Five members of the Roslyn Chamber of Commerce are on a quest.
Their mission? They are searching high and low, near and far, for the very best Chinese food on Long Island.
“It started when I moved to Huntington and asked another chamber member who lived in Huntington where to get Chinese food out there,” said Rob Laser, who began the Chinese Quest blog in early 2013 with Lonnie Goldman, Michael Grossberg, Harun Hassouni and Paul Trause. “Word got out to other members and we decided to make it a quest.”
“Comical as it may sound, it’s a very important thing when you move to a new area, where the good Chinese restaurants are, particularly amongst Jewish people,” Laser said. “Actually, on the blog, we try and figure out what it is about Jews and Chinese food.”
The group typically gathers once a month for outings across Nassau and Suffolk counties, then reviews the restaurants using a six-category ranking system based on taste, presentation, aroma, service, creativity and what Laser said is “what we think appeals to Jewish people.”
Taste, Laser said, accounts for 50 percent of the review, with the other categories each bearing a 10 percent weight on their overall opinion.
“Initially, it was all about going out and finding good Chinese food and it just kind of evolved into, ‘well, why don’t we just write about them and review them,’” Laser said. “In the beginning, it was all a very basic website and blog and we’ve branched out into what has become what we consider to be a good source of finding out where to eat Chinese food.”
But Laser & Co. don’t order your run-of-the-mill chicken and broccoli and dumplings – they’re looking for the consummate authentic Chinese dining experience.
Upon being seated, the group asks their waiter or waitress for their recommendation and the review process begins.
One item, though, is usually always on the table.
“Spare ribs,” Laser said, “and you’d be surprised how many places don’t even have them on the menu. I’ve been eating them my whole life, any time I’ve ordered Chinese food. I can’t think of a time I haven’t had spare ribs with the order.”
The group has so far eaten its way across 17 restaurants in Nassau County, four in Suffolk and eight in Queens. Laser said they plan to expand their horizons to Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood and Brooklyn by next year.
In addition to reviews, the group posts editorials previewing their excitement about upcoming restaurants or the culture of Jewish people eating Chinese food.
“At the end of the day, for us it’s really kind of an excuse to have a night out,” Laser said. “We’ll set up a time and date probably two or three weeks in advance and we pick a restaurant based on what people suggest to us to try, which we love, or if we pass a place we’ll make note of it.”
More recently, the group has added a sixth member, Dr. Harvey Passes, a Great Neck dentist who has added another element to the site – wine.
Passes pairs upcoming meals with bottles of wine, sometimes bringing up to five bottles to a restaurant.
“So far, we’ve never had a place tell us no or charge us a corking fee,” Laser said. “It works. You hardly ever hear of wine with Chinese food but he’s a real connoisseur.”
Added Passes: “To me, wine is not a beverage. Soda is a beverage. Wine is a cultural entity. When you have your dinner made and then you add wine to it, wine not only softens the social setting but it also adds another ingredient to the dinner.”
Laser said sometimes they’ll tell a waiter or waitress they’re reviewing wine for the blog – but never the food, out of fear they would receive an experience meant to accommodate critics, not patrons.
As long as more restaurants open, and the self-described “five hungry Jewish guys” stay hungry, the quest will continue.
“It’s interesting, if you live in Oklahoma City, I’d imagine this quest would be very quick, but we just have an abundance of places. It’s never-ending,” Laser said. “This can just go on and on, especially as we expand. I couldn’t foresee that it would end anytime soon.”
Check out the blog at thechinesequest.com
