Zongzi lady

A culinary celebrity in Chinatown for those who have a craving for Zongzi (ie sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves). The Zongzi lady is a grandma street vendor operating out of a Coleman cooler on the street. We canvased the neighborhood to find her on a street corner. The Zongzis were $2 each?! I bought bagfuls to bring home for the freezer.

I was looking for the Zongzi lady about a month ago but didn't see her (but I did go in the afternoon and seems like she comes later in the day).

But on Sunday, I was passing by not expecting to see her and she was there! She was very friendly and gave me a little menu in English that explained all the zongzi flavors. I think the Tainan and the Guangzhou zongzi are $3 each and the rest are $2.

I got a Shanghai one to try for $2. I would say it's a medium sized zongzi. I went home and I steamed it. First thing I noticed was the rice was fragrant and the flavor was so good. Usually when I eat zongzi, I tend to just eat the filling and leave the rice but this rice was so good. Inside was a simple filling of just pork but it was generous and felt like the perfect ratio of rice to meat.

Since hours aren't set, it's a hit or miss looking for her but it's worth it. The zongzi are delicious and affordable.

The Zhongzi lady sells delicious zhongzi for an amazing price (around $3 max). They are filling and scrumptious! On our short trip to NYC, we made several trips to this corner in the attempt of getting some! She is a very sweet lady overall as well, and all of her zhongzi are artistfully crafted ~ and it shows in the taste!

Ordered several savory and sweet zongzi. The red bean zhongzi stood out to me and 100% would say this was the peak of dessert in Chinatown! I am still thinking about it ~

She appears to arrive around 2 pm in the afternoon. We made the mistake of coming very early in the morning to find her, but we just spent the rest of the day in Chinatown before enjoying our Zhongzi.

Just bought three Zongzi from her! Two with red bean fillings and one with peanuts.

Just as previous reviewers said, she is usually around 3pm-7:30pm. The lady says she sometimes moves her stand nearby if the spot is occupied by other sellers. So it might be a good idea to walk around and try your luck if you don't see her in her usual spot!

Every time I pass by the Zongzi lady, I tear up.

Hearing her voice soar through the streets of Chinatown, I can't help but wonder if she is living a good life for herself selling the zong as low as $3. Does she get rest? Does she spend her nights wrapping them till late? Does she have family to take care of her? She works so hard.

I love getting the Taiwan and Shanghai Zongzi. I personally like savoury ones better than sweet. It's wrapped beautifully, she is generous with the fillings.

I like to steam it till it's smoking hot before eating it, tastes so wholesome and full of love.

Please support her.

Went last Friday at ~3:30pm and she was there! Really delicious and cheap. Especially since we're so close to dragon boat festival, this was a pleasant surprise.

Update: I went back recently to Chinatown and the zongzi lady is back!! Turns out she was only in China for a month. Glad to have her back and finally told her her zongzi are the best.

She's usually there until five, sometimes a little bit later. 3 to 4 of the buns makes a decent meal. Just take them home. Microwave it on low low for about two minutes to warm it up a little bit. You can add some soy sauce if you want to. It's delicious. If you're in the area, definitely grab a few to take home and you can always put them in the fridge for snack later

賣粽啊婆? We all know who she is. Even if you don't know what she looks like, you probably know what she sounds like.

People tell me they wouldn't trust her food. She probably prepares everything in a large bathtub or out in the open with god knows what.

Well, I think her zhong is great. To be honest, I didn't try it for the longest time and only had it while I was pregnant and was craving for some zhong. No regrets. I just wished they were slightly bigger. But what do you expect for $2? It's already a bargain.

I even got my dad into it. He's currently staying with my sister in NJ, and every once in a while, he'd ask me to get some for him.

Most recently, he'd asked me to get him 6 green bean zong, but she had just run out. She told me she had help coming with some more in 10 minutes. When they arrived, the zong was still fresh and hot!

I'd highly recommend anyone to go give her some business! You won't regret it.

She makes the most amazing zongzi. Everything is flavored so well. I recently got her black rice zongzi (the only vegetarian one on the menu). It had generous amounts of chestnut and peanuts mixed with the rice. She also speaks so many languages! I started ordering in Mandarin but when I asked if she had Taiwan style zongzi, she switched to Taiwanese and we started conversing in that language. She was speaking Cantonese with the customer before me. She is really impressive on so many levels!

I can't tell you how glad I am that this WONDERFUL zongzi vendor is still here!!! Except now it seems to be a man selling these little bundles of joy, not a woman (at least on my recent Monday afternoon visit).

The zongzi are a tad bit smaller than they were three years ago when I last visited, but no less delicious. We tried a few of the Shanghai style ones, which have a sort of dong-po rou / hong shao rou / "red cooked" style pork inside seasoned, brownish-red sticky rice. Fantastic for all those sweet-toothed Shanghainese food aficionados.

To my surprise, I loved the peanut zongzi even more. These included the eponymous peanuts of course, but also a generous amount of unctuous pork, all wrapped in fat, white glutinous rice.

For novices:

1. Be aware that the pork used in zongzi is deliberately fatty. The fat melts into the rice and gives it that lovely flavor and texture (analogous to south and Latin-American tamales). Do not be afraid of the fat. Fat = flavor!

2. I zap these fresh zongzi in my microwave for about 2-3 minutes to reheat. Some would you have you wrap with a wet paper towel before doing that -- but given that these specimens are quite fresh (made day-of), I've always found the straight-up nuke to be just fine. (You probably would have to re-steam the brick hard zongzi you see at larger grocery stores. I personally don't buy them.)

These zongzi make me swoon and are probably the most delicious ones I've had in the tri-state area (with the possible exception of Sun Ming Jan's everything-but-the-kitchen-sink versions). Please, please, please keep 'em coming!