Xiao Long Bao – Page 3

Circling back to Dumpling Inn

March 11, 2014 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Xiao Long Bao

There are a handful of restaurants that I've been kind of down on for the last couple of years and Dumpling Inn is one of them. My last couple of visits a couple of years ago just weren't satisfying and the the restaurant's namesake….namely Jiaozi went severely downhill after the owner opened, then sold the Dragon's Den. Even before then, the only dumpling worth my while at Dumpling Inn was the shrimp and chive version…..of course, the Missus, with Her QingDao heritage won't touch any of the jiaozi here with a ten foot pole(though She tells me I'm more picky than She is)….my coworker "YZ" once even told me, "you know, that's really NOT Chinese food….." And yet, the place is beloved by many….though I will say, I did not see a single Chinese customer during any of my three visits. I'm sure they come here, but I never saw a single one. Still, I thought I really needed to circle back here and give the place an honest try……

And I thought the Shrimp and Chive Jiaozi was the way to go, which is over eight bucks now ($8.25).

So where to start…..I usually begin with the wrapper, but why not go to the miniscule amount of filling in these….very bland, even with chives, it's literally the size of a dime. I'm going to start calling this place "Dime-pling Inn". The wrappers were too gummy for my tastes are really not very good.

Then there's the Xiao Long Bao ($7.75), which folks rave about…..which is actually better than any of the jiaozi.

Dough has that uneven, sometime's hard texture of something that's been frozen for a bit. The top of the folds are hard, not enough soup, quite bland, if this is the best that San Diego has to offer……..

I'd rather hold out for one of my trips to the SGV……

Black vinegar is not the standard here, you need to ask for it. They treat it like elixir of the gods. As soon as you pour some into the dish, they immediately whisk it away….kind of funny actually.

Still, I know someone who loves this place and during a discussion he convinced me to really give it a try here, putting aside all manner of dumplings and actually try some of cooked dishes. Fair enough, so I went with the dish he considers the best here on my next visit, the Sea Bass with Black Bean Sauce, now this is "lunch size", but not really what I consider "lunch priced" at $9.75.

First the fish, the batter was kind of greasy, like it was fried in oil at too low a temp. The fish was moist and tender though. My big question is "where's the black bean sauce"? There was so little of it, you can easily see that whomever made this didn't coat the fish very well. Vegetables almost raw. However, as a consolation prize, the rice was perfect. In total, on the bland side……

Still, I decided to give it one more go….this time ordering one dish I'd really enjoyed on previous visits and another I'd never had here.

First something on the menu I'd never had Satay Lamb with Chinese Greens ($12.75).

The Sa Cha sauce was really mild, lacking in a deep savory flavor that I like. Nice good portion of Gailan, done well. The lamb was "wok'd" quite well, very tender, but this was really too mild for my taste. Still, this was the best dish I had overall……

Mostly because the Jellyfish Salad ($8.25), an old favorite of mine surprisingly came out near the end of my meal; I thought they'd forgotten, but here it was…..

I kind of wish they had forgotten about this as the sauce tasted watered down and there was still an astringent flavor, mildly reminiscent of acetone, telling me that this was hastily prepared. A ig disappointment.

It would be easy enough for me to close the book on Dumpling Inn, but I saw something that would at least bring me back eventually. As I was eating, a gentleman in a wheelchair came in, apparently he was a regular as all the ladies here knew him. They sat him at a table, went to the back and returned with a ziploc with what looked like custom eating utensils that he could use…..I guess he really is a regular! This brought a smile to my face…maybe I'm not the biggest fan of the food here, but I'll surely support a place that takes care of their regulars. So I guess I'll be back……someday.

Dumpling Inn
4619 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

A Dinner at Giang Nan in Monterey Park: Road Trip

January 3, 2014 ed fromyuma Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Xiao Long Bao

This post isn't about a Kirk Road Trip or one by Cathy. This post is about a meal Ed (from Yuma) and Tina had on a road trip exploring a little of the culture and cuisines in the LA area.

Tina and I were staying in Montebello, just south of Monterey Park. Saturday night was going to be our last dinner in the area. Of course, we would eat Chinese food, but Tina insisted “no seafood.” We were looking for something reasonable, no frills, no stress. Thanks to some posts by Kirk, we decided to try a Shanghai style dinner at Giang Nan – if we could find the small restaurant at the backend of a small anonymous strip mall at 306 N. Garfield. Luckily for us, it was all lit up for the holidays:

We were fairly early, so there were few other customers in the small restaurant when we arrived, and the place was not full even later when we left:

The restaurant seemed clean and nicely if sparingly decorated. The service was also friendly and knowledgeable – our young female waitperson was very helpful and pleasant. The menu was extensive and offered us a lot of choices, so we found some dishes we knew we wanted, but we just guessed about others.

