Within hours of the publication of Julia Moskin’s guide to the wonders of Flushing’s Chinatown I was at the Golden Shopping Mall to congratulate Liang Pi, the man behind Xi'an Famous Snacks, home of the lamb burger and cold skin. He’d been telling me for weeks about the upcoming article. I also wanted to see how many ravenous Times readers had descended upon my second home. For all the ink it got the mall was pretty calm although I did notice a few wide-eyed non-Asians. I headed down the street to Liang Pi’s second location at the Shi Hong Mall, where I was told that they’d been quite busy all day.

Sadly this was not the case when I returned last night, and found the door to Shi Hong open, but the space completely darkened. A table out front was covered with bags of fish balls and other delicacies plus a clipping of the newspaper article proudly displayed. The people manning the table were from Shi Hong’s Fujianese stall. Apparently the landlord hadn’t paid the electric bill. Let’s hope the power gets turned back on soon. And I’m not just saying that because I haven’t had a chance to try the Fujian soup with wontons that Moskin raved about. 41-42 Main Street, Flushing NY 11355 (map)