Blue Wave opens in Williston Park
At Blue Wave Chinese restaurant in Williston Park, the Shanghai specialty, soup dumplings, are made on the premises. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
Long Island’s longstanding lineup of Americanized Chinese restaurants has recently begun to give way to more regional spots, most of which serve the cuisines of Guangzhou (Canton), Sichuan and, to a lesser extent, Dongbei (the Northeast). Now Blue Wave, a new Shanghai-style restaurant, has landed with a splash in Williston Park.
Taking over the old Wing Wong space, Blue Wave has a chic, comfortable dining room and a separate takeout area with an open kitchen. Front and center in that kitchen is the dumpling maker, who toils throughout the day and evening rolling and pleating eight different varieties, including the vaunted Shanghai xiao long bao: soup dumpling or steamed juicy bun.
This is, to my knowledge, the only restaurant on Long Island where you can watch soup dumplings being made and, for the next few weeks at least, an order of soup dumplings (a $7.45 value) is included free with every eat-in meal of more than $20.
Other Shanghai specialties include shao mai (dumplings stuffed with sticky rice), cold chicken in wine sauce, lions head (braised meatball), spare ribs Wuxi style, braised pork with bean-curd-sheet knots and fish-head casserole with crystal noodles.
There are lots of noodles in soup, pan fried or deep fried; a handful of Sichuan dishes, and what the menu calls “staple Chinese menu” where you choose your meat (chicken, shrimp, beef or pork) and your sauce (General Tso, sesame, orange, kung pao, broccoli or garlic). Nothing on the menu is more than $20, most dishes are less than $15. Two dozen “lunch special” dishes are all less than $11.
Blue Wave is at 344 Hillside Ave., Williston Park, 516-248-6688, bluewavenyc.com.
