Our Man Sietsema at the Golden Shopping Mall

When J &L Shopping Mall in Flushing went under (reportedly because the owner sold it to a condo developer) a cry of hungry despair went up from chowhounders everywhere. J&L had held a much-loved food court with obscure regional Chinese specialties. But take heart, Our Man Sietsema is here to save the day.

This week, Our Man is at Flushing's Golden Shopping Mall, a worthy substitute for J&L. Our Man notes that the food court here holds "an even more arcane assortment of Chinese regional cooking styles."

Our Man throughly enjoys himself at the food court. He finds all sorts of regional dishes, like Sichuan composed meat salads swimming in chile oil, and the lighter fare from Tianjin, such as a salad of bean curd, celery and boiled peanuts.

He finds hand-cut noodles from Xi'an, and recommends the lamb noodle. And as is his wont, Our Man loves the lamb sandwich—"Don't miss the so-called lamb burger ($2.50), a wonderful sandwich on a homemade pita layered with rich roasted meat and pickled chilies."

(If Our Man was coming to my house for dinner, I'd definitely make lamb.)

A classic Our Man column, a great find. Get there.