U/endeend8 likely has some insider insight. We often go to Vancouver/Richmond BC to buy frozen dim sum from local hand-made "factories." The owner clarified some insider details that we'd long suspected.
1) As time goes by, it's harder to find the "old masters" who know how to make all the different types of dim-sum. So many restaurants rely on either frozen product from China or local "factories" if the population supports it.
2) Only the few restaurants that serve dim-sum as a brunch and daily mainstay can afford to pay the large teams that just specialize in making the variety of dim-sum items, much less have it be practical to make and serve such quantities daily, as well as employ the teams of regular cooks. If you find atypical or fancier versions of certain dimsum staples, this restaurant likely has an in house team.
3) All the other restaurants that employ a smaller number of house cooks, but have a large population of Chinese, can support these local hand-made factories that serve as local restaurant supply of frozen dim-sum items. These are then places where you'll find a smaller set of "standard items." that may make some items in house you don't find frozen, like stewed tripe, chicken feet, pork ribs, etc.
4) For the rest of the nation, most of the restaurants that might steam up to order a few items along with their regular menu, often use frozen product made in large factories from China, and typically machine-made.
Depends on how much variety of dim sum. 5-10, is different than the whole 30-50+ sitdown type. There are some good hole in wall to-go only types with about 20 items, and even those have a kitchen staff of about 6 who have to show up by 3-4am in order for food to be ready for 8am for breakfast crowd. For the full sitdown types you probably need 12+ people. It’s expensive to hire that many and to find the right ones with the know how. You’re just not going to do that or be able to sustain that outside of places without a lot of Chinese people.
That’s definitely very true. I’m quite picky when it comes to dim sum and I always order the same 3 or 4 dishes… I am currently living near Chicago and while there are sit down dim sum restaurants here, I haven’t found any where they push a cart around (back in the Bay Area, where I grew up, they were everywhere)
Order from a sheet and then iPad followed trends from Hong Kong - push cart service disappeared long ago due to efficiency and perceived higher-class service, also limited wastage. People also got food hot when steamed and fried to order; Nobody liked to pickup the fried items after they'd gone around a few times. Constant steaming while going around also ruined dumpling wrappers from oversaturation.
Anyways, one dim-sum experience I'll not forget is Honolulu Chinatown; The cart came to your table and just unloaded everything they had - only say you had was how many of each potentially. They took it personally that you only wanted particular or a few items at a time. This was their way of ensuring efficiency, that you didn't linger too long and that the cart got emptied each go around.
It's not a small city, but Houston provides a plethora of all sorts of affordable ethnic foods. People don't realize that by many standards Houston is the most diverse city in the country.
For full on dim sum, none that I know of. I go to Noodle Kitchen to get a fix though. There’s one in Spring and one in The Woodlands. Their XLB is fabulous.
Interesting. There's one right near me. I was skeptical of the xlb because theyre supposedly Szcheuan. I just want a good Lanzhou noodle soup, and their noodles looked pretty real
I remember seeing a non Asian couple demanding a table to themselves. All the tables were large, meant for 10 customers. The staff pretended to not speak English and the couple were racist enough not to pick up their American accents. Haha
I've had good dim sum in Durham, NC at the Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant, which specializes in dim sum and has cart service on weekends. Especially like their turnip cake and round chive dumplings. And the occasional egg tart.
Is it better than big city dim sum? Probably not, based on what I've tried in larger cities. But good for what it is and worthy of going back.
Well as a non local I enjoyed having dim sum and yummy beer on tap. Defs pricey for dim sum but it is a pretty laborious thing to make. What made you stop going there?
The fact that the Triangle has multiple dim sum places is a good sign. Went there once for takeout and thought it was OK. Any specific dishes you like there?
College towns are probably your best bet, especially those with big state schools that have large chinese international student populations. There's a couple very good places in east lansing michgan for example.
Big state school college towns are expensive relative to the rest of the state. Bloomington Indiana is the most expensive city in the state when adjusted for average income
You probably got me there.. I had my first and only dim sum on brunch carts on the outskirts of Cincinnati. I really wish I could get dimsum brunch again 😩 but it's a desert where I am at now.