We began with chicken in wine sauce ($4.95):

This cold chicken appetizer tasted fresh and clean with a light background flavor of the wine sauce. Very enjoyable.

The duck in supreme sauce ($5.95) was also pleasant. The thick sauce had a pronounced 5 spice flavor and complemented the chilled leg and thigh of roast duck. Sweet spice and savory flavors matching the cool rich duck flesh:

We felt we got lucky with our order of shredded pork and bamboo shoots ($5.95). Really enjoyed the textures of the pork, bamboo shoots, and green onions. The dish was lightly sauced so that each ingredient was present and accounted for. Of course, I am a huge fan of bamboo shoots since I just love their earthy woodsy flavor and unique texture, but it is hard to imagine anyone not relishing this dish:

We wanted a purely vegetable dish and braised green beans and shredded potato sounded different and interesting:

The dish arrived at our table still steaming hot. The green beans were perfectly cooked and the sauce, dark as it looked, was not too salty or overwhelming. Only the potato strips, which tasted too soft, like they came from a package of frozen french fries, were somewhat disappointing. Still they provided a bland and soft contrast to the crispier green flavored beans.

Our helpful waitperson had suggested that we have some rice with the meal, and when I asked her to recommend a particular rice dish, she eagerly pointed to the salted pork and vegetable rice ($5.95):

Her recommendation was spot on. In some ways, this was the most impressive thing we tasted all evening. The greens, the slightly salty pork belly chunks, and the hot, almost creamy rice were well balanced and the layered flavors of the dish all worked together. We thanked her a couple of different times for the recommendation.

The last item to arrive was an order of pork xiao long bao ($4.95):

These were really good. Although a couple of them had lost some soup, every one was wonderfully juicy:

The pork flavors of the dumplings were excellent, and the wrappers neither too thick nor too tough. We also appreciated their somewhat small size. Once they cooled just a little bit, they were perfect one-bite treats. It seemed odd to receive them at the end of the meal, but we had no trouble gobbling them all up. Just like a desert, I guess.

Not only was this a very reasonably priced dinner,:

but we received so much food that it was also our Sunday brunch as well, and we still felt bad throwing some leftovers away. Giang Nan is certainly not a fancy restaurant, but we will happily return for rustic Shanghai cuisine the next time we are in the area.

Giang Nan, 306 N Garfield Ave, Monterey Park, CA 91754, (626) 573-3421; Open 11 am – 3pm, and 5pm – 10 pm daily

Roadtrip: Shanghailander Palace (Hacienda Heights)

December 10, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

I took some time off at the end of last week. We had an appointment in LA and since I'd been working pretty hard over the last couple of months, I thought it would be good to take an extended roadtrip. Our first day would be in our old neighborhood of Rowland/Hacienda Heights and then we'd move further "North" for a few days.

Since this was a multi-day trip, we stopped at HK Plaza to stock up on some snacks and tea for our trip.

We also took the time to see what was going on here…..

We weren't too hungry, but of course we also didn't want to squander a lunch, so we headed to a place that caught the Missus' attention the last time we stayed in the area. According to what I've read, Shanghailander Palace was aiming to be the area's equivalent of Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Restaurant. So we stopped by to have a light lunch.

Arriving at almost 2 pm on a Wednesday, we were shocked to see how busy the place was! The crowd was composed of mostly older folks and larger groups. I really could have done without the middle aged woman dressed almost "cosplay" style in a short plaid skirt, blouse, and schoolgirl like sweater….yikes, it gave me the heebies!

The service was rather slow, but it could be understood since the place was slammed.

We started with the Xun Yu – "Shanghai Style Smoked fish", which as I've often explained, isn't really smoked. In what seems like the "new style" of Hu Cai (滬菜), this is served warm (deep fried after marinating) rather than as a cold dish.

I enjoyed this version as it was light, mildly "winey", not too sweet (though still too sweet for the Missus), with a nice soy flavor. Even though this was obviously fresh water fish; it lacked the muddy flavor I find unpleasant. This was much better than the version at Shanghai Number 1. I also thought the portion size was nice for an appetizer.

