Stick to My Pot, Potstickers is a small dumpling restaurant on West 35^th street near Penn Station.  The restaurant has a long wooden counter, with metal stools, along one side of the space, and counter service at the back, where you order and pick up your dumplings.  They serve five kinds of dumplings, braised pork bao, and a selection of small plates, including noodles with scallion sauce, scallion pancakes, spring rolls and pickled Napa cabbage.

The Dumplings:  The dumpling orders are available in three sizes, small at four pieces, medium at six pieces and large-at eight pieces and they can be ordered fried or steamed.  The choices are: the Classic –pork napa cabbage and chives; Shrimp – shrimp, water chestnut, and shepherd’s purse; Chicken – chicken, napa cabbage and cilantro; Vegan – pumpkin, edamame, shiitake mushroom and corn; and Wontons – chicken, spinach, shepherd’s purse, served with a sesame sauce. From what I saw of the preparation of my order and a few other orders, the dumplings are all cooked fresh while you wait. 

I know I should have gone for the classic fried potstickers, but the Dumpling Hunter is on a diet, so I went for the steamed Classic dumplings and the braised pork bao.  The pork dumplings were well seasoned, tasty and juicy, a good dumpling, but not outstanding.  The dumplings came with two thimble sized tubs, one with a soy-based dipping sauce and the other with hot chili oil.  It was impossible to dip the dumplings into the tiny tubs, so the only way I could enjoy the sauces was to bite off part of the dumpling and then pour a bit of the sauce into the dumpling. 

The white fluffy, open bao came with generous serving of pulled pork, that had been braised for six hours, preserved vegetables and cucumber.  The pork had a lot going on flavor-wise; sweetness, savory soy and slightly spicy. I would return to Stick to My Pot for this snack.   Top Tip on the Bao: eat this first.  The bao is served in a little paper envelope and mine kept steaming while I ate the dumplings.  So by the time I turned my attention to the bao, the fluffy bun was over cooked and had lost its ability to contain the pork.  As a result it was a messy, but very tasty snack.

The Location: Stick to My Pot Potstickers is on 35^th street, between 7^th and 8^th avenue.  This the southern edge of Manhattan’s Garment District and is very close to Penn Station.  This restaurant will likely become my snack destination before riding the rails.