You Can Go Home Again--And I Can Eat Dim Sum Without Leaving Town

So those of you who follow me on social media may know, last year I declared I would no longer eat dim sum in Los Angeles because it was so vastly inferior to that in the San Francisco Bay area.  Of course that didn't mean I would refuse social engagements with family or friends if dim sum were involved.  Nor did it mean I would not test out the goods at newly opened dim sum restaurants.   But it did slow down my dim sum consumption, which had not been that great anyway,  to a trickle locally.    

However, late last year I received a tip that Sea Harbour in Rosemead had revised its menu sometime since my most recent visit, and in fact after checking it out online it was time for a return visit.  And indeed, Sea Harbour is back on my list.  It didn't take long for me to be convinced when I ordered my beloved crispy baked bbq pork buns, still called French style bbq pork buns on the Sea Harbour menu.  I had always ordered this item on my visits to Sea Harbour, even though it was a cut below all the Bay Area versions, and even the equivalent snow mountain bun at Family Pastry in Los Angeles.  However, this bun had been reformulated to match my favorite versions.

 

Also on the menu was one of my Bay Area favorites that I had not seen in the San Gabriel Valley, best described as double thick gelatinous cubes.  Up north they were usually ginger buns, but this one was called date pudding.  Just as good though.

 

Not a Bay Area exclusive, but it was great to see this red rice crispy shrimp cruller rice noodle roll at Sea Harbour.

 

 XO squid ink spicy scallop and shrimp dumpling.

 

New style chicken bao are large with a leafy pattern.

 

Chicken knees (or is it knuckles or ankles?) anyone.

 

Truffle siu mai with shrimp and pork.

 

Interesting to see they still have the old "intestine" style rice noodle rolls.

 

Fried egg tofu in Thai sauce.

 

Milky white egg tarts.

 

Crispy pork pastries

 

Preserved meat rice casserole.

 

Gold leaf shrimp dumpling.

 

Bean curd skin with abalone sauce.

 

Radish cake

 

Xiaolongbao

 

Shrimp and vegetable dumpling

Rice noodle rolls with spare ribs

 

 Gold leaf lava buns.

 

Now that Sea Harbour has stepped up its dim sum, hopefully other San Gabriel Valley dim sum purveyors may follow. 

 

My Very Tenuous Link To The Record Multi Oscar Nominated Film "Sinners" (Yes, It Has To Do With Chinese Food)

Sinners is a movie that I would never watch.  For one thing I probably will watch a movie only once every couple of years due to a combination lack of spare time and my general aversion to things fictional.  And secondly, horror movies with vampires would be the last genre of movie I would care to watch.  I mean I have trouble getting all the sleep my body needs as it is, so why would I watch something which would make it even harder for me to sleep?

However, while there are a few degrees of separation, I do have a slim link to the movie itself.  Well, sort of.  Back in 2017, Chinese-American filmmaker Dolly Li produced a video series on Chinese food in America for Al Jazzeera.   She had been referred to me by Los Angeles Times columnist Frank Shyong, who had written a front page Los Angeles Times story about me, as someone who could help her out with the San Gabriel Valley portion of her series, which also included visits to San Francisco and the Mississippi Delta.  I guess I impressed her with what I told hear about Chinese food in the San Gabriel Valley, and she asked me if I would be interested in being the on camera guide for a food tour of the San Gabriel Valley.  I politely told her she was crazy and should get somebody young and attractive.  She said she would consult with the producers, who wholeheartedly agreed that I should not be the video guide.  So I only ended up being noted as a consultant to the presentation.  The final product was a great success, but I have no regrets about not pursuing a role in the documentary, as I figured that if I was in it, it would not have been as good.  

Since writer-director Ryan Coogler chose Clarksdale, Mississippi as the setting for Sinners due to his family ties, he was aware of the importance of Chinese-American grocers in the African American community in Clarksdale, as well as other Mississippi Delta communities during that time period.  So while most people may find the existence of Chinese American characters in the movie to be random, or some sort of strained attempt at diversity, it was an accurate representation of something that actually existed.  Coogler ran across Dolly Li's documentary profile of the Mississippi Delta Chinese population, and hired her to be a consultant for the movie to ensure the maximum historical accuracy.  

Naturally I was tickled to hear of the depiction of Mississippi Chinese in Sinners. Furthermore, I ate at a Chinese restaurant in Clarksdale in 1976, and coincidentally I wrote an article  about this visit just last year.    Plus we have distant Mississippi relatives on both my father's and mother's side of the family.  So given all this, will I break down and actually watch the movie?  Well, not exactly.  But since the movie is already on streaming I thinking I'll pull it up and fast forward it to the "good parts" (i.e. Chinese scenes).

 

 My 1976 visit  to Clarksdale chinese restaurant

Dim Sum On The Las Vegas Strip

Even before Las Vegas developed its own Chinese community some 30 plus years ago, there was a tie between that city and Chinese food.  That's because before then, a number of casinos had started serving late night Chinese food to Chinese American gamblers, who apparently had been ferried into town on casino sponsored travel junkets.  In subsequent years Las Vegas attracted richer Chinese gamblers from around the world.  About 20 years ago this led to the erroneous belief among some people that Las Vegas had the best Chinese food in the United States.  This was traced back to a comment by legendary Ruth Teichl who indeed said that some of the casinos were turning out the best Chinese food in the country, but the food she spoke about was not available to the general public.  Rather she was talking about invitation only dinners thrown at casinos for their Chinese high rollers.