I will say that the tea we ordered – Ti Guanyin, a favorite of mine was just plain insipid.

I didn't see one of my favoite dishes; jellied pork on the menu, so we went with the mutton version instead.

I loved the texture, but the sauce provided was just wrong. I ended up opting for black vinegar instead.

Of course we had to get Xiao Long Bao. We went for the Pork and Crab version.

These were average at best. The tuft at the top was too hard, the wrappers ok….no leakage here, if perhaps a bit too thick and gummy. I thought the filling had decent flavor; not too sweet, but you could definitely make out the crab. Not enough soup though…..hardly any soup.

Some of the other dishes….stuff we could order if we could handle left-overs like the Braised Pork looked really good. So I think we'll probably be back.

Overall, this was a nice start to our roadtrip, which would be taking us North, culminating with dinner in San Mateo at Michelin Starred Wakuriya. Man was I going to enjoy this roadtrip!

Shanghailander Palace
1695 South Azusa Ave
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745

Red Moon Noodle House revisited

August 8, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Xiao Long Bao

**** Red Moon has closed

It had been about a year since I first posted about Red Moon Noodle House. Some things had changed since then. They had started serving lunch, which I think is a good move. There's a bit of a buzz because of their "secret menu" that I first read about on Convoy Conquest, then on This Tasty Life. With a post by Kirbie in the mix. So perhaps it was about time for a revisit.

The interior remains the same, as does the really nice folks who run the place.

I'm thinking the lunch hours help the place as does the advertising in Lighthouse. On both of my visits, most of the customers I saw were Japanese. It's probably a good move for the place. Even though the owner is ethnically Chinese, he's from Japan.

On my first visit, to get things off to a good start, I ordered the dish I enjoyed most during my previous visits; the House Special Chicken with Garlic Sauce. Earlier I described this as being a " poor man's Dezhou Pa Ji/Dao Ko Shao Ji". Well, it seems like we're getting a bit more poor here…..

I liked the color, but this had much less flavor and was much more dry than what I'd had before. I had already thought that it needed a more complex vinegar-sweet flavor, or something to balance out the raw garlic……it seemed to have taken a step in the opposite direction. Sadly, this was still the best item I had on my visits.

Now on to the "not so secret – secret menu" item, the Xiao Long Bao. When the white distilled vinegar and sparse shreds of ginger hit my table, I knew I was in trouble. I mean really, I don't mind changes if you have something that you think is an improvement; but this is just cheaping your way through this. Oh, and maybe adding Chinkiang Black Vinegar might help that chicken a bit too.

Geez, these were bad….the first thing that went through my head was "where are you buying these"…because the hard and dried out wrappers leads me to believe they had been frozen for a while. Also, there was a distinct lack of soup and the filling was on the tough and chewy side. 'Nuff said. If you want to compete with DumplingInn for the worst XLB, I say you got a contender here. Sad that a place with such nice folks would serve something like this….. But, like friends tell me, I'm the only person they know who thinks that "Din Tai Fung's XLB is kind of a gimmick." So it's probably a personal problem……

I really didn't feel good about doing just a single visit. I really wanted to find something I thought was good here, so I decided to give it another try.

I ordered another dish I'd had before, the Shrimp Pan Fried Noodles, which I thought had some potential, but was just very weak in flavor.

Well, I gotta give it to Red Moon. If anything, they sure are consistent. The noodles are crisp without being powdery, the shrimp so nicely done, for some reason, they like their vegetables this side of what I consider optimal, but that's no big deal. What is a big deal for me is the lack of flavor……..this was so bland. I did something I almost never do, as I want to understand the flavor….I made friends with the white pepper and soy sauce…Kikkoman soy sauce….for Chinese food. I took most of it home and had the Missus try this. The only thing She could say was "so sad……."

I also decided to try something I hadn't had before, the Crispy Garlic Chicken.

To me, this tasted like an overcooked chicken katsu (which it was) with a drizzle of something like katsu sauce, topped with a brown sauce. At least this had flavor, but it seemed like something I'd do at home. And that Chicken Katsu was really tough.

I had thoughts of going back to Red Moon yet another time, but decided to give it a rest. This is not my cup of tea. I will say that Red Moon serves the best "Chinese" style food in that strip mall, but being better than A Cafe….I dunno if that's much of a prize. All I can say is horrible parking lot, mediocre food, very nice folks.

