Hey Gastronauts!

You can’t call yourself a New Yorker without having visited Flushing Chinatown in Queens, and you haven’t really been to Flushing if you’ve not visited the Golden Mall. Yes, it’s a bold statement. For those of you who don’t know, the Golden Mall is the dingiest, darkest, grungiest and most delicious food-stall-mall in all of New York. It’s the kind of place the health department keeps a close eye on, but is protected by the thousands upon thousands of people who love to eat there. Head down the stairs into the mildly intimidating basement and find vendors selling Szechuan pigs ears, duck heads, pulled noodles, lamb cumin burgers, and other wonderful deliciousnesses. Xian’s Famous Foods started here. Bourdain and Zimmern were/are frequenters.

We should really say WAS the dingiest, darkest, grungiest and most delicious food-stall-mall in all of New York. Because it’s closing at the end of July. Yes, this institution is closing at the end of the month and New York Food Lovers will forever be segmented into the sort of people who went the Golden Mall and the people who never did.

We’ve put all of our other plans aside—and so should you— and join us to eat and say goodbye to some of the best food in Flushing on Tuesday the 16th. Joe di Stefano of Chopsticks and Marrow (the must-read blog about food in Queens) and yours truly will put together a list and a map of things to eat—but we’ll encourage you to explore on your own too.

So, grab all your friends, and join us for the last time anyone will ever eat pig’s ears with peppers sitting on a stool, or pulled noodles.