even you admit on the flanks of NYC, e.g., Fort Lee has its own contribution here (of course, it's no 40 minute bart train ride -- maybe a 30 minute car trip though)
The rest of your story's anecdotes are about twenty years out of date. NYC for Italian subs? Really? There's like six Italians left east of the Husdon and three of them speak Spanish at home.
Top dog ethnicity btw is a hilarious (and dangerous) way of looking at things.
> Meanwhile NYC alone has more Asians than LA/SF combined
Numerically, not proportionally. The Bay Area has been a hub for Asian Americans for a long time.
> Fort Lee has its own contribution here
Fort Lee is mostly Korean.
I gave an examples of Pakhtun and Cantonese food - one a niche community in the US and the other a large diaspora in the US.
That's the thing - us Asians aren't a monolith. We're a fucking continent with hundreds of different ethnicities.
Just about every South Asian, Chinese, and Southeast Asian community is represented in the Bay, with a well represented Central Asian and East Asian community as well.
I can get Liti Chokha (Bhojpuri), Laghman (Hui-Uyghur fusion), Horse Kumis (Mongolian), Banh Mi Xiu Mai (Highland Vietnamese), etc within the core Bay Area via public transit alone. With driving it would be even faster
That almost isn't a thing in NYC. Hell, there's only one Laghman joint in NYC and they completely butchered their Samosa compared to Mrs Khan, Kusan, or Nursel. Farida is decent, but half their family and staffed moved to the Bay Area to open restaurants like Halal Dastarkhan.
Every small Asian ethnic group is well represented in the Bay irrespective of size.
If you're a numerically large ethnic group like Korean or Cantonese it might not matter as much, but it does to us who are from smaller ethnic groups. My ethnic group has only 3 million people at most, and most of them only reside in South and Central Asia with no diaspora.
I don't want to lose my cultural background. And this is the same for plenty of other smaller communities.
> NYC for Italian subs?
It's an example of cultural assimilation to highlight how ingrained Asian ethnic groups have become in California.
Yeah…I don’t know about that. New York has a stunningly good chinese food scene and a surprisingly meh Italian scene. And people looking at you weird if you’re not white or black? Have you lived in New York? In like the last 30 years?
There is surprisingly poor Vietnamese and Indian food in New York, although that’s slowly changing. But for lots of asian cuisines there’s fantastic diversity and quality.
And most other communities aren't well represented in general. Even Chinese ones, compared to the Bay. Like I think there are only 2 Guilin style restaurants in the NYC area (please correct me if wrong - I'd love recommendations).
For smaller Asian ethnic groups, we are well represented in the Bay Area due to the existing large Asian community (and to a lesser extent in most other West Coast cities)
This isn't a think in NYC. Nor is there convenience. The same way a New Yorker can go downstairs and get a Pizza Slice, I can get a Banh Mi or Jiaozi in SF.
NYC has options, but it's a minority. That's a very real thing - it's a MINORITY. This simply isn't as common an experience in California.
If you're a numerically large ethnic group like Korean or Cantonese it might not matter as much, but it does to us who are from smaller ethnic groups. My ethnic group has only 3 million people at most, and most of them only reside in South and Central Asia with no diaspora.
I have to say that Naan N Curry is the only Pakistani restaurant I ever walked out of (after eating of course, not in anger) feeling it was too authentic - right down to the attitude of the staff.
