I am looking for a good dumpling house in northern california san francisco / sacramento area. any suggestions would be helpful!!
Dumpling HouseDumpling is dim sum. Just look at the other topics concerning dim sum to answer your questions.
Dumpling HouseI wonder whether oz is asking where to get good potstickers. Or the other ways to make potstickers, boiled or steamed - jiaotze, kuoh tieh, shao lun bao, and the like. These dumplings are home cooking for a Chinese person, and a favorite. Dim sum is often more complicated and a family would go out to eat these rather than spend the time making them at home. Although, it%26#39;s likely that a place that makes good dim sum is likely to make good dumplings. And some places specialize in dumplings.
No, there are dumpling houses, and they are not dim sum. Unfortunately, I have none I recommend at this moment. Doesn%26#39;t mean there aren%26#39;t any, just means I haven%26#39;t gotten out in quite a while just for dumplings.
BetterthanBings,
Yeah, my mistake. I had to ask around to make sure about the distinction. Thanks for the clarification.
Funny, this very day, The SF Chronicle published this review of a Sunset District dumpling house. I didn%26#39;t see it until I got home after work:
- Amanda Berne
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Xiao long bao, or soup dumplings, are the stuff of urban lore. Those who have had these tender pork dumplings even once can find themselves on the lookout for new places to feast on them.
What makes them unique is that they%26#39;re filled with steaming hot soup, which gushes out when you take a bite.
It sounds like it could be painful, but it%26#39;s not. And on a windy, fog- filled summer night, San Francisco%26#39;s Outer Richmond district is the perfect place to indulge.
That%26#39;s why on a recent night I came to be sitting at Shanghai Dumpling Shop with a large basket ($4.95) of the little treasures in front of me. The small, bright place is known for Shanghai-style dishes as well as delicious soup dumplings -- and they%26#39;re some of the best I%26#39;ve found yet.
There%26#39;s a method to eating the dumplings so that you can savor every bite. One at a time, dip them into the accompanying dish of black vinegar, scoop them onto a soup spoon and, if you can, plop them whole into your mouth. If you can%26#39;t finish them in one bite, the spoon will capture the soup so you can slurp it up.
The traditional black vinegar accompaniment is garnished with strands of ginger, for extra pungency. It%26#39;s the classic condiment for these dumplings, and a nice change from the usual soy sauce and chile paste.
Xiao long bao aren%26#39;t the only wonderful dumplings on the menu. Shanghai Dumpling Shop serves about a dozen savory and sweet dumplings, including a tender rice dessert dumpling floating in a warm, sweet broth.
The boiled chive dumplings ($4.25), filled with a mix of pork and chives, come gushing their own juices -- no soup included in this one -- with a pleasant amount of garlic chive seasoning.
Other appetizers are good, too. In fact, I liked them better than many of the main dishes.
It really doesn%26#39;t matter what you order first -- dishes stream out of the kitchen as they%26#39;re ready.
The yellow bridge cake ($4.25) is spectacular. Plump, fist-size buns are filled with smoky twigs of pork with a pastry crust that is ever-so-slightly sweet. The Shanghai-style salt pan cake ($4.25) wasn%26#39;t quite as good. It has a similar crust, but is rolled thinner and filled with sauteed onions, which caused the crust to go limp in the center.
Spicy wontons ($4.25) are a little different. They%26#39;re piled in a bowl surrounded by a healthy dose of bright orange chile oil, beautiful against the white of the wrappers. A little mince of pickled vegetable offsets the spiciness. However, the wontons were a bit greasy to eat too many.
Starters also include an interesting selection of offal and salted meats, including salt duck ($4.25). The meat is cured firm, like ham, and the salt brings out the true flavor of the duck.
Be warned, however: The saltiness takes over after a few bites. But this appetizer is intended for small nibbles only.
Drunken chicken ($4.25), a typical Shanghai-style preparation, didn%26#39;t fare as well. The chicken was salted in the same manner as the duck, but was covered in a sauce that tasted like pure sherry, which threw the dish out of balance.
