Hey, two posts in one day!

Washington's Chinatown, which consists of such authentic eateries as Chipotle, McDonald's, Legal Sea Foods, Ruby Tuesday and so on, along with quaint shops including CVS, Urban Outfitters and Bed, Bath & Beyond, has been much more accurately described as Chinablock. And even that might be a bit of a stretch.

Thus, it's nice to go to New York's Chinatown, even if the traditional neighborhood -- like its counterparts in Toronto, San Francisco and Vancouver -- is a shadow of its former self, with much of the population gone to the outer boroughs and the suburbs.

Before I headed up to New York, I found what looked to be a gem on Chowhound. The camera phone shot doesn't do it justice, but this steamed pork bun was about 50% larger than what you'd get at your standard dim sum place. Plus it was filled a pretty impressive portion of barbecue pork, and not the bright-red variety found in most buns.

The absolute best part? The buggers cost 70 cents each, so I had two. (Interesting side note: There is, sigh, a Starbucks down Canal Street from this place, so I decided to brave the tourists and go in there to sit and snack on my buns. This Starbucks does not attempt to make a nod to its Chinatown location -- I don't think the one in D.C.'s Chinablock does, either -- but I did note that one large bank in Chinatown has broken from its corporate color scheme and put up a giant red sign, red being the color symbolizing good fortune in Chinese culture. Someone in marketing is up for a bonus, methinks.)

Anyway, as part of my trip to New York I had decided to cram as much food down my throat as possible, so I hit up a burger joint in the West Village I've read a lot about and been dying to try since it opened last fall. For fancy-pants burgers, I have long been partial to this one in Portland, which had the bonus of being available across the street from the office. The Pinesburger also is hard to beat. I really, really like BLT Burger a lot. The burger I had could have used a touch more seasoning, and the bun is a bit wimpy. But damn, the meat is good. Plus, the bar snack is this ridiculously amazing spicy, cheesy popcorn, which the bartender said they make in-house. Toss in a couple of Brooklyn Lagers, and I was quite content.

But that didn't mean I didn't grab a slice of pepperoni before hopping on the train home.