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Hollywood East Cafe, Wheaton - Owner Janet Yu Now in Wheaton Shopping Center - STILL OPEN


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Karen and I decided to have dim sum yesterday (not an unusual Sunday lunch for us) and instead of going to Silver Fountain in Aspen Hill as we are wont to do (hey it is close and not at all bad) we went to Hollywood East on the Boulevard.

In a word, fantastic. It was crowded, but what good dim sum place isn't on a Sunday at noon. We did not have to wait long however, about 5 minutes. And as we sat down, the carts started passing by. In addition to the normal carts, several servers come by with special dishs on trays. Most of the servers were young, obviously well Americanized (but all speak Chinese too) and very polite.

We ordered as the whim hit us, sticky rice in lotus leaves, abalone dumplings (very tasty),steamed shrimp dumplings (excellent), baked roast pork buns, shark fin dumplings, scallop dumplings, peanut and cilantro dumplings (yum), crispy taro cakes, tofu wraped pork, roast duck in soy, spare ribs (with garlic and peppers, not black beans, very tasty) and much to the server's amusement (and amazement) I ordered duck feet (one of my favorite dim sum dishes and the one I tend to judge dim sum restaurants by) which was excellent. We also had a couple of dessert courses that were unusual. The first, black sesame paste balls were fantastic, much like a normal sesame ball but the sesame seeds and paste were inside instead of a bean paste. I loved it. The other was the rice dough dyed orange and made to look like a carrot. It was filled with custard. Not as good as the sesame balls, but very inventive. (I've probably left a few things out, and we did have some of it packed up to take home to the kid when he got off work.)

We had forgotten just how good HECOTB was, and will definitely be back for dim sum. And in light of some of the unneeded back and forth in this thread, I'll point out that when it comes to Cantonese food, I only go for dim sum, normally I much prefer Hunan or Schezuan when eating Chinese food for dinner, the spicier the better.

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The first, black sesame paste balls were fantastic, much like a normal sesame ball but the sesame seeds and paste were inside instead of a bean paste. I loved it.

This isn't all that unusual, actually. Different places have different fillings. At the old Tung Bor Harbor in the Wheaton Mall they had an amazing variation with sweet potato inside.

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This isn't all that unusual, actually. Different places have different fillings. At the old Tung Bor Harbor in the Wheaton Mall they had an amazing variation with sweet potato inside.

Oh yes, the old Tung Bor, how I miss that place. It was the first place I ate dim sum in the DC area after moving back in the early 80s. And while the sesame ball is probably not that unusual, I have not seen it at other places I frequent for dim sum.

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We went early this morning. Very good steamed stuff: bean curd skin roll, abalone & 1000 year egg meatball, veggie & peanut in sticky rice dough, rice noodle with roast pork. Incredible: Duck dumpling (rice dough & roast duck with a cinnamon intense 5 spice flavor is a bit of sauce), green tea sesame ball (green tea in the dough and in the sesame paste made this one superb!).

If you like desserts at dim sum (and you know who you are Mrs. P), the sesame green tea ball is worth a detour!

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Closing at its current location in the next month or two...relocating to Westfield shopping center down the street...landlord issues.

They're actually going to be IN the mall?

If that's really the case, I give them 6 months, tops. What a shame.

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They're actually going to be IN the mall?

If that's really the case, I give them 6 months, tops. What a shame.

Why, Dan? Granted, Wheaton Plaza is a pit of doom these days, but HEOTB has a devoted clientele that would presumably follow them to the new location.

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Why, Dan? Granted, Wheaton Plaza is a pit of doom these days, but HEOTB has a devoted clientele that would presumably follow them to the new location.

Some would certainly follow, but they must get some of their traffic from drive-by or walk-by patrons, and there would be zero of those in the mall. There's no way the mall is charging less rent than their current location, so they must be counting on increased, not decreased crowds.

Remember when Tung Bor was in that mall? They survived because there actually WERE some crowds then, but they served a lot of General Tso's Chicken to go with their dim sum. As soon as the mall traffic dropped, they died quickly.

