Highlights and Leftovers: Broders' After 8 Dinner Special, Pagoda's $99 Banquet for Eight

That was an ample feast for eight diners, but a couple of more elaborate versions are also available: the 10-course banquet menu for $199 includes crab meat fish maw soup, abalone with Chinese mushroom, and golden fried garlic crab; while the 12-course $299 menu also features Fujianese style oyster soup, whole crispy roast duck, two lobsters and a chrysanthemum fried walleye. 

Owner Justin Lin graciously stopped by to answer questions about the menu - it's basically traditional Cantonese fare, mostly. He also introduced the chef who prepared the dinner, Yuyang Huang, who won a bronze medal in the New Tang DynastyTelevision  5th International Chinese Culinary Competition, held in September in New York City. 

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Broders' Pasta Bar doesn't take reservations, and even if you call ahead, the wait can be pretty long (up to an hour and a half), especially at the peak of the dinner hour. The best way to beat the crowds is to dine later, when the dining room empties out, and Broders' offers its $30 After 8 menu for two (available Sunday through Thursday). 

The price includes a choice of salad for two, a bowl of warmed olives in oil with orange zest,bread basket,  a choice of two pastas and a small carafe of red or white wine. There are about half a dozen pastas to choose from - generally, the less elaborate, lower-priced preparations on the dinner menu. We opted for the Caesar salad, the stringozzi alla Spoletina, a house-made fresh pasta (like fettucine), with a sauce of tomatoes and garlic; a simple spaghetti with salt, black pepper and Romano cheese, and a very drinkable rosso Toscano house red.

The dishes were all very simple, but the preparation was flawless; the olives were warmed to bring out their flavor; the Caesar dressed just right, the pastas perfectly al dente. We could have added a dessert, such as the bestia nera flourless chocolate cake, creme anglaise or the tiramisu (both $6.50), but the dinner felt complete just as it was.