Day Lee Pride, Frozen Vegetable Dumplings

Posted on January 16, 2014 by rundlea

For my frozen dumpling reviews I have decided to adopt a star rating system with dumplings rated on a zero to five scale.  Within this rubric the first frozen dumpling I profiled, Whole Foods’ vegetable dumpling, got zero stars.

Day Lee Pride, Frozen Vegetable Dumplings.  Rating:  stars_2_5

Day Lee Foods, the maker of Day Lee Pride gyoza, is subsidiary of Japan’s largest meat supplier, Nippon Meat Packers, Inc, and claims to be one of the first companies to market mass produced frozen dumplings for home consumption.  They make frozen vegetable, pork, chicken, beef and shrimp gyoza; here I review the vegetable gyoza.

Day_lee_prideI pan fried and then steamed them as directed on the back of the bag.  The vegetable filling maintained a decent crunch and wasn’t mushy, but overall I found these dumplings had a fairly bitter cabbage flavor.  The wrapper is fairly delicate and pan fries and steams up quite well.  Eggs are not listed on the ingredient list for the wrappers, so they are actually vegan. There is also no added MSG or autolyzed yeast yeast extract, which is food manufactures favorite stealth way to add MSG to processed food without listing it among the ingredients.

I give these dumplings – 2.5 stars.

Posted in Frozen Dumpling Review, Gyoza, Vegan | 1 Comment

Frozen Dumplings Review: Whole Foods Vegetable Potstickers.

Posted on January 16, 2014 by rundlea

For the New Year I am starting a new feature for Dumpling Hunter, reviews of store bought frozen dumplings.  I have had a wide range of experiences with store bought frozen dumplings, from excellent to horrifying. I’ll sort it out for you, so that you don’t need to experiment.

Whole Foods Vegetable Potstickers: Rating stars_0

whole_foodsWhole Foods makes a frozen vegetable potsticker that may be the worst dumpling I have ever tried.  My problem with them was that the filling was mushy and gloppy.  The packaging lists rolled oats as one of the filling ingredients, which I think is where the mushiness came from. Maybe when they are steamed the oats form a porridge inside the dumpling wrapper.  I managed to get through only one of these dumplings.

Whole_foods_ingredientsWhole Foods sells them in packs of eight and, while not labeled as such, there are no meat or dairy products listed among the ingredients so they appear to be vegan.  The ingredients include “Yeast Extract” which is a way to add MSG into packaged food without having to label it as such.  Yeast are high in glutamate, the G in MSG, add water and salt and you have MSG.   The packaging advises against using the microwave to cook them and recommends that you pan fry the dumplings until one side is golden brown and then add some water to the pan to steam them to finish them off.

I give these dumplings – 0 stars.

Posted in Frozen Dumpling Review, Vegan, Vegetarian | 2 Comments

China Blue, Tribeca, NY

Posted on January 13, 2014 by rundlea
Sheng Jian -

Sheng Jian – like China Cafe, it is a little dark at China Blue for my IPhone camera

China Blue is the new three-week-old venture from the owner of the Michelin starred Cafe China (I just re-read my review of China Cafe which was a little harsh, I must have been cranky when I wrote it, I have been there a bunch of times and love the food).   While Cafe China celebrates Szechuan cuisine China Blue focuses on the more subtle flavors of Shanghai.  The restaurant is located far West on Watts Street in Tribeca, practically in the Hudson, which means to walk there you need to deal with Holland Tunnel entry and exit ramps and traffic.  It is a bit of a mission to get there but it is a mission you should accept. Continue reading →

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Bamboo House, Springfield, MA

Posted on December 30, 2013 by rundlea
bamboo_house

“Pork Stickers” at Bamboo House

Springfield MA has a small cluster of Vietnamese restaurants, including a deli that sells awesome Banh Mi sandwiches. Pho Saigon usually wins the local “Best of…” awards in the Vietnamese Restaurant category and as a result is usually packed with yuppies. But in my opinion Pho Saigon is probably the worst of the restaurants in this neighborhood, the flavor profiles are watered down and the service is terribly slow.  My pick for more authentic Vietnamese flavors is Bamboo House, it doesn’t get noticed in the “Best of…” lists, but it is where Asian families and the local police officers come for Vietnamese food.  They do an excellent grilled pork, they have a fine meat pie, amazing vegetarian spring rolls and their shell on, salt and pepper shrimp is a stand out – they also have incredibly light but flavorful sauces on their stir fry dishes, no oily gloppy sauces here. Continue reading →

Posted in Pork, Vietnamese | 2 Comments

Tofu, Garlic Chives and Kimchee Dumplings

Posted on December 16, 2013 by rundlea

Photo Nov 27, 5 56 44 PMOver Thanksgiving we tried to whip up a new vegan dumpling recipe and came up with Tofu, Garlic Chives and Kimchee dumplings, which worked out really well.

Ingredients

  • One block firm tofu
  • One bunch garlic chives
  • Nappa cabbage Kimchee
  • 1 Table spoon sesame oil
  • Salt
  • 1 pack dumplings wrappers ~50 wrappers. Continue reading →
Posted in Recipe, Uncategorized, Vegan | Leave a comment

Where and When to Eat Xiao Long Bao in L.A.

