Love From Philly: Charlie was a sinner. Elevates Philly's Vegan Sceneby Randi / September 27, 2014
Philly’s best Chinese restaurant is actually the best Chinese restaurant in the country. Important and wise critics actually say that, not just me, and everyone I know who has eaten at Han Dynasty agrees. Offering an authentic, super-spicy Szechuan-based cuisine, it’s so far from your usual Chinese restaurant that you probably won’t know where to begin. Luckily, I’m here to help. The menu is a favorite of omnivores but there is so much insane food for vegans to eat that I consider this one of my top vegan recommendations for Philly and the surrounding area (they have several outputs in the burbs and in NYC now, so famous).
The menu is set up to be user-friendly, with spice rankings from 1 to 10 accompanying each dish (the 10s are mind-blowing, and will melt your face; so will some 5s) so you know what you are getting into. Making Han Dynasty super vegan friendly is that each dish is described in terms of how its made and how its seasoned, and then you choose what protein you want it based around (I know, I hate using that word like that but it works). Tofu is available as the protein in the majority of dishes, so vegans unite! Also, Han himself is really nice and helpful. Well, now he’s like the new it-boy of the restaurant world (and now NYC claims Handy as its own), but back when he actually worked in the Old City Philly kitchen, he was always willing to talk about what was vegan and what was not. Thankfully, there is so much besides the many tofu-based entrees for us to eat. (Also the twitter account is @handynastyphila and so I refer to this restaurant as Handy in shorthand. Best lack of punctuation.)
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The #1 dish at Han Dynasty is how everyone I know always starts the meal: the Spicy Crispy Cucumber. It’s not crispy from frying; it’s crispy because it’s the freshest cucumber you’ve ever eaten, and it’s the most perfectly prepared raw cucumber you can imagine. I think even people who don’t like cucumber would go nuts over this dish. The spicy part is not a joke. The cucumber is bathed in a sort-of sweet, exceedingly hot yet light chili marinade. After the cucumber is gone, I always want to drink what’s leftover in the bowl because it’s that good. (I don’t because I don’t want to destroy my insides.) One day, I will successfully recreate how magical this dish is, but for now, you have to leave it in Handy’s hands…ies.
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My other favorites (I mean everything I’ve had is a favorite, but these are things I’ll order every single time) are the Cold Sesame Noodles and the Dan Dan Noodles without pork. (Specify that you want them without pork and vegetarian.) The sesame noodles are a classic that I’m sure you’ve had before, but these are the best you can ever imagine. Last time I was here, we ordered multiple bowls even though we were too full to finish other dishes. Definitely over-order these because everyone will keep eating them past fullness, and also they are amazing out of the fridge the next day. As for the Dan Dan, if you are familiar with Szechuan, you know that these noodles are super important and vital to the cuisine. They are amazing. Oh my goodness. I don’t know what’s in them, because the internet shows me that Dan Dan is usually in a broth full of mustard greens, but Handy’s are in more of a thin paste. Regardless, these are incredible and you must eat them. Also – it’s an 8 spice level. And an 8 feels like a 10.
Recently, I actually tried a new noodle. (In addition, obviously, not as a replacement.) I ordered the mung bean noodles in black bean sauce (another 8 spice level). While I didn’t get the black bean sauce aspect (I may have just been given the other mung bean noodle dish), I did like the strange as hell consistency of the noodles themselves. They are soft and gelatinous; you cannot pick them up with chopsticks (they cut right through) and a fork only barely does the job. I don’t know, I like having to work for my food I guess. Anyway, they were very interesting and cool, but if you can’t handle three noodle dishes, stick to the two above.
Now let’s get to the entrees. I am obsessed beyond words and beyond belief with Handy’s tofu. No matter what form you get it in, the tofu is the densest, most perfectly chewy and strong I have ever encountered. I don’t know what they do to make it so superb. It’s like it was pressed for years.
Now let’s get to the entrees. I am obsessed beyond words and beyond belief with Handy’s tofu. No matter what form you get it in, the tofu is the densest, most perfectly chewy and strong I have ever encountered. I don’t know what they do to make it so superb. It’s like it was pressed for years.
Above is the Hot Sauce Style tofu, chock full of scallions, some kind of green, and the largest amount of chili and peppercorns I’ve ever seen in one dish. Can you even believe that? There were more peppercorns in the chili oil below the top bed of food. This was a 7, by the way, and my mouth was on fire for a long time. I love how amazingly hot everything is while still having a wonderful taste. That’s super hard to do.
Another one of my favorites is the Garlic Sauce Tofu, which is perfect if you cannot handle the vast amount of chili oil and heat in most of the other dishes. This dish is kind of sweet and sour, with wood ear mushrooms, bamboo, ginger, garlic, and peppers. It’s really delicious, as everything is here, and it’s a great option.
