Dumplings

[turbogrrl]

What can I say? I love dumplings. We went up to NYC for four days of dumplings and dumplings and general walking around. We had some excellent dumplings and some tragic ones. On the excellent side:

Sheng jian bao: So far, I have not found any in the states better than the ones at 456 Shanghai at 69 Mott Street. The reality is that sheng jian bao are best from a standalone shop that is making 50 of these at once, and as far as I can tell I'm only going to get that in shanghai. but in the meantime... I can make it to 456 in nyc when I have a craving.

Xiao long bao: for convenience and reliability, Shanghai Cafe at 100 Mott is pretty much my gold standard. Cash only. We did find a better xiao long bao... but it was a big trek. You have to balance your craving against the effort. Diverse Dim Sum, in the New York Food Court in Flushing, has much better XLB. But they only have disposable plastic spoons and forks. So if you trek out to Flushing, I'd advise bringing your own spoon and chopsticks and chili in oil (for the wonton below).

Wonton in chili oil: White Bear, 135-02 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing. (the shop entrance is actually around the corner on Prince St.) Cash only. Three tables. There is a long menu but you want the #6. The wonton are pillowy and subtle. The chili is flavour, not heat-- if you go in expecting spicy, you will be disappointed. Although, there is usually some spicy chili on one of the tables, if you must. Or bring your own. We started and ended our Flushing trip here. Delicious.

Pan-fried pork and vegetable dumpling: Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles, 1 Doyers St. Cash-only. The dumpling were fabulous. So were the pan-fried knife peeled noodles, as were the hand-pulled noodles. No air conditioning, tiny, cramped, delicious.

(Not a Dumpling): Roast pork sesame pancake sandwich, Milk tea boba: Vanessas Dumpling House, 118 Eldridge. They also had tasty pan-fried pork dumplings and wonton in chili oil, but while very good they were not as excellent as the examples above.

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Calories I ate so you do not have to:

Nan Xiang XLB in Flushing. Maybe it was a bad day. If so, it was a bad day for everything we ordered here. the XLB were inedible (meat was... stale.) The scallion pancake was fried well but I think may have started life as cardboard. And the sheng jian bao were essentially just taiwanese bao that had been soaked in oil and given a very little pan fry at the wrong heat. no soup, too doughy and oily. edible- but no reason to actually eat them.

Lao jia, or old street dimsum in queens crossing mall, flushing. The sheng jian bao were utterly tragic. They had been sitting under a heat lamp, they hadn't been fried enough, and the meat was not good. The guo tie otoh had just come off the stove and were pretty good, but not sure why you would otherwise find yourself in queens crossing mall.

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The New York Food Court and the New World Mall were both hopping shanghai-style food court malls, with tons of great smells. If I hadn't been on a dumpling mission, I know I would have found a lot more to inhale. There are also a couple of cute asian bakeries around town. I can definitely make the case for taking the 7 train out to flushing, starting at white bear, and then just eating your way through those two food courts before stumbling home.. possibly with a final stop at white bear before you go. Also the bathrooms at New World are some of the best public bathrooms I've been in.

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other note: Yes, we went to Joe's on our previous trip. Huge tourist trap, long waits, and the XLB were... fine? I like 100 mott better, and it's cheaper, and much less crazy. Joe's did have the best scallion pancake I'd had in years, though, so I might try to figure out how to just get one to go? Maybe.

[Steve R.]

Since you've been to Flushing's (cleaner) Food Courts, have you gone to the downstairs Golden Mall (Main St.) & taken a look at the dumpling place?  The dough is way too thick/heavy but she turns out dumplings with some very interesting fillings.  Worth sampling.  Also, when down there, right next door to the dumplings stand is the original Xi'an stand.  Great lamb sandwiches.  She (the dumpling stand owner) also opened a restaurant nearby in a small mall on Kissena several years ago and I can't remember the name, but the dumplings there were lighter and better prepared (& somewhat costlier).  I think its still there, but I haven't been since the opening.  And, as an aside, even though it has nothing to do with dumplings, there's a restaurant called Fu Run literally next door to White Bear that's definitely worth a meal.  And a Shanghai place around the corner (across from the playground/back of the LIRR station) that's excellent, including for soup dumplings.  Or give some notice when you're coming in again and we can get a group of knowledgable folk together for a lunch.  There are several bloggers, ex-Chowhound board folks & others who still do this in NYC.

[turbogrrl]

my elusive holy grail are the sheng jian bao. So if anyone knows where excellent pan-fried soup dumplings can be found, I am ALL ATTENTION. As for the other good eats-- I suspect my spouse will thank me if we don't eat all dumplings all the time the next time...

[DaveO]

On 7/9/2017 at 10:38 AM, turbogrrl said:

What can I say? I love dumplings. We went up to NYC for four days of dumplings and dumplings and general walking around. We had some excellent dumplings and some tragic ones.

Thanks for the post above.  Growing up I was in that area of NYC a fair amount.  At some point in the early 1900's my grandfather, one of his brothers, and a brother in law opened a business with its main building on Grand Street.  It was a different time and place.  They were mostly distributors of linens, bedspreads, etc.  but also sold retail, primarily on Sunday's when that area was packed with shoppers in the old Jewish discount stores primarily on Orchard Street, with many linen type stores on Grand between Orchard and The Bowery.

I, along with some of my siblings and cousins and second cousins worked there on and off.  Big extended family business for quite a few decades. Known to us one and all as "the store".    They owned a building on the 100 block of Eldridge.  I think it had an odd number address so it would have been roughly across the street from Vanessa Dumpling House at 118 Eldridge. 

