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[title]RECOMMENDED: Food & Drink Awards 2013
Riding a maverick wave of hype from San Francisco, this wonderfully weird Asian dive washed onto the Lower East Side and captivated our city’s notoriously cynical denizens with its while-you-wait gratis beer, Twin Peaks–themed bathroom and, most profoundly, chef Danny Bowien’s singular, Scoville-busting cuisine. Bowien blazed onto the scene like a Szechuan supernova, his unmistakable look (he stir-fried flaming woks in white short shorts, ombré-blond mane tucked under a hat) popping up everywhere, from GQ to Uniqlo. Only a dude as proudly idiosyncratic as the Korea-born, Oklahoma-bred toque would be cocksure enough to plate delectably oddball kung pao pastrami and Coca-Cola-braised pig tails, or bold enough to stack 30-pound boxes of dried chilies in sight, daring you to flee. Instead, New Yorkers keep turning out in droves at the nondescript storefront, dabbing their sweat-beaded brows and fanning their overheated mouths for relief from chili-oil-soaked peanut noodles and heavily peppered pickles. At MCF, Bowien seems to be the only one not breaking a sweat. Mission Chinese Food, 154 Orchard St between Rivington and Stanton Sts (212-529-8800, missionchinesefood.com)