However, my top recommendation is the Long Hot Pepper Style Tofu. Oh my gosh. This is where Handy’s magic tofu shines brightest. It’s a very simple dish, with the perfect long strips of tofu mixed with long green hot peppers in a very light stir fry sauce. It’s only a spice level 3, but it seems a tad higher, and the taste is so perfect that it doesn’t even matter.
Another one of my favorites is the Garlic Sauce Tofu, which is perfect if you cannot handle the vast amount of chili oil and heat in most of the other dishes. This dish is kind of sweet and sour, with wood ear mushrooms, bamboo, ginger, garlic, and peppers. It’s really delicious, as everything is here, and it’s a great option.
However, my top recommendation is the Long Hot Pepper Style Tofu. Oh my gosh. This is where Handy’s magic tofu shines brightest. It’s a very simple dish, with the perfect long strips of tofu mixed with long green hot peppers in a very light stir fry sauce. It’s only a spice level 3, but it seems a tad higher, and the taste is so perfect that it doesn’t even matter.
Ugh it’s amazing. Can you even believe that that is tofu? Because I can’t. So delicious! This one is also great to eat straight from the fridge the next day.
There are plenty of vegetable sides in case you somehow didn’t order enough food. My favorite is the bok choy with black mushrooms. Seriously, Handy has the most incredibly thick mushrooms I’ve ever had. They are perfection.
There are plenty of vegetable sides in case you somehow didn’t order enough food. My favorite is the bok choy with black mushrooms. Seriously, Handy has the most incredibly thick mushrooms I’ve ever had. They are perfection.
I crave Han Dynasty so often and I already miss it, even though I had it just days before I moved. Do me a favor and go immediately if you are in the Philly area. I have been to most of the new suburban outposts of the restaurant, and they all pretty much have the same menu and, more importantly, consistency in deliciousness across the board.
HAN DYNASTY, PHILADELPHIA (et al.)
Water speed: Great! It is a Chinese restaurant, after all!
Service: See above.
Bathrooms: There’s usually just one, which kind of sucks because everyone is drinking so much water to counter the spice.
Food: The best Szechuan outside of China. Maybe in China as well; feel free to sponsor a test trip for me.
Bonus: The best tofu you’ve ever had in your life.
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Chappy Chanukah! Let’s Fry Up Some Birds’ Nest Latkes!
Happy Hanukkah everyone! It’s that time of year when Jews the world over pretend that our winter holiday is as fun and important as Christmas! Well, I happen to think there is no need for pretending. Not only is Hannukah 8 days instead of 1 (or 1.5, ish), but the traditional food is simply fried stuff. For Christmas, the holiday calls for turkey, goose, crap like that. But for Channukah, you just have to fry shit up! Whatever you want! It’s like a vegan’s dream! Unless you’re one of those vegans.
Why do we fry shit, you ask? Well, Channakah celebrates one of the many, many times the Jews were persecuted and driven from their land, but that time, they won! After the very serious and tragic war, of which I know many details, them fightin’ Jews – or really the Maccabees, I think this is when that word became a thing – sought refuge in a Temple and tried to light the Menorah to commemorate their victory. But they only found enough oil for one night. Oh well, they said, let’s light it up. And behold, the oil burned for 8 nights instead of just 1. It was a miracle! And so we celebrate Hahnuckah for 8 nights, and we celebrate by putting a culinary spotlight on burning oil, i.e., frying stuff. It’s a magical time.
During this Chabanakah, I will share several fun recipes for fried stuff. First up, I want to offer a way to do traditional latkes, or potato pancakes, but with a fun twist. There are tons of latke recipes out there, presenting perfect little fried circles of grated potato and onion. But I can’t be arsed with making perfect shapes when I fry. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Instead, I mixed long strings of sweet potato, zucchini, and just a little plain potato and fried them in big, messy birds’ nests, the ideal shape for throwing tons of dips or sauces into. This is also because I have a spiralizer and I don’t like using the grater. This is a versatile recipe so feel free to use whatever your heart desires. Except for less oil. Your heart loves oil.
During this Chabanakah, I will share several fun recipes for fried stuff. First up, I want to offer a way to do traditional latkes, or potato pancakes, but with a fun twist. There are tons of latke recipes out there, presenting perfect little fried circles of grated potato and onion. But I can’t be arsed with making perfect shapes when I fry. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Instead, I mixed long strings of sweet potato, zucchini, and just a little plain potato and fried them in big, messy birds’ nests, the ideal shape for throwing tons of dips or sauces into. This is also because I have a spiralizer and I don’t like using the grater. This is a versatile recipe so feel free to use whatever your heart desires. Except for less oil. Your heart loves oil.
