Holiday

Last night, my Meetup Group, Meet & Eat, and Make New Friends (Nassau County / Western Suffolk County), met for dinner at O Mandarin in Hicksville, NY, to celebrate the Chinese (Lunar) New Year.  We ushered in the Year of the Horse.  Gung Hay Fat Choy!!  O Mandarin is located at 600 W Old Country Rd, Hicksville, NY 11801. The food was extraordinary, and the celebration of the Chinese New Year, Year of the Horse, was festive!

As we turn the calendar to the Year of the Fire Horse (which officially begins on February 17th), I’ve been doing some thinking. The Horse is known for being energetic, active, and a bit intense. Add the "Fire" element to that, and you’ve got a year that promises to be passionate, volatile, and, well, hot. If that’s the cosmic forecast, then we here at The Chinese Quest believe we should eat accordingly. We’re not starting 2026 with a whimper; we’re starting it with a bang. A mouth-numbing, sweat-inducing, "please-pass-the-soy-milk" bang. This is our guide to embracing the Fire Horse spirit. We’re diving into the spiciest dishes we could find on Long Island and in Queens, searching for that perfect, painful harmony of flavor and fire. Grab a glass of cold water and loosen your belt. It’s about to get hot in here.

The confetti has settled, the ball has dropped in Times Square, and we have officially entered 2026. According to the Gregorian calendar, it’s a new year. According to our stomachs, it’s just another 365 days to find the perfect soup dumpling. Every year, people resolve to “eat less” or “cut carbs.” Here at The Chinese Quest, we believe those resolutions are not only quitters' talk but fundamentally against the laws of nature. Why eat less when there are still menus in Queens we haven’t translated yet? Here are the official Chinese Quest Resolutions for 2026.

Podcast #6: The Best Chinese Food for Christmas Merry Christmas!! 🎅🎄🎁

The air is cold, the carols are playing, and the turkey is safely tucked away in the freezer. For millions of families, especially in New York and surrounding areas, the greatest Christmas tradition has nothing to do with mince pies or roaring fires—it’s the satisfying rattle of plastic containers filled with dumplings, spareribs, and lo mein. Chinese food on Christmas Day is more than a cultural phenomenon; it's a rite of passage, a rebellion against holiday labor, and a culinary beacon for those seeking authenticity and warmth on a cold winter night. To guide your annual pilgrimage, we consulted the definitive source for metropolitan-area Chinese dining: The Chinese Quest, a dedicated collective that ranks the best restaurants across Long Island and NYC. Their suggestions shouldn't be a surprise to their followers. If you're not a follower, check the article, and if you like what you read, please consider following us. Happy Holidays!

If you stroll through Manhattan on Christmas Day, you’ll witness a migration as predictable as the seasons: herds of Jewish families—decked out in their finest puffer coats and Hanukkah sweaters—bee-lining for the best Chinese joint uptown. Forget figgy pudding; tonight, it’s all about crispy duck and those addictive little fried noodles you pretend you’re “just nibbling.” Click to read the rest of the story.

The alliance between Jewish and Chinese foodways traces to the Lower East Side of Manhattan at the dawn of the 20th century. At a time when much of immigrant New York maintained cultural enclaves — Italians ate at Italian restaurants, Germans at German ones, Jews at kosher delis — Chinese restaurants distinguished themselves by welcoming outsiders, Jews included. The story of American Chinese food — especially as it intersects with Jewish experience — is about more than what’s on the plate. It’s about migration and adaptation, about forging friendships across boundaries, and about finding joy and kinship where you least expect it: across a table filled with chopsticks, challah, and the communal language of food.​

February 10, 2024 marks the beginning of Chinese New Year. This important cultural event that commemorates the new year and good fortune among many Eastern and Southeastern Asian cultures, and also celebrates the optimism of the coming year while honoring the past. Click to learn more about the traditions, celebrations, and meanings behind some of the rituals, and anything you want to know (even the questions you were afraid to ask) as we enter the Year of the Dragon!

On February 10th, Chinese around the world will celebrate the Chinese New Year and usher in the Year of the Dragon. Wait... is it Year of the Dragon, or Enter the Dragon? Think I'm confused? Read the article!

On Sunday, January 22, 2023, the Year of the Rabbit is ushered in by those celebrating The Chinese New Year. Learn everything about Chinese New Year, and all the characteristics of one of the luckiest of the Chinese Zodiac animals, the Rabbit! If you learned something new from this article, please Like it! Share it! And, subscribe so you'll never miss out on articles like this.