Playing Ping Pong Dim Sum

Serving style is a bit more 'uptown' than most dim sum restaurants.

Finally got to Ping Pong Dim Sum in DC -- with my son.  This is a bit more contemporary location than many dim sum restaurants -- sleek, new, no carts and everything off the menu.  A good selection, freshly steamed or fried and served hot.  We were there mid-afternoon on a Sunday and sat at the 'steam bar' watching the cooks do their jobs -- steam bamboo baskets of the nearly two dozen menu choices.

We voted that we would go back -- but being fans of open kitchen concepts -- wished we would be able to watch more of the food prep and not just dropping dumplings on the steam table or in the fryer.

It's evidentially very popular -- a second location is opening later this year near Dupont Circle.

Yank Sing Sings

The "Top 100" list is out -- you may have seen the story on CBS Sunday Morning yesterday.  Our favorite, Yank Sing, was ranked number two in the US as "top Chinese restaurant."  Enjoy. http://top100.chinesemenu.com/us/?lang=zh-CN

Yank Sing Revisited

Here's a fresh take on Yank Sing by Miriam Hosseini.   Net -- great food, costs a lot. But, golly, there's a reason this place is packed (still) after many, many years. Maybe next Father's Day.  After our little trip to Jan's Chinese (see prior post), my son suggested we make it a Father's Day staple and call it 'dad-sum'.  Now, that's a family tradition I can digest.

Jan's Coming of Age

Father's Day at Jan's Chinese in Cincinnati today with friends from DC.  Since my last visit in December, Jan's has expanded its decor and its menu, and has added wait staff that makes for a more pleasant experience. Today, it's the best choice for dim sum in the city. The variety is reasonable, food is well prepared and the staff is helpful in ordering from the cart or menu.  Give it a try!

Dim Summers

A colleague visited today from New York -- and praised the virtues of dinner the previous evening at a local Greek restaurant -- Andy's Mediterranean Grille -- in Clifton near the University of Cincinnati.  (You have to love any restaurant whose url is andyskabob.) In a city virtually vacant of dim sum options, good Greek restaurants are close behind. She seemed to think, however, that even the humus was so good that some may not get the entrees. I guess I'll have to go Greek. (Perhaps I could wrap a kabob in a dumpling.)

Trucking in LA

Finally, dim sum comes to you.  A new truck's rolling tomorrow morning in LA -- the dim sum truck. According to the post at Joshua Lurie's Food GPS:

“I want to make dim sum more accessible to everyone in LA.,” says Chu. “Distance has always been one thing that’s kept me from enjoying dim sum as often as I’d like, since I live by the Westside and really good dim sum is only in the San Gabriel Valley. If my truck can reach from the Valley to Silver Lake to Venice, everyone can enjoy my traditional and fusion style dim sum items whenever it’s near.”

Chu hired a team of cooks to make dim sum fresh each morning, including pork and shrimp shu mai, shrimp har gow, pan fried pork spare rib buns, baked BBQ pork buns, egg tarts and lotus sesame balls.

I'll be in LA next month -- and will hunt down the truck if it can't find me.  

Hungry in Honolulu

If you see four ladies from Ottoville, Ohio, wandering around Honolulu this week, point them in the direction of the Empress, which occupies space in Chinatown's Cultural Center. They may not know they want dim sum, but once they're there, they will head home happier and certainly more well-rounded than when they left. Master chef Titus Chan, here with lobster over yi mein, will see to it. (Photo by Nadine Kam/Star bulletin.)

I took a peek at Honolulu because my mom's in Hawaii for 10 days with three friends, escaping the Midwestern gray and cold for sun, surf and sum dim sum.  Sitting here in 14 inches of snow, it seems like they made a good decision. Not to mention Chinese New Year is upon us, it's time to dumpling up, ladies.  And, believe it or not, the more time you're there the more Tsing Tao tastes like Bud Light.