BY MELISSA KRAVITZ | On Bleecker St., Uncle Ted’s, a new incarnation of a beloved West Village eatery, is taking the traditional idea of a Chinese restaurant in new directions.
Formerly Suzie’s Chinese, the cherished American Chinese eatery closed its doors in 2012, and Ted Chang, a close friend of Suzie’s family from Shanghai, took over the restaurant, this time giving it a more contemporary, upscale vibe.
Forget the red dragons and paper lantern décor. Famed restaurant designer Alvarez Brock LLC has created a classy interior sporting crisp white walls decorated with chic textured stars. Often Yelped-out perfectly clean bathrooms and pristinely white cloth napkins on wooden tables further distinguish the restaurant from other Chinese places.
Tables turn over quickly at Uncle Ted’s during lunch and dinner. Local clientele — longtime Villagers, as well as a slew of N.Y.U. students (many of whom are from China, but still crave the American Asian cuisine) — are the regulars that keep the restaurant packed, requesting age-old menu items, like Suzie’s famous chicken wings, beef with broccoli, and Ted’s interpretation of a Chinese-American invention, General Tso’s Chicken.
Fried and sweetened meats will always be popular among an American crowd, but Uncle Ted’s aims to bring out Chinese food’s healthier side. Fresh produce and meats are sourced from Chinatown and other local suppliers, and the simple yet flavorful ingredients star in many of the dishes without too much sauce to complicate their flavor.
The restaurant also features a build-your-own healthy menu, where diners can choose from four vegetables, including green beans, broccoli and bok choy, which are then steamed and served with a choice of sauce and protein and rice. Other dishes include the refreshingly light Dan Dan Noodles, featuring boiled noodles with fermented beans, meat and cucumber on top.
As the neighborhood’s only Chinese restaurant, Uncle Ted’s identifies by its cuisine and appeals to a wider crowd by adapting the menu to customers’ tastes. A dim sum chef crafts a variety of dumplings, including pan-fried pork and bok choy dumplings served perfectly crisp on one side with tender filling inside. Dumpling devotees can also enjoy the Crystal Shrimp and Snow Pea Leaves Dumplings, combining succulent chunks of shrimp in a thin wrapper, drizzled with a sweet sauce — or the thin pork dumplings served with a tingling chili oil.
There are also ample vegetarian options, from classic tofu nuggets in garlic sauce to an entire menu of wholly vegetable creations, like cauliflower in chili sauce and a vegetarian version of General Tso’s.
General Tso isn’t the only celebrity around the restaurant. Servers, and Chang — who wears an elegant navy blazer with gold buttons and maintains a very businesslike stance as he walks through his dining room — are known to locals, and make it a priority to give the restaurant a neighborhood feel.
With its tantalizing smells and impressive interior, Uncle Ted’s also benefits from plenty of foot traffic on Bleecker St. Generous portions and fair prices also help keep customers coming back.
Perhaps most unique to Uncle Ted’s is its full bar and cocktail program.
“People don’t come to Chinese restaurants for a bar,” Chang noted. Which is exactly why he installed one. There’s an extensive list of international wines and beers. Diners can also enjoy creative cocktails whipped up by the restaurant’s manager, Kevin, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. Some cocktails feature huangjiu, a 110-proof Chinese liquor made from rice or wheat, mixed with fresh ingredients like lychee and pineapple.
Since opening in June, Chang is still testing what sophisticated, new foods from China he can introduce to his diners. In January, he hired a new chef and they are planning new menu additions, including hand-pulled noodles. Whatever they add, it will stick to the Uncle Ted’s formula: healthy ingredients and good cooking technique.
Uncle Ted’s, 163 Bleecker St., 212-777-1395.
