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Popular Rice Noodle Roll Chain From China Lands in NYC to Immediate Lines

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Plus, Impossible Burger hits grocery stores — and more intel

Shrimp-filled rice roll on a white plate Yin Ji Chang Fen [Official]

Wildly popular Chinese rice noodle roll chain lands in New York

A famous rice noodle roll chain from Guangzhou, China has made its way to New York City. Yin Ji Chang Fen opened earlier this month at 91 Bayard Street and has been packed since then, often selling out and drawing lines for its changfen (or cheungfen in Cantonese). The dim sum item takes center stage here, with both ubiquitous fillings like shrimp or youtiao (fried dough) and less common ones like pork kidney or sweet corn. The highlight, though, is the rice roll surrounding those ingredients: The company is best known for making the rice roll by hand, which is more labor intensive and leads to a thinner roll. The location also sells Cantonese fare such as congee.

Rice rolls have been served at dim sum restaurants in New York for years, but recently, superior versions have gained popularity in Chinatown and Flushing. The new crew of rice rolls, which blow up on Instagram, are far more specialized than the ones of the past, like at Joe’s Steam Rice Roll.

Impossible Foods lands at Fairway

New Yorkers can now make the meat-free Impossible Burger at home. Two Manhattan locations of Fairway start selling it on Thursday, the one at 74th Street on the UWS and 86th Street on the UES, Impossible announced in a press release today. They go for $8.99 for a 12-ounce package and will be stocked in the meat aisle and an aisle with plant-based food. Impossible Burger’s product — made from plant materials but with ingredients that make it “bleed” like meat — so far has only been available at restaurants and has been so popular that many places have sold out. Competitors such as Beyond Burger are already available in grocers.

In other news:

— A new upscale Korean barbecue restaurant called Hyun has opened in Midtown, serving various cuts of wagyu.

— The heat is rising for New York City Chipotle locations: Staffers at five more outposts accused the chain of breaking labor laws. More than 20 outposts have complaints; 30 employees protested outside a Greenwich Village location in a strike yesterday.

— Family-owned grocery Butterfield Market, which has been around for more than a century, will be opening a new location on the Upper East Side in the former Dean & Deluca space.

Le Fooding — the restaurant review guide backed by Michelin — announced its top three best new bistros in New York: Adda, Saint Julivert Fisherie, and Crown Shy. Diners can vote here on which they think is the best starting today through October 25.

— Feds arrested two men behind a Brooklyn meat wholesaler on Tuesday — alleging that they sold cheap meat with fake USDA stamps that called it “Prime.” The men of A. Stein Meat Products, which closed in 2015 after 75 years, pleaded not guilty.

— Eater’s parent company Vox Media announced a deal to buy New York magazine and all its properties, including Grub Street.

— Lol:

Yin Ji Chang Fen 銀記腸粉店

91 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013