Red Moon Noodle House
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Las Vegas: Lunch at Three Villages and checking out some of the markets

March 2, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Las Vegas, Markets & Grocers, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

After having some poke from Hawaaian Style Poke in the parking lot of 99 Ranch Market, I realized it was still too early to check out my "lunch stop". So what better to do then check out 99 Ranch Market? In fact, after walk around 99 Ranch Market, I drove up the street and had a look-see at 168 Market, which wasn't around the last time we visited Vegas.

The set-up of this 99 Ranch Market reminded me of the Irvine location.

Items are a bit more expensive here as well. Love the Engrish signs as well…..

Further up the street is 168 Market, which I thought was the cleanest of the three I visited.

I left 168 and jumped into my car and headed over to the plaza that housed Shun Fat Market. On the second floor is a Shaghainese Restaurant called Three Villages that had been mentioned to me a couple of times.

The set-up was a bit odd; at least for me. The "front" or street facing entrance is locked and really is just a large sign. You have to go around the corner and fine the entrance and the place almost looks vacated.

But of course it wasn't……..the place was empty when I arrived though. I had to call out to check if they were actually in business.

Ordering was pretty simple. I'd come here for the Xiao Long Bao. I did make it a "combo" for a buck more and got some soup….a very plain soup with bean thread and tofu.

Actually this kind of plain, but hearty soup is the kind of thing the Missus likes….me, not so much. I will say that it was a pretty large amount of soup.

The XLB arrived soon after. First thing I noticed was how doughy and thick looking the wrappers were.

Still, I'm not the biggest fan of the over-worked, very thin wrappers and these ended up having a decent light stretch to them…..I still thought they were a bit on the thick side.

The filling was disappointing. Since they only have straight up pork XLB, I didn't expect a great range of flavors from the soup, but this was pretty weak, lacking in a good pork flavor and having no sweetness what so ever. The filling also had some hard bits as well.

Still better than anything in San Diego though. That's really not saying much…..

Three Villages Restaurant
5115 W Spring Mountain Road
Las Vegas, NV 89103

After lunch I headed downstairs and had a little stroll through Shun Fat Market.

Since I was headed back to our room, I picked up a couple of Suan Nai for breakfast.

Just walking through these three markets you could notice things. The cleanest and busiest was 168. Both 168 and 99 Ranch Market actually listed the origin of their seafood, SF did not. The least cleanest was SF. I also saw a woman pick up a fish with her hands at SFM, then after putting it back she washed her hands….in the tank holding the clams! As I walked to my car in the strip mall, I smelled an acrid odor that everyone knows…..I saw the pool of liquid near the stairs. Unlike the seafood in SFM, I knew the country of origin of this liquid….. "urine-nation". Yikes.

Roadtrip: Dim Sum at Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Village – San Gabriel (Los Angeles)

October 1, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

After our quick meal at Happiness Restaurant, the Missus calculated that we could still make it to San Gabriel and check out Shanghai No.1 Seafood Village before it got too crowded. Shanghai No.1 had been creating some buzz around the SGV, though I think it's more for the amount spent on decor (I've heard over a million) then the food. The restaurant is located in the same strip mall as Beijing Restaurant and where Green Village was before it shut down. The restaurant really doesn't look like much from the outside.

But the interior is something to behold, looking like an old Shanghai nightclub/restaurant.

We were here during lunch, but the dinner menu is also available. We asked to look at the dinner menu….and got what was to be the typical service here….lousy, abrupt, and perfunctory at best.

The menu really looked like those we saw in China, an over-sized volume of glossy photos, with each dish described in detail. I had read several accounts saying that the dim sum was expensive, but of course those folks hadn't eaten dim sum in San Diego recently. Here the small is $1.98, medium $2.98, large $3.98, and "specials" $4.98.

Since we had already eaten, our ordering habits had to follow a strategy we have when eating multiple meals in the SGV…..folks always look at me strangely when I tell them we actually have a strategy for eating, like I'm crazy or something. Only folks like my good friends and fellow bloggers like Kirbie and "CC" understand that I'm not totally insane…..partially perhaps, but not around the bend.

We started with the Lily and Corn Porridge ($4.98):

I took one sip of this and went…whoa….the base of the porridge was dried scallop, which just brought it up several notches. Also, notice the smoothness…it basically looks like milled broken rice! Most places serve you rice porridge that looks like rice and water….heck, that's what mine looks like even though there's abalone in it! This was the best I've had in a while, not too starchy or gummy, smooth, nice savory flavor that enhanced, but didn't overwhelm the added ingredients….quite nice.

