My like or dislike of a place is rooted in two things: the physical beauty of that place and the food. For all it's visual faults (and here I'm thinking specifically of the horrible Verizon logo wrecking a perfectly good skyline) New York delivers on the dinner table like almost no other place in the world. I have to say almost; one step above is the island nation of Taiwan.
Like the regional cuisines associated with Canton, Shanghai, and Sichuan, Taiwanese is a unique class of Chinese food and incredibly difficult to find in the United States. Often, it's found only where immigrants have carried with them the flavors of home. And those flavors, lively and strong, are mostly coaxed from a simple set of ingredients as if by magic. In a time when cookbooks and magazines are full of recipes containing 10 to 15 ingredients, Taiwanese dishes (which at times resemble tapas) contain only a few.
Issue 128 of Saveur Magazine (which is to a cooking magazine what the Travel Channel is to Food Network) has a memory-inducing article written by a New Yorker married to a woman from Taiwan. In addition to his reporting on the standard home-made fare of his in-law family, he also points out some of the great food available around Taipei. Many of the things are items I tried when I was there. The issue also includes a few recipes to try if you can find all of the right ingredients. Some may be difficult to locate if you don't live near a dependable Asian market.
If you can, I encourage you to check out the Saveur issue. There are also many websites that have information about the unique elements of Taiwanese food culture. Too bad there aren't more restaurants (or night markets) here in the U.S.