Posted on December 10, 2013 by rundlea
The Soup Dumplings

Soup Dumplings

The L.A. Weekly blog just published an awesome flow chart on where and when to eat Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings) in L.A.  The flow chart includes decision points for wrapper thickness, dinner vs lunch, whether you what dumplings with four corners (??), whether you need to return something at J. Crew, the day of the week and the time of day.

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In New Orleans, not hunting dumplings

Posted on December 9, 2013 by rundlea

I spent four days in New Orleans recently and got distracted from eating dumplings by all the other great food available to me.  Here is a run down on my experiences eating in New Orleans.

Acme

Fried Catfish and Oyster Po Boy

Acme Oyster House – Acme is definitely a tourist destination and it shows in the lackluster service, but luckily the food is still great.  Acme served the best raw oysters I had on the trip, fat, succulent and flavorful, and they also served the best Po Boy sandwich – try the fried catfish and oyster Po Boy.  The only time you can get in without waiting on line is from 2 to 4 in the afternoon or very late at night.

Mulate’s – This a big sprawling restaurant-bar-club located across from the Convention Center and has nightly live music and a dance floor.  I had a good seafood gumbo here that was spicy but lacked a depth and complexity of flavor that I tasted elsewhere.  They served a fabulous Boudan, which is a sausage made of pork and rice, it is like dirty rice in a sausage casing.  The filling had a very soft consistency, similar to blood sausage, and could almost be spread on bread like a soft pate.  I really liked Mulate’s for sitting at the bar, snacking and listening to music.

Mullata

The Boudan at Mulate’s

Continue reading →

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Pierogi Love at Sky Mall

Posted on December 3, 2013 by rundlea

While crammed into a US Airways flight waiting for the plane to reach cruising altitude and the “OK” to use my laptop, I spotted pierogi based Christmas decorations amongst the weird and random offerings in the Sky Mall catalog.  Sky Mall sells pierogi Christmas tree ornaments and pieorgi Christmas tree lights.  Further investigation yielded the pierogi shaped area rug and the “Pierogi Lover” t-shirt.

Sky_Mall

Pierogi ornaments, Christmas tree lights, area rug and t-shirt

I am totally getting the Christmas tree lights.

Posted in News, Pierogi | 1 Comment

Oh! Taisho, New York City

Posted on November 26, 2013 by rundlea

The strip of St. Marks Place between 3rd and 2nd Avenue has become a little Tokyo, crowded with Izakaya bars and Asian eateries.  Oh! Taisho and its sister bar, Yakitori Taisho three doors down, were two of the first Japanese restaurants on this strip.  Both places have huge menus of Yakitori, Robata, rice balls, Ramen, and sauteed noodle dishes, almost all of which are excellent – the pork belly skewer and the El Hira (skate wing) are must orders, and both places serve huge pitchers of Kirin and Sapporo draft beer. These are pretty much perfect joints to spend an evening hanging out, drinking and sampling a wide range of small plates of food.

Takoyaki at Oh! Taisho

Takoyaki at Oh! Taisho

The Dumplings:  Oh! Taisho serves shrimp shumai, gyoza, chikuwa with cheese and takoyaki.  I have been on a takoyaki kick lately. These dumplings have a unique texture; a soft, doughy pancake like outer wrapper within which is nestled a slightly chewy nugget of octopus tentacle.

Takoyaki –  Like delicate kelp fronds waving in warm ocean currents, the strands of slivered bonito that adorn these dumplings should wave and undulate in the convection currents of heat that waft off freshly cooked takoyaki.  Because the shaved bonito flakes used by Oh! Taisho are heavier wide Chow Fun size sheets rather than long slivers, the bonito on the takoyaki served on our recent visit to Oh! Taisho did not wave to use in welcome.  These takoyaki also didn’t come drizzled with tangy Japanese mayo, but instead were served with a side of mayo.  While not hitting all the marks for the perfect plate of takoyaki, they were nevertheless delicious with the sweet tang of the Worcestershire sauce and the brininess of the bonito flakes. Continue reading →

Posted in Gyoza, Japanese, New York City, Takoyaki | Leave a comment

Pitaya, Manhattan Valley, New York City

Posted on November 19, 2013 by rundlea

Pitaya is a fairly new Japanese restaurant that is drumming up foot traffic via the all-you-can-eat sushi special and frequent half-price sushi nights.  After a horrifying gastrointestinal experience a couple of years ago that I blame on an all-you-can-eat joint on 72nd street, I have stayed away from sushi places running these specials.  But some friends have tried Pitaya with no ill effects, so I gave it a shot.   Pitaya serves Asian Fusion entres, sushi and a few robata skewers.  The sushi was pretty low quality and/or poorly prepared, I had a fish scales with two pieces, a bone in another piece and two other pieces were weirdly chewy.  The shishito skewer (grilled Japanese peppers) was quite good,  while the shiitake skewer was three large pieces of shiitake mushroom that perhaps had been waved near a grill.  Thankfully the gyoza were quite good.

pitaya

Pork Gyoza at Pitaya

Continue reading →

Posted in Gyoza, Japanese | Leave a comment