Chinese pizza heaven

I've been a working girl since age 14. When we lived Roanoke, my sister waited tables at Hunan Chinese Restaurant. The owner's of the restaurant, the Ku's, needed someone that could pack the take out orders. Lena suggested me. Child labor laws be damned! I got paid in cash on the Fridays and Saturdays that I worked. Between babysitting and Hunan, I was the richest I've ever been in my life. I learned a lot from the job too: how to fold napkins into a fan; busboys don't play guitar with long pinky fingernails; one should wear her long black hair in a ponytail when packing white rice in every meal, scallops are often made of shark, all kinds of things. But one of my favorite dishes I learned about from the restaurant, was what the cooks called Chinese pizza. The scallion pancakes weren't on the menu, but the salty fried dough flavored with bits of scallion were a special treat that I got excited about when I saw the dough resting in the refrigerator. I've eaten a lot of different scallion pancakes in my time and they were all fine. You almost can't go wrong with fried dough. It's just that Hunan's will always be the holy grail. However, Li Chuen's pancake is pretty damn close to manna from heaven. (By the way, are there any records of what manna tastes like?) Located at 17 Catherine St. just off of the East Broadway stop on the F, the tiny storefront is dusty with flour and stuffed with boxes and bags of scallion pancakes and other treats they sell to wholesale.
The first time I went into the shop, the owner's kid was helping out at the register and all of the women molding steamed buns were laughing at his attempts to cut 3 stacked pancakes with a large cleaver. HIs mother swiftly took over but it was he who helped this gaijin with the contents of what looked like an empanada. Inside this Chinese turnover, a yummy mix of scrambled eggs, scallion and rice noodles added a punch of flavor and protein. Plenty of dumpling houses carry this treat, but this one was nice because it wasn't as greasy as others I've had. I certainly can't say that the scallion pancake isn't greasy because it is, but in the best possible way. It's actually the perfect treat when you only have $1.25 and you have pms.
PS. The name on the awning and the name on their product label is spelled different. Go figure.