Next up was the Abalone sticky rice in Lotus Leaf ($3.98):

Loved the way this was executed, the rice wasn't over-cooked and mushy. The rice had absorbed the maximum amount of smoky flavor from the lotus leaf. There was a slice of abalone, but it was pretty rubbery and instead of a whole egg yolk, there was a smear of yellow. Overall, this was good, but a bit on the rich side.

Next up was the Shanghai Vegetable Bun ($1.98). Now I enjoy the version at Chin's, but this was in another league.

These weren't very big, but the flavors were. The version at Chin's tends to be too bready and sweet. This one had a mild yeastiness and the filling had that balanced salty-bitter-sweet flavor I enjoy.

So far so good…..but from here our meal kinda took a turn in the wrong direction. If you've read our little blog long enough, you know that we just couldn't have a Hu Cai (滬菜) meal without trying the Xun Yu. Here's it's called Old Shanghai Smoked Fish and this one is priced fairly high at $12.99. Supposedly this is not made in the traditional way, but cooked to order, which, if you've ever made this – marinated-deep fried-marinated, seems a bit odd. The dish, which was on the small side was presented well.

The Missus took a bite and told me I wouldn't be able to eat it. But of course I had to try…..man, this was some of the muddiest fish I've had in a while. It tasted like I stuck a handful of dirt in my mouth. The textures were interesting, the exterior light and crisp, the interior almost like silken tofu, which I found odd considering this is fish. I just couldn't bring myself to eat another bite.

The Xiao Long Bao was also terrible ($4.98) – if anything was over-priced on the dim sum menu it was this.

First the folds were hard and gummy, not made well. The flavor of the soup was on the mild side and the filling was hard….much too hard for Xiao Long Bao. This would probably do in San Diego, but not in a Shanghai style restaurant in the SGV.

The one item I really wanted to try were the Shenjian Bao ($2.98):

Not to incur the wrath of my friend YZ from Shanghai, who will automatically tell me how wrong it is for SJB to have folds on the top. This was fluffy, the dough on the sweet side, but had a nice amount of salty-sweet "soup"…..much too sweet for the Missus, but I liked it. The meat wasn't anything special and this was fairly good overall….it looked better than it was.

The service really didn't live up to the standard of the design and decor…..this was basically lipstick on a pig. When we asked for boxes they were basically thrown at us…the whole objective seemed to be around turning over tables….I guess someone has to pay for the furniture, right?

I thought the execution of the dishes were better than the actual flavors, the SJB is a good case in point. The Missus and I had an interesting conversation about the food on the drive back home. The Missus came to the conclusion that I'm pretty unbiased when it comes to Chinese regional cuisine….I wasn't raised on the stuff, but became immersed during our years in the SGV, so I was basically a blank slate. She was raised on a combination of Lu Cai – Shandong cuisine, of the Jiaodong style and spicy Hunan/Sichuan cuisine. So the flavors of "South of the Yangtze" really don't appeal to Her…..interesting theory.

As for the dim sum at Shanghai No.1…well let's just say it won't make me forget about Sea Harbour or Elite.

Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Restaurant
250 West Valley Blvd Suite M
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Xi’an – Guan Tang Baozi from Jia San (aka XLB from Jia Brother’s)

August 10, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel, Xi'an, Xiao Long Bao

Most of the time I'll do our travel posts in chronological order….well, because it's the most logical I guess. But looking at the photos of the Guan Tang Baozi from Jia San made me kinda skip to our meals at two of the locations. We actually ate the Guan Tang Baozi, unlike the Shanghai style soup only Baozi, these were like Xiao Long Bao….and just about one of the best things I ate on our trip to China. In fact we ate GTB (sorry can't help the abbreviation thing) three times! The Missus just couldn't get enough.

I've heard that Jia San has several locations, we ate at two of them in the bustling Muslim Quarter in Xi'an. A stop at Jia San was a must based on the recommendations from my MIL's classmate. One location, the one we ate at twice was on a super congested side street……

This one has a small downstairs dining area…..

With an open kitchen facing the street.

You know you're at the right place when you see the photos of local celebrities on the wall.

