B54 Chinese Restaurant – 88 East Broadway Mall

My parents asked me to find some DVDs for them. 1) China’s 60th Anniversary Parade my dad says he read in the news that they are selling for $2 in Chinatown. 2) 2008 Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony in Chinese language. I walked around Chinatown for an hour with no luck finding a DVD store or an old lady selling bootlegs on the street. I texted my friend Marcellus since he knows the area better than me. He was only a couple of blocks away in the non-touristy section, so we met up. Right across the street was a DVD store. Bingo. I walked in looking lost. I asked the girl, hoping she spoke English, if she had this so-called $2 parade DVD. She instantly pulls it out from right under her elbow –a homemade copy in a flimsy sleeve. She directs me to the store across the street that might have the Olympics. The next store didn’t have the opening ceremony, but they had everything else including the Special Olympics that they were really pushing on me. Somehow I bought five DVDs from them. They directed me to the next store that had the Opening and after that we happened to pass several more DVD stores, all when I wasn’t looking for any.

In between, we stopped by the lower level Chinese restaurant in the 88 East Broadway mall (under the Manhattan Bridge) at the B54 booth. Everything was written in Chinese and no one spoke any English. They did have one English paper menu they brought out to us, although I’m not sure if it’s the same stuff on the Chinese menus on the wall looking at the prices. We got the Small Steamed Pork buns (8 for $4), Vegetable Mai Fun Noodles (around $4) and Salty Congee (rice porridge; small for $2). I was hoping the steamed buns were soup dumplings, as I found some places call them that on the menu, but they were basically small steamed bready BBQ pork buns which are still great. I couldn’t believe how huge the small congee was. It was a lot different than any congee I’ve ever had. Cold and like thick Chop Suey sauce with rice mixed in. There was about a half of a small crab in there. After a while, it grew on me. I still think it would have been better hot.

It was a nice adventure in Chinatown. DVD hunting and eating at a small restaurant that’s for locals only in a weird Chinese mall. To my surprise, the Special Olympics (which is actually the Paralympics) DVD they were pushing on me is awesome. It’s so much better than the regular Olympics. I put together some clips below from the DVD and sports highlights from Youtube. …Also if you’re talking to someone that has a kid in the Paralympics, make sure you don’t call it the Special Olympics.

Highlights from the Opening Ceremony