Philadelphia Dim Sum

[dagordon]

Any other current faves for places with carts?

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We like the dim sum at Ocean City very much, but we generally prefer Ocean Harbor, which also has carts. I think the selection is bigger, and they're a bit nicer to us white folks than Ocean City -- for example, when we order stuff from the carts, they actually take off the top few levels of containers of whatever we ordered and give us one of the hot ones. The dim sum itself is excellent. The salt baked shrimp is a particular favorite, I think it's even a bit better than Lee How's, which is itself pretty amazing.

[stephenc]

I pretty much only care about shrimp dumplings and chicken claws, so I go to Ocean Harbor.

Edited November 8, 2006 by stephenc (log)

[rockhopper]

The fried sesame balls had a brownish center. I'm used to red bean paste.

What was it? Was it tasty?

Were any green vegetables offered?

[mrbigjas]

i think it's just yellow bean paste. sweet, kinda bland, like bean paste always is. mmmm bean paste.

[Diann]

The fried sesame balls had a brownish center. I'm used to red bean paste.

What was it? Was it tasty?

Were any green vegetables offered?

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You typically get two kinds of sesame balls -- red bean paste and lotus (seed?) paste. I'm partial to the lotus kind.

No green vegetables going around in carts, but I'm sure we could have ordered some Chinese broccoli or something.

[philadining]

Lakeside Deli January 7, 2007

[KatieLoeb]

I definitely missed a couple of those things. That's what I get for showing up late.

What is that in the upper right corner? That looks really good.

Those sesame buns are the best I've had. Really fluffy and not overly sweet. Yum!

[Domestic Goddess]

I think that's sesame jellyfish but then again I might be wrong.

[KatieLoeb]

If you're right, it's just as well. I'm allergic to jellyfish so I'm afraid to try it, lest I have a bad reaction. I realize it's the bodies and not the tentacles, but I don't want to risk it. Same reason I won't take bee pollen or royal jelly supplements. I'm just afraid.

There was a jellyfish dish on the table that's not pictured, but I didn't partake.

[philadining]

There's a jellyfish dish, but it's pictured between the tripe and the snow pea leaves.... that top-right corner crunchy thing was some sort of deep-fried pork and shrimp croquette.

[mrbigjas]

ok i'll add a few notes:

1. chicken feet were delicious. i don't know why that glaze they put on chicken feet at dim sum places isn't used on everything.

2. the problem with that tripe dish is that for like $3 you get enough to feed an army, so there are always leftovers. and leftover tripe = not that great.

3. the jellyfish was really good. of course that's because sesame is deeply satisfying for some reason, and that's all you can taste.

4. ditto for sesame noodles, which were about the best i've had in town. chewy, slightly spicy, and generally fantastic.

5. i managed to eat a piece of roast duck with chopsticks while holding a baby in my other hand, and i only splashed a little bit of duck fat in my eye. admit it, you're impressed.

[Mummer]

5. i managed to eat a piece of roast duck with chopsticks while holding a baby in my other hand, and i only splashed a little bit of duck fat in my eye.  admit it, you're impressed.

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That was impressive...I'm sure Mrs. mrbigjas is proud of you.

And the just-in-case-we-didn't-have-enough-to-eat-post-fortune-cookie-game chocolates smackdown was groovy, too!

[I_call_the_duck]

OK, my turn.

That crunchy thing on the right that you're referring to Katie, is a deep fried taro puff with shrimp and pork. Really tasty, and the best I've ever had. The taro in most versions I've tasted is gluey and bland, but this one was light and fluffy. We're going to have to incorporate "Daniel bites" into these photos so you call all see what's inside.

The chicken feet were tasty, but I think they could have been cooked just a wee bit longer.

Yes, mrbigjas, I’m impressed.

Everything there was great. Lakeside is the best dim sum I've had in a long time — and that includes NY.

[Gastro888]

Maybe we need an Egullet bus trip to Jing Fong in New York.