The Eldridge Street building was a warehouse.  Dusty old building with makeshift additional floors to warehouse merchandise.  I never advanced beyond stock boy..so I spent a fair amount of time in that dumpy narrow block on Eldridge Street, going back and forth bringing merchandise to the main store.  What a memory seeing that address.  Calling that block of Eldridge Street at that time a dump is a stretch and a compliment.  Glad to know its been upgraded!!!!!

Now its a food emporium street.  Wow.  While spending time in that area and when I hit my teens and beyond I did manage to work my way through wondrous Chinese food that was remarkably different and better than Americanized Chinese, excellent versions of Italian American cuisine (old school Red Sauce places) and terrific Jewish deli and bakeries, and of course terrific Italian bakeries. 

Dumplings!!!!!   I got my first vision and tastes of dumplings in that area so many decades ago.  It was a revelation.  But I was young and naive.  What the hell did I know.

Great post.  Time for a revisit.

And the 7 train.  Oh man, My parents must have had a weak moment and permitted me to join friends and take the 7 train to the NY World's Fair.  Thereafter it was a great train to see the Mets and the US Tennis tournament.  But my oh my...I never took it to feast on Asian food.  What a loss on my part.

Thanks for the report.  I never advanced to the Queens center both you and Steve R reference.  That sounds sooooo food worthy.

[Steve R.]

A side story you may appreciate:

if your family's place was across the street from Vanessa's, up until 7 years or so ago you would have been looking at a Vanessa's that wasn't actually in a building.  When they moved into the proper building with the address they now have, they did so from their already famous location next door, which wasn't a building at all, but an alleyway between buildings that she had put a roof over and created a location to sell dumplings and sandwiches out of.  Makeshift kitchen that couldn't have possibly been up to code, they existed for years this way.  Only by standing across the street, where your family place was, was it obvious that people were going thru a door into an alley.  One of the many reasons I have always loved NYC.

[DaveO]

1 hour ago, Steve R. said:

A side story you may appreciate:

if your family's place was across the street from Vanessa's, up until 7 years or so ago you would have been looking at a Vanessa's that wasn't actually in a building.  When they moved into the proper building with the address they now have, they did so from their already famous location next door, which wasn't a building at all, but an alleyway between buildings that she had put a roof over and created a location to sell dumplings and sandwiches out of.  Makeshift kitchen that couldn't have possibly been up to code, they existed for years this way.  Only by standing across the street, where your family place was, was it obvious that people were going thru a door into an alley.  One of the many reasons I have always loved NYC.

LOL   Well, let me put a time perspective on this...plus @Steve R. I believe we are close in age.  I probably haven't been on the 100 block of Eldridge since the early 1980's.  The business closed and the buildings were sold.  As I recall the lousy financial state of NYC stretched from the 70's when bankruptcy hit into the early 80's. 

Who knows my ancestors may have purchased those properties in the 1930's or so or thereafter.  I don't have any of the details.  Last I recall in the 80's that was still a very dingy dirty old block with nothing outstanding or worthwhile.  There were no eateries as I recall.  The world has changed and dramatically so.

I probably started working there on an ad hoc basis in the mid 60's along with older cousins, second cousins, etc.  I was lowest of the low.  Asst to the stock boys.  LOL  I sort of despised that block of Eldridge Street back then; dark, daunting, dirty, narrow, filthy etc.  And the warehouse was about the same as the street.  And during the times I was there, they seemed to send me there a disproportionate amount of time.  (send the young shmuck there.  He doesn't know any better)    Ha ha.  (I actually treasured being in that place as it was a sort of testimonial to family and tribe and that old world mentality)

Just seeing the 100 block of Eldridge Street brought back a flood of memories.  Glad to know there are wondrous restaurants on the block.   BTW:   All those trips out on the #7 to the Big Shea and the tennis tournament which stretched probably into the 90's.  And I never hit any of the noted food centers.  What a pity.

[Steve R.]

I'm just about 65.  But a young 65 .

That block of Eldridge ain't exactly the pinnacle of dining activity, but it is better than it was in the '80s.  Its still dirty, grimy and full of warehouses for various things, but there are maybe 2 or 3 other places to eat there as well. Not at all "wondrous".  If not for Vanessa's (which was once just called "Eldridge St Dumpling House" and now is one of three or four places with her name around town), I can't think of a reason to be on that block.  Some things change very slowly.

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Dumpling Galaxy (Steve R.)

[DaveO]

On 7/10/2017 at 7:12 PM, Steve R. said:

I'm just about 65.  But a young 65 .

That block of Eldridge ain't exactly the pinnacle of dining activity, but it is better than it was in the '80s.  Its still dirty, grimy and full of warehouses for various things, but there are maybe 2 or 3 other places to eat there as well. Not at all "wondrous".  If not for Vanessa's (which was once just called "Eldridge St Dumpling House" and now is one of three or four places with her name around town), I can't think of a reason to be on that block.  Some things change very slowly.

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Dumpling Galaxy (Steve R.)

I was there this past weekend.  Eldridge Street, is a side street in a secondary less developed pretty ethnic neighborhood.  Not much going on there. 

Still, even at its minor upgrade of some commercial activity it appears to be about 1000% more developed than what I recall from the 1970's/80's.  It has a tinge of attractiveness versus bluchchchch.  Sorry.  Didn't get to try any dumplings.