Going out for Chinese

What best describes a place. The people? The food? Would Chinatown be Chinatown without the Chinese? Is Little Italy still Little Italy with the Chinese? One of the reasons Junior and I trek to NYC in February is the food. Although I wish I had the time to experiment more, I think we found some things we liked a lot this year. Dumplings. Like little pierogies with see-through wrappings. Dipped in soy and hot pepper sauce. We got them at Vanessa's Dumpling House on Eldridge Street. They came out looking pink like miniature baby piglets. A little intimidating, but wow. I could eat some now. After the parade we stopped at a Vietnamese restaurant for a baguette sandwich. It definitely looked better than it tasted. Here we broke an unwritten rule and each got one to try. Problem was it wasn't that great and it filled us up. We made this similar mistake last year at a Malaysian place called the Sunrise, I think. Difference was it was very good but too much for someone who want to try something else. Hey, they had a 'roast meat' special at this place. How could you go wrong? And on the walk back to the car we stopped at Natalie's Bakery (not the Nice One Bakery, as seen here) for a pineapple roll. Still too stuffed to eat it we had them for breakfast the next day. So remember the next time you travel someplace new. Eat like the locals. Seems a waste to go that far and eat at a place that is within 5 miles of your house.