Yee Li

"Yee Li, a Cantonese restaurant known for its wonton soup, window-displayed ducks, and whole roast pigs, closed after 33 years due to lease issues. The health department shut it down early. It was renowned for traditional Cantonese dishes and was considered by Eater critic Robert Sietsema to have the best wonton soup in the city. The same family has recently opened New Yee Li at 6619 Fort Hamilton Parkway." - Carla Vianna

"The corner stalwart Yee Li has long held the Cantonese banner high, and is chosen here for its broad menu and affordability. The charcuterie in the window runs to crisp-skinned ducks, yellow waxy cuttlefish, chicken wings, and lacquered spare ribs, perfect over rice (ask for the ginger-scallion sauce). Sauteed snow peas, wonton noodle soup, steamed sea bass, beef with black bean sauce, chopped pork with preserved egg congee, and chicken with salted fish fried rice are other Cantonese standards." - Robert Sietsema

"Old-fashioned Cantonese — Chinatown’s first cuisine — seems to be holding its own amid all the bubble tea parlors, dollar dumplings stalls, and breezy Hong Kong cafes proliferating in the neighborhood. Evidence of this is Yee Li, a boxy room on the corner of Elizabeth and Bayard mainly decorated with fish tanks and some red wallpaper here and there. In the window, ducks and a whole roast pig hang, along with lots more charcuterie both common and obscure. Be sure to ask for the coffee shop menu, available all day and labeled “Lunch,” otherwise you’ll just be handed a single menu featuring stir fries and relatively pricey seafood." - Robert Sietsema