Baby Buddha: Solid Chinese Cuisine in the Village

The Chinese restaurant occupies the bottom floor of a building so small that one almost needs to blink to ensure that there are indeed floors. It’s a little place, Greenwich Village, just south of the hustle and bustle that is above-14th-Street Manhattan. It lives in the shadow of skyscrapers and row houses and an old artists’ residence, and history. How many other Chinese joints get mentioned in the same sentence as Roy Lichtenstein’s old stomping grounds?

Baby Buddha, despite its quirky name and quirkier location, is a fairly straightforward place that hasn’t turned into a hipster haven. The focus is on classic Cantonese food, not style, and that’s important. Service is prompt, and tea and water are kept refilled in plentiful style.

The prices are a genuine deal even for the starving artist; a lunch special gets you a full plate for about five bucks. Won tons are dense, and sesame chicken sauce congeals delightfully thickly. The staff is attentive and courteous. Indeed, the only meal-related complaint in sight is an oddly tasteless supply of fortune cookies.

It’s a small place, not suited to a large party, but even when the seats are packed it’s quiet enough to get some studying or writing done, and Baby Buddha evidently does not mind lingerers. Various ivies line the walls and window as an antidote to the traditional Chinese restaurant model, though of course there are some classic-style Oriental brush paintings lining one wall. No less than three fish tanks are in evidence to provide a little life. Baby Buddha, as befits its namesake, has a calming effect.

While too unflashy to be the focus of a tourist visit, Baby Buddha is a recommended place for a quick stop while in the Village. In a city where $12 martinis don’t raise an eyebrow, it’s nice to find a restaurant who gets back to basics and does the right things right. Residents are often found eating there or ordering in (and what’s New York without ordering Chinese in?); they know what they’re doing.