Golden Unicorn, Chinatown

No amount of caps-lock could convey the sigh of relief I felt after indulging in the Dim Sum that is at this point my perfect mix of price, service, and quality.  Sure, Oriental Garden is maybe the best, but it's also absurdly expensive.  Jing Fong and Golden Bridge are large and cheap, but sometimes the carts lack diversity and/or heat.  Jing Star is...well, Jing Star is maybe on the Bowery, or maybe it's Sunrise 27, or maybe it's a mafia front.  Sometimes I can't tell.  Anyway, Golden Unicorn is somewhere in between; at two moderately large floors, it really packs people in, yet it seems to stock the carts on each floor (I could be wrong about this, though) such that everything remains fairly fresh.  No, your eyes aren't deceiving you; those are phoenix claws (aka, chicken feet).  The rule is we try something new every Dim Sum outing, and today we added chicken feet as well as chicken/cilantro (or at least, some sort of Cantonese cilantro) noodles.  Well, to be fair, J didn't eat the chicken feet, but he liked the noodles.  Sadly, I couldn't get a good picture of the chicken/cilantro noodles, but I think you're getting a front and center view of the phoenix claws, which were pretty delicious.  As a total novice, I found the flavor very garlicky and a little sweet.  Of course, there are numerous tiny bones and cartilaginous fragments, but that was to be expected.  Also of note are the pineapple custard buns, which today contained actual pineapple - a first!  The custard was definitely more milky, or at least more white, than usual.  The pork buns, the beef noodles, and the fried shrimp balls were all fine - if nothing to write home about.  Except that, I appear to be writing home about them.  Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.  All in all, not a bad way to spend $50.  Oh, also, we sat across from these Australian women who were...adorable.  I'll file a missed connections entry right away!