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From what little I know, is Jing Fong really worth the trip?

Now a NYC snack tour on the other hand, that'd be worthy of a bus trip.

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NO! If you're coming to NYC for dim sum, you gotta go to Flushing. Jin Fong is sub-par dim sum and Philly's got some awesome dim sum. Come to NYC, just don't bother with Jin Fong

[I_call_the_duck]

Maybe we need an Egullet bus trip to Jing Fong in New York.

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From what little I know, is Jing Fong really worth the trip?

Now a NYC snack tour on the other hand, that'd be worthy of a bus trip.

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NO! If you're coming to NYC for dim sum, you gotta go to Flushing. Jin Fong is sub-par dim sum and Philly's got some awesome dim sum. Come to NYC, just don't bother with Jin Fong

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Gastro88, which place in Flushing do you recommend? I used to go to the now-defunct East Lake.

eta: Never mind. I should probably just go check the NY dim sum site instead!

Edited January 8, 2007 by I_call_the_duck (log)

[Gastro888]

I'm a Flushing dim sum'er myself and I've yet to explore all the options in Flushing. Thus far, I like Ping's (in Elmhurst), Gum Fong, and this seafood place on 37th st that I need to get the name of.

[Andrew Fenton]

5. i managed to eat a piece of roast duck with chopsticks while holding a baby in my other hand, and i only splashed a little bit of duck fat in my eye.  admit it, you're impressed.

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That was impressive...I'm sure Mrs. mrbigjas is proud of you.

Indeed. Do you give lessons? Maybe next time... I'm sorry I missed out!

[KatieLoeb]

mrbigjas:

Does mrlittlejas eat congee yet? He looked pretty happy balancing on your lap until he got all sleepy and started keeling over.

[mrbigjas]

i gave him a little taste. he would have had some more if it didn't have 1000-year old egg and pork in it. both those things are no-nos till his belly matures somewhat... the lady who brings around the fried things said KEEP THIS AWAY FROM THE BABY! but i think that was just because it was hot.

[Gastro888]

No, not b/c it was hot. It's because you don't want to feed such strong flavored ingredients to a baby, let alone something that's pickled/fermented. If anything, serve the wee one plain congee with nothing in it.

[philadining]

I liked the dim sum at Lakeside a lot, and it was great to go in a large group, because I got to try several things I might not have. Left alone, there's a distinct risk of my just getting about 15 orders of the sausage buns and calling it a day.

In groups of 2 or 4, I've always liked the menu-based format rather than the carts, but I must say that in a huge gang like we had, it was a little hard to coordinate and pace things. I feel like on previous visits, I'd ordered a bunch of food which came out gradually, but this time most everything we ordered descended on the table at once. I'll take the blame for this, there were several voices pleading with Diann and I to STOP ORDERING!!! And indeed we might have been better-served to do it in a few waves, (although we did a bit of that too.) That said, there are worse things than fighting through an avalanche of good food.

At this particular restaurant, groups larger than 8 or 9 get cumbersome, it's a small place with smallish tables, even the big ones. We ended up having some seating weirdness trying to get all of us at least in proximity to one another, so it's probably worth having a plan from the start to break up into smaller tribes if there are more than 8. We also discovered that they'll take reservations for larger groups, which could be helpful during prime time on Sundays especially. We wedged ourselves in, but just barely, the place was pretty hopping.

As for the food, I'll concur that the jellyfish was quite delicious, although I like it a little better cut in thinner and shorter strands. I found myself a few times with huge tangles of ribbons that just refused to unravel, forcing me to try to get a big wad of jellyfish into my mouth all at once in a dignified way. I think I failed at that. Not quite as sloppy, but maybe even more tasty were the sesame noodles. Indeed those might be the best I've had around here, featuring a nice spicy kick.

The roast duck was surprisingly good. I'm not sure why it was a surprise, I guess I don't expect it to be this tender and tasty at a place that doesn't specialize specifically in duck. And indeed, mad props to jas for the duck-baby-chopstick juggling, we're impressed!