Zucchini & Sweet Potato Birds’ Nests Latkes
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Ingredients:
Directions:
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It’s so beeyootiful! 
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I like my big messy nesty latkes with ketchup. I know that is kind of gross. But the traditional sour cream is much grosser. Applesauce is the other traditional latke dip, but that’s weird to me. I don’t like mixing fruit in my savory food! In an awesome twist, I put mac & cheese on top of these tonight. Stay tuned for that mac & cheese in the next post!
Philly’s Best Dim Sum at New Harmony, Chinatown
Philadelphia’s Chinatown is packed with vegetarian-friendly restaurants, and while they are uniformly decent, some stand out from the pack. New Harmony is one of those standouts. Specializing in vegetarian mock meats and seafood, as well as insanely good steamed buns and dumplings, this is one of the (very) few non-Szechuan Chinese restaurants I’ll go to excitedly. Owned by Ming, the nicest restaurant proprietor this side of anywhere, New Harmony mixes crazy good, greasy comfort food with a casual atmosphere and, on Thursday, a doughnut delivery from Vegan Treats. I know.
Give me all of it, please and thank you
One of the best deals in town is New Harmony’s all-you-can-eat Dim Sum for $12 per person. You get to order from the pictured dim sum menu – but it’s not like ‘choose two measly items from section A, one from B’ or any kind of limiting crap like that. You can have every single item, and as much of each as you want. (Strangely, I’ve never actually gotten every item, or asked for more of something, because there is always so, so much amazing food. But…challenge accepted? No?) The dim sum menu is always so hard to pass up, because two of the restaurants best dishes – the sesame beef and the steamed pork buns – are on it, so there’s no reason to order off the menu. (Actually, there are about 60 other reasons…)
 Vegetable and bean curd soup The sesame chicken tasted great and had a wonderful texture, like most mock chicken nugget-things at Chinese restaurants. But the sesame beef is the restaurant’s big deal. It’s crunchy and chewy, and it’s covered in a surprisingly mustardy cream sauce that just works even though it seems like it shouldn’t. So so good.
 Sesame beef Next, we took a needed pause between the glutinous rounds with some standard steamed and besauced vegetables. More broccoli! Chinese cabbage! Good stuff. Then came my favorite part of any meal: the steamed buns and dumplings. Hooo boy, how great are steamed doughy things holding fillings? So great. We had a mix of pork buns, vegetable buns, spinach dumplings, shrimp dumplings, and vegetable dumplings.
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I’ve had the hot & sour soup several times, and it’s really great, as is the wonton. This time, I tried the vegetable and bean curd soup. It was nice and simple, perhaps not very exciting, but a good starter before all the heavier food. It was a little salty for me, which is my #1 gripe about Chinese food (actually, about restaurant food in general), and I would have preferred a thinner broth. But I’d get this again. It was nice to have broccoli before the storm hit.
 Sesame chicken  Vegetables. Nice. |
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The two different kinds of buns were absolute perfection. Next time, I’d order all the buns and forego the dumplings. The latter are great, don’t get me wrong, but they don’t stand out from the standard veg dumpling scene. The buns, however, are tremendous. I want 20 of them now.
I also loved the final thing we got, the bean curd skin rolls. Okay, so bean curd skin (aka tofu skin) sounds disgusting, I’ll give you that. But it’s so strangely delicious. Over the past few years, I’ve become somewhat obsessed with the stuff, in soups, in sushi rolls, in life. But I’ve never had it act as the wrapping in a spring roll-type of thing.  |
 They look like fun/weird sea creatures The rolls were so interesting! Just like a spring roll, it contained a gingery, garlicky mix of stringy cabbage and what not, but instead of fried, greasy wonton exterior, it was the chewy beyond chewy tofu skin. Ok, it sounds gross, but it was really good!
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We were too full to order the dim sum menu desserts, and wayyy too full to order the absolutely mind-blowing specialty of fried cheesecake (from Vegan Treats, but fried in-house) off the regular menu. But Ming informed us that the Vegan Treats doughnut delivery had just come in, so we pretty much bought out his stock (to go, of course). Then, he kindly brought us little dishes of strawberry ice cream, which is sourced from Klein’s, the best soy ice cream maker. It was a nice way to end a deliciously indulgent, yet affordable, dinner.
NEW HARMONY, Philadelphia’s Chinatown
- Water speed: Doing Chinese restaurants proud
- Bathrooms: One shared, not the nicest but it works at least
- Service: Great. It may have helped that my companion is likethis with Ming, and he waited on us, but it’s usually great.
- Food: Comforting, rich, heavy but doesn’t leave you feeling sick
- Bonus: Copious amounts of dim sum for $12…and Vegan Treats!
