Dumpling Man, New York City

Posted on May 1, 2013 by rundlea

20130412-143839.jpgIt has been a tough month eating dumplings, this will be my third mediocre to negative review this month.

Dumpling Man is a small, low key, dumpling snack bar in New York City’s East Village. This spot has an open kitchen where you can see the dumplings being hand made and has two small counters to eat at. You place your order at the front register and when the dumplings are ready they yell out your number for you to come pick up you order. The dumplings are served in paper boats on cafeteria trays and come garnished with some curls of scallion.

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Posted in Kimchi, Pan Fried, Pork, Steamed, Vegan, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Bunch reborn as Bunn

Posted on April 25, 2013 by rundlea

Bunch, the steamed bun take out kiosk located at Food Gallery 32 (on 32nd Street in New York’s Korea Town & reviewed here), has a new name, Bunn, and a slightly altered menu.  Bunch has become one of my go-to spots for a snack in midtown, they serve large, excellent, steamed buns. With the re-branding they have add Gua Bao to the menu and a bacon and kimchi steamed bun.  Gua Bao are essentially braised pork and slaw sandwiches that use steamed Chinese white bread as the bun.  While it sounds like the bread might be heavy and soggy, when done well, it actually comes out as a light, fluffy bread.  Bunn serves a spicy, braised pork that is delicious.  They have also instituted a frequent eater loyalty program, after 5 orders you get a free one.

Posted in Buns, Kimchi, New York City, Pork | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Nom Wah Tea Parlor, New York City

Posted on April 24, 2013 by rundlea

20130412-082431.jpgNom Wah opened in 1920 and claims to be the first dim sum restaurant in New York City. Originally located at 13-15 Doyers Street as a bakery and a tea parlor, Nom Wah moved to 11-13 Doyers Street in 1968. The interior looks like a diner or luncheonette with booths along the left side and back wall and a lunch counter along the right wall. It serves dim sum all day long but rather than ordering from carts pushed around the restaurant, you order by putting an X on an order card next to the items you want. When I was there the patrons were a mix of hipsters and older Chinese customers.

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SF Examiner review of Kingdom of Dumplings

Posted on April 22, 2013 by rundlea

I have been running some google searches to find new dumpling spots to review on future trips (review of my Philly Vegan Dumpling Road Trip coming soon), and found this recent San Fran Examiner review of Kingdom of Dumplings.  This looks great, need to find a ‘business’ reason to go to San Fran soon.

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Return to Am-Chi, Veggie Dumplings

Posted on April 13, 2013 by rundlea

I have previously reviewed Amherst Chinese (Am-Chi) the home of my favorite dumpling, the pea shoot and shrimp dumpling.  Unfortunately, the pea shoot dumplings are only available seasonally, and some years, depending on the crop, they are not available at all. After previously writing about the pork and leek dumpling I recently went back to review their spinach dumplings.

Spinach Dumpling

Spinach Dumpling

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Big day for Soup Dumplings in the Media

Posted on April 9, 2013 by rundlea

Its turning out to be a big day for soup dumplings in the media.  The LA Weekly blog has an article online reviewing the Top 10 Soup Dumpling spots in LA.  As expected Din Tai Fung comes in first place – I have tried to go to Din Tai Fung in LA and Seoul with no success – (review of my failed attempt).  The article also has an interesting piece on the different types of soup dumplings.

LA Weekly Article

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How to Eat Xiao Long Bao (Soup Dumplings)

Posted on April 9, 2013 by rundlea

SlashFood at Huffington Post just posted an article and video from 626 Night Market on how to eat Soup Dumplings without scalding your face.  They also posted a photo album of dumplings from restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, CA.

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Vegetarian & Vegan Dumplings

Posted on April 6, 2013 by rundlea
Spinach Dumplings at Am Chi

Spinach Dumplings at Am Chi

It has been pointed out to me that my reviews of dumpling spots almost exclusively focus on the meat filled dumplings. When it comes to terrestrial animals I don’t eat beef or chicken, basically I am a Pork-aterian, so I usually review the pork and/or shrimp dumplings.

But I am going to make an effort to be more vegan and vegetarian friendly, including returning to some of the places I have reviewed and trying their veggie dumplings.  This week’s review of Shanghai Garden is the first in the “return for veggies series”.  At each spot I will do the best I can to find out if the dumplings are vegan or vegetarian.  I have added a “vegetarian” link on the menu bar that will pull up all the reviews and recipes that are vegetarian friendly.  I also plan to review Veggie Dim Sum in NYC’s Chinatown – home to a wide range of vegan dumplings.

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Return to Shanghai Garden, Seattle

Posted on March 31, 2013 by rundlea

We landed at SEATAC airport at 4:30 smack into the middle of Seattle’s terrible rush-hour traffic.  So rather than battle our way north past downtown to our destination we stopped in the International District and had dinner at Shanghai Garden.  I have reviewed Shanghai Garden before but their veggie dumplings are filled with seasonal greens, so I thought there might be something new to try.

The Dumplings The Garden has pan-fried or steamed pork buns, pan-fried of steamed veggie buns and chicken-shrimp dumplings with barley green wrappers; since I don’t eat chicken I skipped the last offering.

Steamed Veggie Buns – last time I was at Shanghai Garden I thought the veggie buns were pretty bland.  This time though these dumplings were filled with bok choy and were well seasoned, savory and had the distinct, slightly bitter flavor of healthy greens.

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Steamed veggie buns

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Grand Sichuan, NYC

Posted on March 30, 2013 by rundlea

Grand Sichuan is a New York City mini-chain of restaurants with locations in Hells Kitchen, Chelsea, the East and West Village, Flushing Queens and Jersey City. I have been to both the Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea locations and this review is for the Hell’s Kitchen spot. Since it moved from 9th avenue to 46th street the menu has shrunk a little, they no longer have the section dedicated to Mao’s favorite home style dishes. As long as you stay away from the American Chinese section the food here is really good, I especially like the sauteed spinach with chili peppers.

The Dumplings. Grand Sichuan serves pork and pork and crab roe soup dumplings, crystal shrimp dumplings, fried and steamed pork dumplings and Sichuan dumplings. Since I has just been to Cafe China and eaten their soup dumplings and Sichuan dumplings I decided to get them here as well and do a head-to-head comparison.

Grand_Sichuan_soup

Pork and Crab Soup Dumpling

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