"CheLi and Szechuan Mountain House had a glamorous baby, and its name is Blue Blossom. Unlike its faux-rustic parents, this Bryant Park restaurant leans into Midtown glitz, with a shiny bar serving elaborate cocktails, like the signature Blue Blossom that looks like Windex but tastes like flowers. A chef assembles dumplings in a glass kitchen-theater visible from the dining room, and every so often, someone sets Hakka-style salt-baked chicken aflame with a gun lighter. photo credit: Blue Blossom video credit: Sonal Shah photo credit: Blue Blossom video credit: Sonal Shah Blue Blossom has a lot of flair, though both food and service lack some of the precision and consistency that make Mountain House and CheLi such great restaurants. Still, it's a very good option for a group meal in the area. A long, crowd-pleasing menu mixes and matches regional specialties from all over China, as well as twisting its Shanghainese and Sichuan cuisine DNA in dishes like mala beef xiao long bao. Want to follow an order of crispy-skinned Peking duck with the excellent sour-and-spicy fish soup? Follow your heart. Just save space for the crispy black buns gushing with salted egg yolk lava. Food Rundown video credit: Sonal Shah Mala Beef Xiao Long Bao The skin on the pleats isn't the thinnest, but it does the job, and we especially like the unique mala filling of these pinkish-colored soup dumplings. photo credit: Sonal Shah Roasted Peking Duck With Pancakes With a good ratio of skin, fat and meat, the Peking duck here is always a reliable order. photo credit: Sonal Shah Sautéed Shredded Potato Whether it's pea shoots or cold okra, Blue Blossom delivers on their vegetable appetizers and sides. The texture of their hot and sour shredded potato is perfect, halfway between cooked noodle and raw papaya. photo credit: Sonal Shah Salted Baked Chicken Flames notwithstanding, this is less of a fireworks-in-your-mouth situation and more of a comforting chicken dish with ginger and scallion. Not an essential order, but it hits the spot if you want something mild and filling. photo credit: Sonal Shah Hot Stone Braised Rice Quite possibly our favorite dish, the stone pot rice is mixed up tableside. Each bite should have a bit of soft, seasoned rice, a pop of crisp burnt grains, meaty mushroom and charred green pepper. photo credit: Sonal Shah Beef Slices In Spicy & Sour Soup For a big, brothy, sour-spicy dish, it's a toss up between this and the fish fillet in sour cabbage soup. The little bundles of sweet potato glass noodles, which burst open as you bite into them, kick this beef soup up just a notch. photo credit: Sonal Shah Crispy Chinese Lava A must-order. The deep-fried shell is black with cuttlefish ink and blisteringly hot. If you’re too impatient, the sweet-and-salty duck egg yolk “lava” will gush out everywhere. Nibble a corner, and take it from there." - Sonal Shah