Noodles also play a prominent roll on the menu. The chewy Shanghai-style noodles ($4.95) were especially good, the noodles tasting fresh and absorbing the soy and seasoning from the sauce.
The noodle-like fried rice cakes with preserved vegetables and pork ($5. 75), which featured thin disks of rice cakes that act like thick, wide noodles, didn%26#39;t fare as well.
The dish was shy on pork and preserved vegetable; more of those ingredients might have kept the rice cakes from sticking together.
On the other hand, lion%26#39;s head meatballs ($6.95) have more than enough pork. A fine dice of fresh water chestnuts punctuate three huge meatballs that are crusty on the outside, with a perfectly tender middle. The braising sauce is just thick enough to cling to the meatballs, adding a rich, savory depth of flavor.
The pork chop with green onion ($6.95) is worth ordering even just for the sauce -- dark, thick and slightly sweet from cooked onions. But the sauce on the pine nuts with fish ($6.95) reminded me of the cloying sweet-and- sour sauce of my youth.
Bok choy with bean curd sheets ($5.95) shows that the simpler, the better at Shanghai Dumpling. The sauce in this dish, with a hint of garlic, barely coats the fresh bok choy and lengths of noodle-like bean curd.
The saltiness that permeates many of the dishes begs to be toned down by dessert. A crispy red bean cake ($2.95) has a flaky pastry dough, similar to the yellow bridge cake appetizer, but this time wrapped around a sweet red bean filling. It%26#39;s served hot, and it%26#39;s delicious.
If you start a meal with dumplings, it%26#39;s only fitting to end that way, with dumplings with wine fillings ($3.95). To our delight, it was like a dessert version of soup dumplings, except the soup came on the outside, sweet and spiked with nubs of lychee. The sticky dumplings are filled with a slightly gritty black sesame and sugar paste -- good, if just a bit less inspiring as the starter.
After dinner, soup dumplings were all my friends could talk about.
I just listened. Not only had I found excellent soup dumplings, I had started a group of five on their own xiao long bao adventure.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amanda Berne is a Chronicle staff writer. E-mail her at aberne@sfchronicle.com.
Shanghai Dumpling Shop
3319 Balboa St. (at 34th Avenue), San Francisco; (415) 387-2088.
11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday, Wednesday-Friday, 10 a.m. Saturday-Sunday. No
alcohol. Reservations accepted for large parties. Credit cards accepted for
$20 mininum purchase. Easy street parking.
Overall TWO STARS
Food TWO STARS
Atmosphere ONE AND A HALF STARS
Service ONE AND A HALF STARS
Prices $
Noise Rating THREE BELLS.
Pluses: Great dumplings, especially soup dumplings, and Shanghai-style
noodle dishes.
Minuses: Some dishes aren%26#39;t well balanced. Not much in the way of service.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RATINGS KEY
FOUR STARS: Extraordinary
THREE STARS: Excellent
TWO STARS: Good
ONE STAR: Fair
(box): Poor
.
$ Inexpensive: entrees under $10
$$ Moderate: $10-$17
$$$ Expensive: $18-$24
$$$$ Very Expensive: more than $25
Prices based on main courses. When entrees fall,, Channel:, Channel:
BETween these categories, the prices of appetizers help determine the dollar
ratings.
.
ONE BELL: Pleasantly quiet (under 65 decibels)
TWO BELLS: Can talk easily (65-70)
THREE BELLS: Talking normally gets difficult (70-75)
FOUR BELLS: Can only talk in raised voices (75-80)
BOMB: Too noisy for normal conversation (80+)
.
Chronicle critics make every attempt to remain anonymous. All meals are
paid for by the Chronicle. Star ratings are based on a minimum of three visits.
Ratings are updated continually based on a least one revisit.
My bad: Shanghai Dumpling House is in the Outer Richmond not Sunset. Doh. Balboa Street.
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