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Some would certainly follow, but they must get some of their traffic from drive-by or walk-by patrons, and there would be zero of those in the mall. There's no way the mall is charging less rent than their current location, so they must be counting on increased, not decreased crowds.

Remember when Tung Bor was in that mall? They survived because there actually WERE some crowds then, but they served a lot of General Tso's Chicken to go with their dim sum. As soon as the mall traffic dropped, they died quickly.

Is it possible they are looking at the old Circuit City location? It's technically part of the Westfield Mall, but not IN the main mall per se. That might get them the best of both worlds--the mall crowds and parking, but in a more-or-less stand-alone location.
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Is it possible they are looking at the old Circuit City location? It's technically part of the Westfield Mall, but not IN the main mall per se. That might get them the best of both worlds--the mall crowds and parking, but in a more-or-less stand-alone location.

I can't imagine the zoning and cost of turning a warehouse retail shop into a commercial kitchen and dining room.

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I think that Hollywood East is a destination restaurant and should have no trouble having its fans follow it, particularly as it is on most lists as one of the best dining places in the area. I never noticed that HEOTB had much of a walk-up crowd except for those who parked in a lot somewhere and walked over. Janet should do very well.

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<<groan>> I'm with Daniel on this.

As a regular, I'm so disappointed to hear about the move and hope fervently it won't be IN the mall. Even though I agree it's a destination restaurant, the sheer volume and nature of mall traffic has the potential to drive down the demand for the quality experience it now provides.

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I think that Hollywood East is a destination restaurant and should have no trouble having its fans follow it, particularly as it is on most lists as one of the best dining places in the area. I never noticed that HEOTB had much of a walk-up crowd except for those who parked in a lot somewhere and walked over. Janet should do very well.

If Hollywood East is such a destination restaurant and has a big following, when is it crowded? I was there last in mid-January for dinner and the place was very sparsely populated. A couple of my family members frequent the place on a fairly regular basis (mostly on Sunday nights) and they tell me that the lack of patrons has been noticed for some time - many, many months, at least. So are they mostly crowded during dim sum service or what?

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If Hollywood East is such a destination restaurant and has a big following, when is it crowded? I was there last in mid-January for dinner and the place was very sparsely populated. A couple of my family members frequent the place on a fairly regular basis (mostly on Sunday nights) and they tell me that the lack of patrons has been noticed for some time - many, many months, at least. So are they mostly crowded during dim sum service or what?

Yes. If you get there after noon on a Saturday or Sunday, you can wait up to an hour for a table.

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They stay open quite late on weekends and I have been in on a Friday and a Saturday night about midnight and there was always a crowd.

Which, if they move to being IN the mall, is out. Unless they get a spot with an outside door, they'll be closing at 9:30pm, earlier on Sundays.

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Some would certainly follow, but they must get some of their traffic from drive-by or walk-by patrons, and there would be zero of those in the mall. There's no way the mall is charging less rent than their current location, so they must be counting on increased, not decreased crowds.

Remember when Tung Bor was in that mall? They survived because there actually WERE some crowds then, but they served a lot of General Tso's Chicken to go with their dim sum. As soon as the mall traffic dropped, they died quickly.

Excuse me? Zero walk-by traffic in a mall, but plenty of walk-by traffic at a street location in Wheaton or anywhere in the burbs???? A MALL?! What is there in a mall besides walk-by traffic?

Tung Bor had lots of business while they were in the mall. I know--I stood in lines many times. They died later, after leaving the mall; IIRC when they left the mall (probably because they didn't have enough room for all their business), they landed on Georgia Ave, and still had lots of business. Maybe it was the other way around--my memory is hazy. In any case, my recollection is they finally went to Bethesda and died there. But so many things could have happened that traffic in the mall seems unlikely to have been the problem. Increased rents maybe. Also their stock in trade was dim sum--they were really the only dim sum game in town in their era. Maybe new competition had something to do with it?

And the mall may well be offering a very attractive deal. Malls everywhere are cutting deals to try to get tenants these days, and searching far and wide for new kinds of unconventional tenants. Rents are not high any more. See below.

