No surprises here, but Chinatown boasts the best damn dim sum in the city and Nom Wah Tea Parlor is the best of the best (and also the oldest). New York's first dim sum house opened in 1920 at a crook in Doyers Street known at the time as "the bloody angle." That Chinatown passage bore witness to the grisly havoc of the Tong gang wars—shootings and hatchet murders (yikes)—but the bakery and tea shop had a sweeter reputation: Its almond cookies and moon cakes were legendary and nearly a century later, this charming old-school institution dominates the surrounding chaotic banquet halls that dominate Chinatown's dim sum scene. The food, too, stands apart; the dim sum here tastes fresher than the competition. Try the ultra-fluffy oversize roasted-pork bun ($1.25), the flaky fried crepe egg roll ($3.95) and the tender stuffed eggplant ($3.50) filled with a spiced shrimp-and-squid mixture.
