JB CRISPY PANCAKE: DECADENT TAIWANESE FRIEDSTUFFS AND COMMENDABLE SERVICE

ü  Fried indulgences honed to perfection by Taipei cooks.  

ü  Located in squeaky-clean food court settings.*

ü  Service that could rival that of a maître d'.

ü  Ingredients so fresh they could rival a certain American burger chain on the West Coast.**

—Anything JB Crispy Pancake missed?

One of the friendliest faces at New York Food Court awaits at Stall #3. JB Crispy Pancake's Jack has a somewhat of a “gentle giant” demeanor that belies his impeccable customer service and culinary affinity. It's not uncommon to see him deliver trays of orders right out to seated customers, or to periodically stop by and check on everyone's meals.

If you’re not in a rush to order, Jack can rattle off everything from the preparation process behind each sandwich component, to the care taken to exclude any addition of dehydrating monosodium glutamate (affectionately, MSG), to—perhaps most importantly at JB—textural differences between your pancake sandwich bread choices between “crispy” or “scallion egg”.

After some indecision over the array of decadent fried choices, Flushing Food ordered one $4.99 fried chicken crispy pancake sandwich (xiāng jī pái zhà dàn bǐng, or 香雞排炸蛋餅) and one $4.99 fried pork chop scallion egg pancake sandwich (zhà zhūpái guàn dàn bǐng, or 炸豬排灌蛋餅).

$4.99 fried chicken crispy pancake sandwich.

$4.99 fried pork chop scallion egg pancake sandwich.

Our favorite between the two pancake sandwiches was the crispy (cuì, or 脆) pancake. Good LORD. We ate in silence as the delicate outer layers flaked into our juicy fried chicken patty, oh-so-fresh lettuce and tomatoes, and perfectly-fried sunny side up egg. 

The scallion egg pancake sandwiches would have been amazing for breakfast. A thin layer of egg omelet was embedded within the soft pancake layer!

As a prelude to the sandwiches, we also tried the $3.99 Taiwanese crispy chicken nuggets (Táiwān xián sū jī, or 臺灣鹹酥雞). Think of these as Taiwan’s nod to popcorn chicken, with fried flakes of basil:

Worth the later thirst.

One more note on service. The two of us requested plastic knives to divvy up our sandwiches. Instead, Jack shuttled the sandwiches back to the kitchen staff. 

"They can cut the sandwiches neater," he offered. 

The real reason? So the folks in JB Crispy Pancake’s kitchen could add an extra sunny side egg to each sandwich, allowing us to enjoy our halved sandwiches in their full glory:

May Flushing Food suggest: Enjoying some hearty JB Crispy Pancake concoctions as a brunch alternative (opens every day 11:00 A.M.).

* Relatively speaking, for 2015 Downtown Flushing. The designers seem to have drawn inspiration from a nearby food court, and given that working template a "facelift". 

** Hint: “Quality you can taste”.

Media credits: Helen Y.

Gadget: Nikon® Coolpix™ AW110  

Software: Imgflip