On our first visit we ate upstairs which was also packed…. and the young lady and the young man working the area were constantly screaming at each other…..bowls seemed to be flying about, and the service was perfunctory at best. For some reason the noise, clutter, and craziness reminded both of us of a place in Hanoi.

In a funny moment, the girl just finished screaming out some orders to the young man….the Missus walked to the counter and asked for something, the girl started answering in a shrill scream, until she realized that this wasn't her coworker, but an actual customer and caught herself!

The other location is right on the main road into the Muslim Quarter, right on Bai Yuan Men Jie and looks much more modern.

Looking very much like a proper restaurant. The dining area is large and well lit.

With a large kitchen in the back. This location was better staffed and there seemed to be an army of people marching out of the kitchen with ponderous stacks of obviously scorching hot bamboo steamers piled high. I wish I got a clear photo of someone carrying one of those stacks, but the best I can do is show you a typical 14 steamer stack…..folks were actual carrying twenty of these out at a time.

It also seemed like folks were eating much more at this location……..

We ate just one thing here….the mutton Guan Tang Baozi……

The mutton in the baozi was so light, it melted in your mouth. Of course it was so hot that it melted the top layer of tissue in your mouth as well. The filling was both wonderfully gamey and sweet, with a balanced amount of "soup" to meat.

The wrappers were very nice, it had a bit of pull, but unlike the glutinzed over-worked dough of most XLB, these had a gentle pillowiness to them as well.

Ever since She's had these, the Missus can't bear the tougher lamb filling in the Lamb Jiaozi from Qing Dao Bread Food, sigh……

I swear; if we stayed in Xi'an for fourteen days, we'd be eating here for at least twelve of them!

The only thing we couldn't figure out was how inconsistent the sauce for the Baozi was. It tasted different on each visit! The first time it was slightly spicy, devoid of any other flavor, and left a layer of oiliness coating the inside of your mouth.

The second time, it was mildly spicy, but also had what seemed like mutton broth in it. This was the best version.

The third time, it looked like dirty dishwater, and tasted like watered down salted broth. Well, we didn't come here for the dipping sauce did we?

To this day, all I have to do is mention the Guan Tang Bao from Xi'an to the Missus and am rewarded with an instant Pavlovian response……

Dumpling Inn

January 4, 2011 ed fromyuma Chinese Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Xiao Long Bao

Welcome to Mmm-yoso, a food blog. Kirk writes most of the posts. He wrote about Dumpling Inn way back in 2005. Cathy also blogs here alot. But today ed (from Yuma) is posting about Dumpling Inn. Way back in 2010.

In December, Tina and I were driving up Convoy Street heading for a couple bowls of ramen at Yakyudori when I asked her to look for someplace she'd like to lunch the next day. Almost instantly, she said, "Hey, Dumpling Inn, I'd love some dumplings."

So the next day we got lucky and found a parking place in the crowded lot, arriving at the tiny restaurant around 11:30:

By then, Tina had already heard my stories about Dumpling Inn. How the same space used to be occupied by a restaurant named MRSHO's. I never figured it out — Mr. Sho's or Mrs. Ho's? Or how I once came in and ordered fish dumplings. The waitress asked if I wanted spicy soup with it for a dollar extra, and I said yes. Only when the dumplings showed up, did I realize that the mild-flavored fish dumplings would be swimming in spicy soup. Another time I craved Xiao Long Bao (also called soup dumplings) that I had been reading about at Chowhound, but found nothing by either of those names anywhere on the menu.

Okay, maybe I had some past issues with this restaurant, but when Tina suggested going there, I realized that I hadn't been in Dumpling Inn in at least five years. Overdue for a visit.

After we received a complimentary pot of tea, the next thing that arrived on our table was an order of potstickers:

They certainly looked right. But I found them slightly disappointing. The mild filling was okay, certainly, but the flavor was not memorable in any way. The moderately thick wrappers seemed slightly understeamed and gummy on the top half and slightly overdone and cardboardy on the bottom. Not terrible, but far from the best potstickers I have eaten.

The available condiments were adequate:

Chile oil, white vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil. No black vinegar, however. I also wished that each set of dumplings had come with separate little mixing plates or small bowls. The way it was, our little plates ended up with a mix of flavors — as if we wanted all of the dumplings with the same background tastes.