The growth of the local Chinese community that led to the creation of a Chinatown on Spring Mountain Blvd., as well as increasing patronage from Chinese visiting the Strip from around the nation and the world, led to more and more authentic Chinese food in in Las Vegas.  Not to the extent it would match the quality of the food in Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York, but still good enough so that nobody would complain about it.   At first every casino had its own Chinese restaurant, then casinos kept adding a second or maybe even a third Chinese restaurant  At first, though on the pricey side, I didn't find anything outstanding, but then restaurants like Hakkasan and Red 8 stepped up Chinese food on the strip to a new level.

However after last month's visit, it is apparent to me that Las Vegas has finally carved out a Chinese food niche as to upscale Chinese food on the Las Vegas Strip.  While Las Vegas did have expensive Chinese dining at such restaurants as Wing Lei, Blossom and Jasmine, I really didn't take them seriously.  However about 5 years ago, two new openings in the Venetian, Mott 32 and X Pot, delivered the quality to match the high prices.  Finally getting a chance to visit Mott 32, I was impressed by everything we had.

Nicely decorated dining room with salute to Anna May Wong.

 

 

 

 

Hot and sour Iberico pork soup dumplings 

 

Mushroom dumplings

 

Peking duck egg rolls

 

Sugar coated crispy baked BBQ pork buns

 

Perhaps the best beef chow fun I ever ate

 

Xiaolongbao.  Order of just 4?

 

Snow pea leaves, cooked to perfection.

 

And Guava pudding, better than mango pudding.

 

Likewise the lineup at the oddly named Washing Potato, in the largely moribund Fontainbleu Hotel was also stellar.

 

 

Washing potato squash and pine nut dumpling

  

Cucumber and wood ear salad

 

Wonton in chili oil

 

Scallop shu mai

 Pineapple buns

 

 Banana egg rolls

 

 

Bay Area Quality Dim Sum Arrives In Southern California

For over 125 years, Chinese food in the United States was synonymous with San Francisco.  As the major port of entry for Chinese migrants and by far the largest population of Chinese residents in the United States there was nothing surprising about this.  But with the final repeal of the last vestiges of the Chinese Exclusion Laws in 1965 spawning a new wave of Chinese immigration. three large Chinese communities of approximately equal size developed in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, such that the three areas jockeyed for leadership as the best destination for Chinese dining.  Somewhere in the 1990s, Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley took the lead, which they have maintained until the present time.

But in one particular genre, dim sum, San Francisco is the undisputed leader, surpassing Los Angeles sometime in the past 10 years or so.  After two fact finding trips this past August and October, I concluded there are probably at least 15 Bay Area dim sum restaurants better than the best dim sum restaurant in the Los Angeles, whatever that best restaurant might be (I haven't figured that out).  As a result, I decided that I wouldn't even bother to eat dim sum in Los Angeles until something better came along.  And fortunately, that something better has arrived with a branch of Palette Tea House opening in Tustin.  Palette is part of the Koi Palace family,  Koi Palace revolutionized dim sum in America when it opened in the late 20th century, when it introduced a higher quality, more refined brand of dim sum.  However, about 20 years ago, Sea Harbour and a number of other restaurants opened in the San Gabriel Valley featuring dim sum served not on carts, but rather prepared to order from customer check sheets.  This provided even a better product since all dim sum items were served fresh, and new and better dim sum varieties which could not have been practically served via cart, but shined under a cook to order system.  However, there has been little improvement in Los Angeles area dim sum in the past 15 years or so, while the Bay Area adopted, and then mastered the art of cook to order dim sum.

Even in soft opening with a limited menu, Palette surpasses anything else currently available in the Los Angeles dim sum market.   Here are the items we had during our inaugural visit to the Tustin branch of Palette.  

 

Snow pea leaf with garlic.  This dish turns out tough at many restaurants but is nice and tender here.

 

Cucumber salad with wood ear fungus.  Mostly cucumber.

 

Wagyu XO fried rice.

 

My favorite--typhoon shelter XO shrimp dumplings

 

Lava buns.

 

An unexpected treat--bang bang chicken wings

 

Shrimp and pork siu mai with fish roe.  As good as it looks.

 

Crystal har gow--a classic done well.

 

Multiflavor rainbow xiaolongbao.   I even liked the habanero flavored one.

 

Lobster har gow--with built in subdermal sauce injection device.

 

Steamed bbq pork buns.

 

Egg tarts need to be worked on.  That's what soft opening is for.

 

Golden swan durian puffs.  Was great when I had it in the Bay Area, but something was missing here.

 

Soft opening menu.

 

With Palatte's track record and my past experience with numerous Bay Area visits, I'm not terribly concerned about a couple of rough spots here.  When we went to the soft opening of their Las Vegas location exactly two years ago, it wasn't pretty.  Today it's probably the best Vegas dim sum off the Strip.  Can't wait to go back early next year to Tustin when they have their full menu and have taken care of the kinks.