Kung Fu Bustle

Chinatown’s culinary delights, like its totally legitimate handbag industry, are legendary. But how to find that food, hidden as it is amidst a bazaar of cackling fishmongers and that nice gentleman peddling the mogwai?

Get all that mystique, without all that microwaved gremlin, at Luckyrice Festival 2012: a week-long (and very accessible) fair in which NY’s top chefs and mixologists celebrate Asian cuisine.

Starting May 1st, the festival’s pan-city fêtes include:

• The Epicurean Cocktail Feast at the Bowery Hotel, with eats from Momofuku and cocktails from Booker & Dax, The Beagle, and Acme.

• A traditional Chinese Wedding Banquet at midtown’s Shun Lee Palace, helmed by Top Chef vet Susur Lee and featuring cabaret-style performances by the Broadway leads of Aladdin and Miss Saigon (who are, appropriately enough, married).

• A Night Market of Asian street food under the Manhattan Bridge in DUMBO, featuring 30 vendors and a live performance by the punning rockers of Notorious MSG.

• The celebrity-chef-studded Grand Feast at the Mandarin Oriental ballroom overlooking Central Park, an “ultra-luxe, walk-through tasting” curated by Todd English and Iron Chef Morimoto.

Tickets start at $54, and multi-event VIP passes are available.

Just remember: never feed your date after midnight.