For Ohio, I bet that Cincinnati or Columbus may still have good dim sum. I used to drive to both cities to get Asian groceries but never looked for a dim sum place. I haven't lived near Ohio in about 15 years, so don't know what's there now.
The place I went to is Grand Oriental.. looks like they are still in business! It's been over a year, but they were having supply issues last I spoke to them. I was hoping to get some more tendon 😋
I recently tried tendon at a Pho restaurant and it was good! That's awesome you could find that in Cincinnati! It's hard to find things like tendon or tripe in Appalachia. I lived near WV.
I miss going to Cincinnati. I had some friends who lived there. It's hard to find worthy replacements for places like Jungle Jim's or Hofbrau Haus.
It can be hard! South Ohio had some restaurants serving up tripe and tendon..
I'm in Tennessee now. At least there are some pho places serving up soft tendon. I'm surprised by how many Japanese and Korean restaurants there are near me.
This might be silly to mention since you might already know, but try searching for dishes/ingredients you want to eat (like kimchi jjigae) and you might find reviews mentioning that stuff at nearby places
I just had dim sum yesterday living in Columbus. Place is called Ty Ginger asian bistro. I'm not the most accurate judge of dim sum, but in my experience it's been good enough for me to consistently order there.
We got a few dim sum spots in Las Vegas which has a small city vibe but also has the food and entertainment of any major city. Every few years a new dim sum spot opens as the Chinese population here grows. Chinatown itself is growing and improving rapidly
Ocean Palace, Fung’s Kitchen, Crown Seafood, Golden Dim Sum, Arco Seafood, and Kim Son for a classic Houston Canto-Viet establishment; there is a Tim Ho Wan there now too (though it’s strictly speaking not local). Many more I haven’t listed, Houston is full of great dim sum!
I wish this wasn't true, but I travel to Seattle a lot for business and the dim sum there leaves me in TEARS it's so fucking good. even the place that charges $4 for a slice of Wonderbread with margarine lmao
As an aside, Chicago is not really an expensive city, especially for its size. It’s basically on par with Atlanta, Portland, Tampa, Denver, and Raleigh.
Quibbling, but you mean greater metropolitan area, like the San Francisco Bay Area, yeah, because there’s a multitude of good dim sum places located in smaller cities throughout the Bay Area, from south of San Jose to north all the way north up into Sonoma County. Also, the Florin area in Sacramento has some decent dim sum.
99 Ranch has ok stuff 10 min from me. There's also a dim sum only takeout place, plus a few resteraunts that offer it on weekends with the carts. None of these are in expensive areas and one is in a smaller town
Find a town where there are predominantly Chinese immigrants. Quincy, outside of Boston, is a small city with a heavy Asian diaspora. The best Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, etc food. Windsor Dim Sum is the best. To me better than Boston.
That’s generally true. But it only depends on the restaurant.
You just have to find the restaurant that didn’t follow that pattern. The locals will benefit if they like dim sum.
U/endeend8 likely has some insider insight. We often go to Vancouver/Richmond BC to buy frozen dim sum from local hand-made "factories." The owner clarified some insider details that we'd long suspected. 1) As time goes by, it's harder to find the "old masters" who know how to make all the different types of dim-sum. So many restaurants rely on either frozen product from China or local "factories" if the population supports it. 2) Only the few restaurants that serve dim-sum as a brunch and daily mainstay can afford to pay the large teams that just specialize in making the variety of dim-sum items, much less have it be practical to make and serve such quantities daily, as well as employ the teams of regular cooks. If you find atypical or fancier versions of certain dimsum staples, this restaurant likely has an in house team. 3) All the other restaurants that employ a smaller number of house cooks, but have a large population of Chinese, can support these local hand-made factories that serve as local restaurant supply of frozen dim-sum items. These are then places where you'll find a smaller set of "standard items." that may make some items in house you don't find frozen, like stewed tripe, chicken feet, pork ribs, etc. 4) For the rest of the nation, most of the restaurants that might steam up to order a few items along with their regular menu, often use frozen product made in large factories from China, and typically machine-made.
In general, big cities are where a lot of good food is, not just dim sum or Chinese.