On the other hand, we had no complaints whatsoever about the jellyfish salad:

The portion size was excellent. The sweet, tangy, and salty dressing was perfect for the salad. Both Tina and I loved the contrast in textures between the generally crunchy julienne of daikon, celery, and carrot and the unique chewy crunch of the long strips of jellyfish:

The fish and chive dumplings showed up next:

The fillings had a mild fishy flavor, generally pleasant. The wrappers seemed about right, not too thick or chewy. Well steamed. I would have preferred a better filling-to-dumpling ratio. These were certainly not overly stuffed dumplings.

Then came the XLBs. These days, customers can easily find them on the menu without knowing the secret code words. The large dumplings were steaming and had a few long shreds of ginger across them:

Tina and I warned each other not to pop a scalding hot, soup-filled dumpling into our mouths. But of course, I tried to eat one too soon and then spent a minute or so shoving the dumpling around in my mouth to keep from hurting any one part of it too much. Nicely, Tina didn't laugh at me. Too much.

Once the dumplings had cooled to the proper temperature, we dug in and enjoyed the rest of them. While the wrappers were fairly thick, we felt they contained plenty of filling. The soup/meatball balance also seemed about right. None of the dumplings looked ruptured, and every one I ate (even counting the one I harpooned with a chopstick) contained some soup. Perhaps the flavors in the dumplings are not traditional enough to satisfy an XLB connoisseur like Kirk, but they were certainly good enough for Tina and I.

Overall, except for burning my mouth, I enjoyed the lunch. I'd happily return. And next time, probably try more than just dumplings. And remember to let the XLBs cool down.

Dumpling Inn, 4619 Convoy (in strip mall with Korean Mkt), San Diego, (858) 268-9638

Eating with Friends: Eating the SGV, Crab Hut 2, and here’s to new friends

September 4, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Memorable Meals, Road Trip, Seafood, Xiao Long Bao, yoso-silly

One of the wonderful things that has happened in the five plus years I've been doing this blog, is that I've made some wonderful friends. I'm not quite sure how it's happened, but I feel blessed to know such wonderful folks (Note to JohnL…. like I said, "don't let it go to your head", he-he-he). I've often done short posts on meals I've had with friends, so I hope you don't mind another.

Doing the SGV thing:

A bunch of us got together a couple of weeks back, and did a San Gabriel Valley food crawl. Two of them, TammyC and JohnL had done stuff like this with me before. I knew MrC would go with the flow…. but PeterL, well, he was the rookie, and we'd have to keep an eye on him. We sort of just headed out, and I asked questions about what the folks wanted to eat…….. and after ruminating a bit, I decided that our first stop would be Dean Sin World. And of course, Shengjian Bao.

It turns out that none of this group, other than me had ever had Niu Rou Chuan (Beef Roll):

Not the most stellar version, but man did PeterL enjoy this, perhaps a bit too much. John and Tammy know a couple of my "rules" when it comes to an eating crawl. You live in the moment, that is, you don't start counting how many tacos you've had, this will just screw you up mentally. You resist the temptation to have that second or third, or fourth serving of the same item. It will still be here next time…. there's more up the road. Unfortunately, Peter just wanted those two extra pieces of Niu Rou Chuan, and as we walked the few yards to Giang Nan, I could tell the NRC was starting to settle in Peter's belly……

Of course at Giang Nan, we had two orders of each type of Xiao Long Bao.

As well as some of the cold dishes…..

After this I offered up QingDao Bread Food, which is right across a street. The Missus & I will often do Dean Sin World followed by Giang Nan and QingDao Bread Food when we;re in the area. I even offered up Mama's Lu and other places, but these folks were Bao'd and Dumpling'd out. And Peter really needed a break, so we drove to Focus Plaza to stretch our legs, grab some drinks, and do some shopping.

Then it was time for lunch….. enough with the snacks, it was time for a real meal. I offered up Tianjin Bistro or Hunan Chilli King. Since we had MrC, and his asbestos mouth, everyone went with Hunan Chilli King. I even called the Missus on my cell phone and had Her give the Server our order. We had stuff that I've posted on before, except for these two dishes.

A Hunan (not so) Stinky Tofu, and a Hot and Sour Soup.

All told we did pretty good with the five dishes we ordered.

By this time, most everyone had hit the wall, so we went on over to Papa Walk for some shaved ice, then ended the road trip buying some items at Domies Bakery.

Overall, it was good time…. but JohnL sent me a text message later that evening telling me he was hungry again…… such is the life of a growing boy!

