2.38 Dumpling House
Posted on October 28, 2008
Filed Under Chinese | 5 Comments
This week’s entry is written by my friend Michelle Luc. Michelle is helping me out by doing some writing during my busy times.
Photos, as always, is me.
It was surprisingly chilly for a Saturday night in Los Angeles and traffic was abnormally bad even for LA due to all the sporting events taking place that night but that didn’t stop us from our venture to find some mouthwatering dumplings to warm our empty bellies. Just down the street from Din Tai Fung Dumpling House on Baldwin Avenue, the Dumpling House still manages to keep a full house without terribly long lines. It’s a typical Chinese restaurant in Temple City, brightly light with basic clean tables, good prices, and hardy authentic food. This is no frills dining.
We parked in the back lot and power-walked ahead of this Chinese family to the front door of the Dumpling House so we could be first up for the next opened table (sorry, nice Chinese family, but you’re too slow and we were all really hungry at this point). The place was full but there was no line and the waiter seemed to be moving pretty efficiently to pass out checks and clear tables for newcomers. As we waited for a table to open up, we took note of the dishes of the other patrons: standard beef noodle soups, the remnants of spicy looking-entrée dishes, and what struck us the most was what appeared to be a Chinese burrito, stuffed with beef and crispy on the outside like a chalupa. For sure, we had to try out this burrito thingy since it was present on several of the tables we were eyeing.
The menu consisted of a single two-sided laminated page and a separate sushi-like menu where you could check off the type of dumplings you wanted, which soup, noodle or rice dishes, and any other additions from the laminated menu. As stated earlier, we were pretty darn hungry and ordered four kinds of dumplings, a clay pot, onion pancakes, the beef burrito thingy, and a soup.
To start, the dumplings were very moist and savory. The dumping skins were a good consistency because they were thin but still secured the yummy stuffing without any fear of breaking the skin and losing the delicious juices inside.
The vegetarian dumplings was packed full of different veggies like cabbage and carrot shreds but didn’t contain any filler ingredients like vermicelli noodles. It is a hardier veggie dumpling that clearly doesn’t try to taste like meat at all. The veggie pieces inside the dumpling are various sizes so there is good texture and it is clearly distinguishable from the more delicate veggie dumplings served at Din Tai Fung, which contains bits of noodle and has finely chopped greens. Both are delicious but which you would prefer depends on your personal taste.
My favorite dumpling was actually the “chive egg pork and shrimp” dumpling because well, it has everything. It was just delicious and you could taste all the yummy ingredients inside. The meat filling was in harmony with its savory juices.
The “steamed dumping,” also known as “xiao long bao,” was made of a very tasty pork mixture and was so juicy in the center. It’s also a bigger size than the xiao long baos at other places, which is always a plus in my book. Just remember to poke a small hole in the skin before biting down because the juice inside has a pretty good spraying range, which can unpredictably either hit your shirt or the person across from you without a problem.
The “pan fried dumplings” were also delectable. Again, pork on the inside but nice and crispy on the outside. It had good bite and just the right amount of chewiness. True, it is kind of oily but hey, you knew there would be oil involved in the pan-fried when you ordered it.
Now, the hot and sour soup was quite large and could probably serve between 6-8 people. It was all around good because it offers up a thick, hearty soup with lots of chunky veggie pieces and some slightly fatty meat strips. On first taste it was slightly more sour than other hot-and-sours but a little white pepper makes it all better. Plus, the hot and sour soup seems to get less sour as you continue to spoon the thick soup into your welcoming mouth because it gets more and more spicy. It’s a nice subtle heat that just slowly starts to grow. Nice enough on a cold night.
The weak link in our meal was really the chicken with mushroom clay pot that we ordered. It looked great but the chicken, which was unsurprisingly all dark meat with bone and skin intact, was rather dry and bland. You had to eat it with the dark soupy gravy in the clay pot to get a slightly over salty flavor so it would be moist. Additionally, I could have used a few more mushrooms and glass noodles in the dish to make up for the plentiful but dry chicken.
We also ordered scallion pancakes or “chong you bang” and while they were decently edible, it wasn’t as flavorful as desired to make it special or noteworthy.
The “sliced beef with pancake” or what I like to call the Chinese chalupa thingy was outstanding. The pancake is the scallion pancake but it has been pan fried on the outside so it is crispy and then is used to wrap around a good amount of tender braised beef (the kind that is cooked overnight till tender and usually served as a cold cut dish in Chinese restaurants), scallions, and cilantro. The combination of which is just fabulous in my mouth. One order is about two of these burritos and each is cut into 3 sections so it is a great dish to share family style. This is a must try here.
All in all, the dumplings were scrumptious, the Chinese Sliced Beef Chaluap was as Rachael Ray says, “Yum-O,” and the prices can’t possibly get any lower. This is a great find on a cold night!
Dumpling House
921 S Baldwin Ave
Arcadia, CA 91007
(626) 445-2755