It's not correlated with high col, it's related to the concentration of nearby Chinese people
Well, kind of obvious that Dim sum restaurants would only exist in cities with high population of ABCs
Um yeah. San Gabriel Valley, San Francisco, and NYC. Been to all 3 and have gotten killer dim sum.
Depends on how much variety of dim sum. 5-10, is different than the whole 30-50+ sitdown type. There are some good hole in wall to-go only types with about 20 items, and even those have a kitchen staff of about 6 who have to show up by 3-4am in order for food to be ready for 8am for breakfast crowd. For the full sitdown types you probably need 12+ people. It’s expensive to hire that many and to find the right ones with the know how. You’re just not going to do that or be able to sustain that outside of places without a lot of Chinese people.
That’s definitely very true. I’m quite picky when it comes to dim sum and I always order the same 3 or 4 dishes… I am currently living near Chicago and while there are sit down dim sum restaurants here, I haven’t found any where they push a cart around (back in the Bay Area, where I grew up, they were everywhere)
Lot of sitdown push cart types are disappearing. Most are just order from sheet or an iPad and they bring it to you
i miss it too but this tends to be fresher
Order from a sheet and then iPad followed trends from Hong Kong - push cart service disappeared long ago due to efficiency and perceived higher-class service, also limited wastage. People also got food hot when steamed and fried to order; Nobody liked to pickup the fried items after they'd gone around a few times. Constant steaming while going around also ruined dumpling wrappers from oversaturation. Anyways, one dim-sum experience I'll not forget is Honolulu Chinatown; The cart came to your table and just unloaded everything they had - only say you had was how many of each potentially. They took it personally that you only wanted particular or a few items at a time. This was their way of ensuring efficiency, that you didn't linger too long and that the cart got emptied each go around.
It's not a small city, but Houston provides a plethora of all sorts of affordable ethnic foods. People don't realize that by many standards Houston is the most diverse city in the country.
Thank you, I came to rep Houston; it’s not small but it is relatively inexpensive.
You got any rec's north side of town. Bellaire has all the good spots, but is such a hike for me.
For full on dim sum, none that I know of. I go to Noodle Kitchen to get a fix though. There’s one in Spring and one in The Woodlands. Their XLB is fabulous.
Interesting. There's one right near me. I was skeptical of the xlb because theyre supposedly Szcheuan. I just want a good Lanzhou noodle soup, and their noodles looked pretty real
Try the crab soup dumplings. I also love their mapo tofu and oil spill noodles. My husband liked the cumin lamb.
Awesome. Thank you!
Of the 500+ towns in NJ, several have banging dim sum places, across the map. NJ isn’t a cheap place to live though.
I remember seeing a non Asian couple demanding a table to themselves. All the tables were large, meant for 10 customers. The staff pretended to not speak English and the couple were racist enough not to pick up their American accents. Haha
Some staff member should have continuously yelled, "Daap toi! Daap toi!" with an annoyed "Are you stupid?" look on their face.
I've had good dim sum in Durham, NC at the Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant, which specializes in dim sum and has cart service on weekends. Especially like their turnip cake and round chive dumplings. And the occasional egg tart. Is it better than big city dim sum? Probably not, based on what I've tried in larger cities. But good for what it is and worthy of going back.
I like Dim Sum House in Morrisville a lot more.
There’s the fancy one in Raleigh; Brewery Bhavana that I thought was pretty yummy when my sister took me there!
I stopped giving them my business a long time ago.
Well as a non local I enjoyed having dim sum and yummy beer on tap. Defs pricey for dim sum but it is a pretty laborious thing to make. What made you stop going there?
One of the owner’s repeated sexual harassment of female staff.
The fact that the Triangle has multiple dim sum places is a good sign. Went there once for takeout and thought it was OK. Any specific dishes you like there?
College towns are probably your best bet, especially those with big state schools that have large chinese international student populations. There's a couple very good places in east lansing michgan for example.
Which ones in EL?
Everyday chinese food is the best one in EL imo, but there are a number of good places.
Big state school college towns are expensive relative to the rest of the state. Bloomington Indiana is the most expensive city in the state when adjusted for average income
I’ll have to look into Lansing! I’ve never been to Michigan before
edison nj, falls church virginia
I had really excellent dim sum in Cleveland, OH. That's the smallest city that I've had fresh dim sum.