A week later we all met at the new Crab Hut in the Gaslamp. As always we had a blast. I ended up taking onle three photos, so you won't be seeing the four dozen oysters, the crawfish, the clams, etc, etc, etc…….

But at least I took a photo of the Sausage Plate.

And one of the two orders of Calamari and Fries…..

After the Seafood Creole……

We were just having too darn much fun that I stowed the camera…..

I left feeling like this…..

Ummm…without the flowers behind my ears of course.

Crab Hut Downtown
1007 5th Ave
San Diego, CA 92101

And here's to making new friends:

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Kayoko of Umamimart. And let me just say I had a blast. We had a bite at The Original Sab E Lee. I had a great time, and hope Kayoko was ok with my "food dorkiness", she sure did put me at ease, and was fun to talk to. Over the years, I've found that fellow food bloggers are some of the nicest people. So please check out Kayoko's post on our lunch, it just seemed to end too soon. Thanks again for the wonderful conversation and a great time Kayoko!

Mr Dumpling revisited

March 16, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Xiao Long Bao

**** Mr Dumpling has closed

Recently, while on my way to 99 Ranch Market, I passed Mr Dumpling and noticed a huge banner.

What really caught my eye was the phrase "Grand Opening Feb 28". I was very interested…. what could this grand opening sign mean. It doesn't say "under new management" and the name is still Mr Dumpling. We'd only visited Mr Dumpling once before and was very disappointed in the dishes which were not prepared well, and over-priced. But now…..

I quickly got ahold of a good "FOY", and inquired. The response was, she wasn't sure, but she had heard that the Xiao Long Bao were the best in San Diego. 'Nuff said, I was there ASAP. I met my good eating buddy, and hit up Mr Dumpling.

I've always liked the interior of Mr Dumpling, warm colors and tastefully decorated gives the place much more style than other Chinese Restaurants in San Diego.

We inquired as to a possible ownership change, and was told, it was the same owner, but a different menu. The lunch menu is more Shanghai influenced, so perhaps it was a change in chef? You can order many small bites as the dumplings are served in orders of four or five, and many snack items are available.

Of course we started with the Xiao Long Bao (four – $2.99):

This could've been pretty good. The wrappers were decent, perhaps the best in San Diego. Not too thick or thin, with a decent pull. There were several problems with the XLB. First, there wasn't enough soup in the XLB. Second, there flavor was off, and I never thought I'd say this, but the soup and the meat weren't sweet or savory enough. Much like the XLB at Dumpling Inn, these tasted like regular dumpling filling. Also, there's black vinegar on the table, but you have to request sliced ginger for your XLB.

We also ordered the Special Five Variety Dumpling (5 – $3.99) and Lamb Meat Dumplings (4 – $2.99). I'm putting these two together.

As you notice these dumplings are steamed, and the wrappers are different as well. Tough, gummy, and somewhat brittle, I believe that these are "hot water wrappers" made with boiling water. It's a totally different kind of wrapper, as boiling water really develops the gluten much differently. I guess I'm not a big fan of this type of wrappers…. they remind me of cheaply made Gyoza wrappers.

The fillings were too finely minced causing a fairly dense and dry "meatball". So naturally, the celery, and the egg dumplings fared better, but were bland. The flavor of the lamb dumplings was pretty bland.

The best item of the day was probably the Leek Pie ($2.25):

My dining partner indicated that this could have been a bit more crisp on the exterior. The flavor was very homestyle, and could have used a bit more salt.

Nothing to rave about, but passable.

The "Pancake of Beef" (Niu Rou Chuan $5.99) looked really good.

The "pancake" looked almost like Jiang Bing, since it obviously had egg involved. The beef was just the right texture, a nice semi-cured tender without being mushy and falling to pieces, but it seriously lacked flavor…. any flavor. There's usually an additional flavor component, a smear of bean paste, or a hoisin like concoction. This lacked that, which meant that the pungency of the scallions took over.

I think this place tries hard, and perhaps over-reaches, as each dish fell short, or flat in one way or another. The service was friendly and adequate. Like I mentioned earlier, I like the set-up, but in my opinion, the food leaves something to be desired. I'm likely to make at least one more visit though. The hot pot menu looks promising, and the folks having hot pot looked like they were enjoying their meal. The prices are also right….. and are also 30% off right now.

I will have a challenge on my hands though…. trying to convince the Missus to give this place another shot.

Mr Dumpling
7250 Convoy Ct
San Diego, CA 92111