Thanks to Lunch’er Wayne for sending along this news…

“In the time-honored spirit of Chinese restaurant tax-dodging, Ying Du (on 38th btw. 7+8th) has transmogrified into MING Du. Not sure but i believe it involves the principal fleeing back to china while holding unrecoverable debt (i.e. the business “lost” money) while the business reincorporates under a new name. cash kept, taxes forgiven, business stays open, roast pork gets eaten, everybody wins except the IRS.”

We have no comment about your theory, but the name change has been duly noted and we hope the food hasn’t changed.

Last week we told you that Ying Du was hit by the DOH and forced to close. It’s now back open and they’re getting ready to see what kind of DOH grade they’re going to get! I’m really interested to see what kind of grade they get since the DOH has been pretty harsh on them in the past about roast meats. So what do you all think? I’m thinking we might see a crowd favorite get a B or C! And if they get an A, someone start shooting down those flying pigs.

Earlier this week Gothamist reported that the Department of Health has relaxed restrictions on allowing roasted meats to rest in a window of your shop exposed in the open (heaven forbid!)    Does this mean the proper roast pork and roast duck will finally return to the window of Ying Du (on 38th btw. 7+8th)?  It hasn’t yet, but we are holding out hope!

Related:
Ying Du’s Roaster Ruined by the DOH?
Ying Du Reopens Minus Their Roast Pork/Duck Station

The Serious Eats offices are about 5 blocks outside the official Midtown Lunch’ing range, but it looks like on Friday Robyn Lee (their photographer extraordinaire and expert on all things manatee) found herself at two Midtown Lunch favorites: Go Go Curry, followed by a little dessert at Ying Du (both on 38th btw. 7+8th.)  Nice choices!

Related:
Make Your Own Bo Lo Bao/Pork Chop Sandwich at Ying Du
Go Go Curry Hits a Japanese Curry Grand Slam

If you haven’t been to Ying Du yet, it’s pretty much the closest thing we have to Chinatown here in Midtown.  Whereas Hing Won has done their best to be equally appealing to Americans and Chinese people- Ying Du has no such aspirations.  It’s a super cheap, Garment District fast food place, by the Chinese, for the Chinese. Rather than attempt to get them to make the sandwich for me, I decided to just get pork chops as part of my lunch, order a bun on the side, and make the thing myself. Ying Du doubles as a Chinese bakery in the morning and after lunch (during lunch they usually have baked goods behind the counter.)

White rice, pork chops, roast pork (first time I’ve tried it since their roasting station in the front was closed by the DOH), and sauteed greens as my vegetable. The lady told me it would be an extra $2 to get all that food- but when I got to the front, the cashier only charged me $4.50. Wanting to be honest (it was only $2, and I always try to support places I like) I explained to the guy that it was *two* meats, *and* a vegetable… and he repeated- “Yup, $4.50″. Amazing. Ying Du is awesome. (Even though the lady laughed at me when I picked roast pork- as in “You are white, of course you pick roast pork!”)

Sadly though, their morning bun supply was severely depleted, and they didn’t expect the afternoon shipment to get there until around 1:30pm (about 30 minutes later.) Semi-dejected I took the last bun they had, a plain braided roll.

It did the trick, although clearly a pineapple bun, coconut bun, or even a sugar topped plain bun would have taken this sandwich to another level. Also, their pork chops weren’t breaded (or marinated in brandy) like the ones in Macao- but for Midtown it was still delicious. And for a total of $5.20 (the bun was 70 cents) I still had roast pork and sauteed greens over rice to eat *after* I finished my little sandwich. Awesome, although admittedly, the people who claim that the roast pork isn’t as good as it used to be, are dead on.

I guess the trick to enjoying this sandwich is to either get there just before noon when you might have a better chance of getting a good bun, or around 1:30 when the new shipment gets in (although, get there too late and you run a serious risk of them running out of pork chops.) In fact, I don’t even know for sure if Ying Du serves bo lo bao in particular (but they definitely have plain sugar topped buns, and coconut buns) and there is no guarantee there will be pork chops every day. In other words, getting one of these sandwiches is a tenuous operation at best… but if you manage to pull it off, the reward is most excellent!

Related:
Lunchtime as a Food Adventure… The 38th St. (Chinese) Restaurant & Bakery (Now Known As Ying Du)

Is it possible that the secret to great roast pork and roast duck lies in the caked on juices that occur after years and years of use? That’s what one commenter suggested about Ying Du’s roasted meats, which made a return last week after disappearing following a visit from the DOH.

“I went last week on Monday and can confirm that the roasted meats are indeed back at Ying Du, and they still cost $5. I went with the roast pork and roast duck combo. I agree that the flavor isn’t nearly as good as before the DOH close, and I can only assume that it’s because they were forced to clean everything and remove the years of built-in flavoring.”

Let this be a lesson to all you neat freaks and germaphobes. Dirty = Delicious!