The snow pea leaves and the Chinese broccoli were great, and I usually order the baby bok choy when I'm there, so I think it's safe to say: get greens.

The pan-fried dumplings were pretty rocking as well, they had a nice texture and the sweet/salty sauce played well with the beef and peanuts. We went through a few orders of Har Gow, but I'll let someone who ate them review them... I liked most of the buns/dumplings, etc. The Char Siu Bao are really good here, I'm a little surprised there wasn't a bigger fight over them. That is another problem with the large groups: it feels odd to ask for 4 or 5 orders of any one thing, but that might be what is needed if it's something everybody likes. There was a touch too much courtesy around the table, resulting in rampant dumpling division and bun bisection. This is just wrong.

All in all, I still subscribe to the opinion that Lakeside has the "best" dim sum, on a purely food level. But for a large group, it's easier, and more fun, to go to a larger place with carts. I'll be back at Lakeside soon, for sure, but maybe with only 3-5 of you!

[dagordon]

All in all, I still subscribe to the opinion that Lakeside has the "best" dim sum, on a purely food level.  But for a large group, it's easier, and more fun, to go to a larger place with carts. I'll be back at Lakeside soon, for sure, but maybe with only 3-5 of you!

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Four of us went to Lakeside for dinner probably a little over a month ago and got a bunch of dim sum. It was all good, but the general consensus was that Ocean Harbor is substantially better for dim sum; I myself think there's no comparison. Speaking quite generally the depth of flavor I get at Ocean Harbor just wasn't there.

I wish I remember what we got... tripe w/ black bean sauce (I think that was the sauce), pork buns, shrimp dumplings, tofu skin rolls with pork, rice noodle rolls w/ shrimp, rice noodle rolls w/ beef, kidneys. One memorable thing was that the rice noodle rolls w/ beef featured some sort of beef roll, as opposed to slices of the genuine article.

The baby bok choy at Lakeside is simply fantastic, though.

I recall that we got there like a half hour before closing -- maybe this wasn't Lakeside at its best.

[I_call_the_duck]

The thing about the carts is that you get to see what you're getting, whereas you gotta guess with the menu, so for the uninitiated, it'd be harder to decide what to order. It's also easier to pace oneself with carts. Then again, I usually get overexcited when I sit down, and order just about everything I see, and wind up with the same problem of having too much food on the table.

As one who ate the shrimp dumplings, they were great. Some places use a lot of bamboo shoots or water chestnuts as a filler, which ain't good. The flavor and consistency of these was just right.

mrbigjas: tell mrsbigjas that the thing you guys were looking at on the table next to you was called Rice Roll with Crispy Dough on the menu. It's just that--the cruller (that usuallly comes with your congee) wrapped around rice noodle, then topped with a soy-based sauce.

[mrbigjas]

thanks!

ok the thing about lakeside that i enjoy over other dim sum places in town is the relative lack of fried things. seems like everywhere we go there are piles of fried dumplings and fried rolls and fried this and that. without all that fry, i am in less pain after gorging myself there than at other places.

[dagordon]

thanks!

ok the thing about lakeside that i enjoy over other dim sum places in town is the relative lack of fried things.  seems like everywhere we go there are piles of fried dumplings and fried rolls and fried this and that.  without all that fry, i am in less pain after gorging myself there than at other places.

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That's funny, the first time we ate at Lakeside it was a fried bonanza, which is the principal reason why we didn't go back for a while. We didn't order dim sum off the menu, though. I remember our waitress coming around with various dim sum on trays and offering it to us, and virtually all of it was fried. I don't remember whether we asked her to just bring out an assortment of dim sum, or whether the trays were brought out automatically. So when we went back recently (our second time) we ordered specific items from the menu to ensure that it wouldn't be a repeat of the first time.

Agreed that dim sum feels much better when the fried is minimized.