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/200...ants&st=cse

In short, moving to the mall may or may not be a good idea for HEOTB, but can't be dismissed out of hand. It would certainly solve the parking problem. :rolleyes:

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John, the question isn't mall traffic in general, it's traffic in THIS mall.

It's a ghost town. The anchors are mostly gone. Half the stores are boarded up. Xmas week, you could get a parking spot spitting distance from the front door. A movie theater that opened lasted FOUR WEEKS before closing. And crime, both in the mall and parking lots, is a noted problem.

Tung Bor did indeed move to Bethesda before dying, and I think you're right about competition - they weren't bad for dim sum in 1990, but just a few years later, there were much better options in the area.

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John, the question isn't mall traffic in general, it's traffic in THIS mall.

It's a ghost town. The anchors are mostly gone. Half the stores are boarded up. Xmas week, you could get a parking spot spitting distance from the front door. A movie theater that opened lasted FOUR WEEKS before closing. And crime, both in the mall and parking lots, is a noted problem.

Tung Bor did indeed move to Bethesda before dying, and I think you're right about competition - they weren't bad for dim sum in 1990, but just a few years later, there were much better options in the area.

You posted before I could...and "ghost town" is exactly how my in-laws describe it, as they "walk" in the mall for exercise. They routinely tell us about more stores being boarded up. DSW did open recently, which is a small glimmer. It's my understanding that the movie theater (Montgomery Cinema and Drafthouse) closed because the landlord would not reimburse them (per their agreement) for the $ spent on renovating the space from the prior tenant. And it was a nice renovation, too, but I can see how they wouldn't' be able to continue to operate without receiving those funds. Now that space, among others, sits empty. With Circuit City being gone, Target, and occasionally Giant, are the only reasons to bring me to that area.

I was wondering if HECOB moves to the Mall,

1) do they change their name? :rolleyes:

2) do they move to a location with outside entry, such as where the chicken place and Ruby Tuesday, among other former restaurants, are or were, currently?

3) do they move to an outside location, not the Office Depot space, but the circuit city/strip that had the Checkers on the end?

Does anyone know what is going to happen with their former space on Univ Blvd? What's interesting is that just a bit further away on Georgia, there are several new strip centers with "for lease" signs posted. This is where the former Anchor Inn was (El Pollo Rico is there) and another new building was just constructed next to that one. Those areas would have better access than the Mall, but as someone else mentioned, if the Mall is offering deals on leases, economically that may be where they need to be right now.

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John, the question isn't mall traffic in general, it's traffic in THIS mall.

It's a ghost town. The anchors are mostly gone. Half the stores are boarded up. Xmas week, you could get a parking spot spitting distance from the front door. A movie theater that opened lasted FOUR WEEKS before closing. And crime, both in the mall and parking lots, is a noted problem.

Tung Bor did indeed move to Bethesda before dying, and I think you're right about competition - they weren't bad for dim sum in 1990, but just a few years later, there were much better options in the area.

Perhaps so. I haven't been inside Wheaton Mall for a long long time, and given its downscale market I suppose it is more likely to suffer from the economy than, say, Montgomery Mall. Then again, it may be the perfect candidate for the unconventional recycled mall uses that are now being looked at, and such uses in turn might be good generators of lunch traffic for a Chinese restaurant. Who knows?

I hope Janet knows what she's doing, whatever it is. Her place was always high on my favorite list. I wish her well.

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Something called attorney-client privilege is probably going to make him not talk to Tim.
I'm more worried that she got bad legal advice, and you're worried about privilege?!?! Hm, what did you have for dinner tonight, Eric?? Besides, throwing it out into the public may make room for negotiations. It's worked before in other cases, I'm sure you're aware of that.

Sending peaceful thoughts toward the family on a resolution.

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Had a very nice dinner there tonight, though the dining room was no more than half full, even at 7p when we left.

We had:

Vegetable Spring Rolls (fine, nothing special, kid request)

BBQ Roast Pork (nice depth of flavor on the BBQ sauce)

Shredded Duck Curl with Lettuce Leaves (Duck with sprouts and other veggies, intended to make a wrap with the lettuce. I got a taste, but the kids inhaled this dish. Very good.)