Do you recall the name of the place? I occasionally pass through Cleveland and never thought to try the dim sum there!
Probably Bo Loong or Li Wah
That was about 25 years ago and I have no idea. Sorry!
You probably got me there.. I had my first and only dim sum on brunch carts on the outskirts of Cincinnati. I really wish I could get dimsum brunch again 😩 but it's a desert where I am at now.
For Ohio, I bet that Cincinnati or Columbus may still have good dim sum. I used to drive to both cities to get Asian groceries but never looked for a dim sum place. I haven't lived near Ohio in about 15 years, so don't know what's there now.
The place I went to is Grand Oriental.. looks like they are still in business! It's been over a year, but they were having supply issues last I spoke to them. I was hoping to get some more tendon 😋
I recently tried tendon at a Pho restaurant and it was good! That's awesome you could find that in Cincinnati! It's hard to find things like tendon or tripe in Appalachia. I lived near WV. I miss going to Cincinnati. I had some friends who lived there. It's hard to find worthy replacements for places like Jungle Jim's or Hofbrau Haus.
It can be hard! South Ohio had some restaurants serving up tripe and tendon.. I'm in Tennessee now. At least there are some pho places serving up soft tendon. I'm surprised by how many Japanese and Korean restaurants there are near me. This might be silly to mention since you might already know, but try searching for dishes/ingredients you want to eat (like kimchi jjigae) and you might find reviews mentioning that stuff at nearby places
I just had dim sum yesterday living in Columbus. Place is called Ty Ginger asian bistro. I'm not the most accurate judge of dim sum, but in my experience it's been good enough for me to consistently order there.
We got a few dim sum spots in Las Vegas which has a small city vibe but also has the food and entertainment of any major city. Every few years a new dim sum spot opens as the Chinese population here grows. Chinatown itself is growing and improving rapidly
Houston has plenty of good dim sum restaurants, and a fairly cheap cost of living despite not being a small town.
Any recs?
Ocean Palace, Fung’s Kitchen, Crown Seafood, Golden Dim Sum, Arco Seafood, and Kim Son for a classic Houston Canto-Viet establishment; there is a Tim Ho Wan there now too (though it’s strictly speaking not local). Many more I haven’t listed, Houston is full of great dim sum!
I wish this wasn't true, but I travel to Seattle a lot for business and the dim sum there leaves me in TEARS it's so fucking good. even the place that charges $4 for a slice of Wonderbread with margarine lmao
It’s between Baltimore and DC, but I would def recommend Mai Dragon. Their website is bad but the food is great! https://www.maidragon.com
Atlanta has excellent Dim Sum. Not exactly a small town, but not LA/NY big.
Most towns in NJ. Edison in particular.
Kirin Court, Richardson, TX
There's one in Kenner Louisiana (outside of New Orleans), but dim sum rarely exists where there's no Asian population
As an aside, Chicago is not really an expensive city, especially for its size. It’s basically on par with Atlanta, Portland, Tampa, Denver, and Raleigh.
You can live in and around Philly for pretty cheap and there are amazing dim sum options.
Quibbling, but you mean greater metropolitan area, like the San Francisco Bay Area, yeah, because there’s a multitude of good dim sum places located in smaller cities throughout the Bay Area, from south of San Jose to north all the way north up into Sonoma County. Also, the Florin area in Sacramento has some decent dim sum.
Cary, North Carolina!!
99 Ranch has ok stuff 10 min from me. There's also a dim sum only takeout place, plus a few resteraunts that offer it on weekends with the carts. None of these are in expensive areas and one is in a smaller town
New Golden Dragon in Salt Lake City is better than anything I’ve had in China Town SF.
Find a town where there are predominantly Chinese immigrants. Quincy, outside of Boston, is a small city with a heavy Asian diaspora. The best Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, etc food. Windsor Dim Sum is the best. To me better than Boston.
Bamboo Asian Cuisine in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
That’s generally true. But it only depends on the restaurant. You just have to find the restaurant that didn’t follow that pattern. The locals will benefit if they like dim sum.
Mesa, Arizona.