Yip’s Lunch Special Is Good For An Americanized Chinese Food Fix

Many of you probably know Yip’s for its extensive and fairly cheap by-the-pound buffet. It’s less than $6 per pound and has a vast selection of carbs and fried meats swimming in sauces. Normally I would have been all over that, but this time I went for the $4.50 special I’d seen advertised in the window.  Just this once I was glad I walked past the huge buffet  (garlic fried fish, I’ll be back for you!) to the back counter at the location on William St. (btw. John & Fulton).

Your choices for this special are such classics as sesame chicken, honey ginger chicken and good ol’ General Tso’s. The only way I could actually tell which was which on the steam table was that one had sesame seeds. None of this really matters when you’re craving fat, salt and carbs.

I went with the General Tso’s over fried rice (the other options are white rice or fried noodles) and was quickly handed one of those round plastic take out containers full of food. A bonus with this is that tax is included, so you’re going to pay exactly $4.50 and there’s no fear of how many pounds of rice and heavy meats you’ve stuffed in your container.

If one can be impressed by Americanized Chinese food, then I was. The chicken was only lightly breaded and there wasn’t a ton of gloppy sauce on it. The fried rice was also surprisingly good, meaning not dried out from sitting on the steam table too long and not full of peas and carrots. It could have been a fresh batch or the secret ingredient of extra oil but I’m not going to think about it too hard.

Yip’s isn’t going to be the best Chinese food you’ve ever had, even in the Financial District, but if you want a cheap and quick lunch their $4.50 specials are a good deal.

Yip’s, 136 William St. (btw. Fulton & John), (212) 791-6717; 18 Beaver St. (btw. Broad & New), (212) 480-9010

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