Pork with Watercress Soup (nice and light, with a good ginger flavor)

Steamed Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce (fine, nothing special, but I ate my veggies, Mom)

Chicken with Taro in Casserole (with or without bones) (we ordered with bones, but I wonder if that was a mistake. Lovely flavor in the casserole, though the taro was a bit tough. But there was very very little chicken on those bones)

Kingdom Pork Chop (Chops were flavorful and properly fried, but the sauce was too sweet for my taste, though goodeats said this was a typical presentation)

Jumbo Prawns with Head & Shell in Chef's sauce (excellent flavor in the sauce, but the shrimp were way way overcooked.

Pork Belly dish (not on online menu) (Definitely the star of the evening. Even hm212's non foodie daughter had two servings!)

Total, including tax and very generous tip, was $20/person. And there were tons of leftovers.

I hope they can come back in the Fall in the mall. Their dim sum is fantastic, and while they're not one of my regular dinner haunts since I have so many great places close to home, they showed tonight that they can certainly put out a good meal.

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Hollywood East remailns open thru Memorial Day. Given that Janet & family are going to be without income and with expenses until their new place opens in August, it would be nice to give them some support.
Janet is starting an email list and promised to update her website with opening news.

Saturday was our last Dim Sum on the Boulevard. Until they reopen, here are some photos:

post-226-1243209174_thumb.jpgDoes anyone know what the orange bits on top of this duck filled dumpling are?

post-226-1243209137_thumb.jpgThis crepe noodle is filled with something like crispy, though tasteless, Palmier and drenched with soypost-226-1243209413_thumb.jpg

post-226-1243209068_thumb.jpg

post-226-1243209102_thumb.jpgThese carrots were served so fresh and hot I burned the roof of my mouth with the molten custard filling.

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We were there today and barring a return trip tomorrow our last time as well. We ahd killer stuff today as we got there at 10:30 on the dot and had a bunch of steamed items, the best of which included duck dumpling, abalone dumpling, bean curd skin, beef ribs with black pepper and more. We were too early for green tea balls or carrots! Dang!

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Does anyone know what the orange bits on top of this duck filled dumpling are?
It looks like candied bits. Did it taste like anything?
This crepe noodle is filled with something like crispy, though tasteless, Palmier and drenched with soy
You had "zha lan" or fried crueller/dough wrapped in flat rice noodles. It's yummy and crunchy when done well.
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Nevermind I should have checked before I posted- this just in from their website

** Important Announcement **

(Updated 10/15/09)

We apologize for not having our website updated sooner, but we have good news!

The building plans have been approved and the building permits have been issued to us. Our construction team has been working around the clock to finish the job as soon as possible. With construction well underway, we plan on opening by Mid-November. Please continue to visit our website for updates.

Thank you all so much for the kind e-mails!

We really appreciate having your support!

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Would love to do a dimsum gorging when it opens but what does a "soft" opening mean? Does that mean not all the dishes are available or certain sections of the rest. will not be ready for use?

Regardless of the answer, Dimsum @ HE sound like a great idea.

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For some reason, during a difficult commute in this morning [Freezing Fog?], my mind turned to HECOB.

The dim-sum operation was supposed to celebrate its grand reopening in August. Now, Yu says, she’s looking at a soft reopening on Monday, Dec. 14.

Although they're still under construction, they have a twitter account with photos of their new digs.

Currently, this may be the best place for updates: www.twitter.com/HWoodEastCafe

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Follow @HWoodEastCafe on Twitter.

From an exchange 23 minutes ago:

HWoodEastCafe @justDanielK we've been trying to get a 1500lbs fan unit onto the roof, and we finally got the OK from the structural engineer 2 days ago...

HWoodEastCafe @justDanielK we are currently building the base for it and will probably call in the crane on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week to lift it

HWoodEastCafe @justDanielK so I would say if everything goes according to plan, January 17-20.. Thanks!

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