[Dallas] Traditional Chinese restaurants

[Kent Wang]

I've been to Dallas nearly a dozen times, and each time I always forget to look up which restaurants I need to try, so I keep going back to Shanghai (the restaurant). They serve some good Xiao Long Bao there, including a crab meat variety. The buns are a bit thick but a beggar from Xiao Long Bao-less Austin cannot be a chooser! I'm also from Shanghai and grew up on that food, so their brand of cuisine particularly appeals to me.

What other traditional Chinese restaurants are good in the DFW, next time I drop by?

[RonThePirate]

If you can take a quick detour from Shanghai-style over to Cantonese, I'll tell you a thousand times over to visit First Chinese BBQ. There's several of them in the metroplex: Arlington, Carrolton, Richardson, and Plano. Ever since Uncle Tai's in the Galleria closed its doors, First Chinese BBQ easily took its place as best Chinese restaurant in Dallas.

While I like to pretend that I'm going to try something new when I go there, because their menu is definately more traditional than, say, Cathy's Wok, I've always found myself going back to a couple of dishes time and time again. The hot and sour soup, scallion beef, orange beef, kung pao chicken, lemon grass chicken, shrimp fried noodle, sesame chicken/beef, and any kind of duck they have available.

I've always been a fan of the organs they have available up front (sometimes a pig's head too!). I've never tried them (and there is a menu items that is pig's intestine with pig blood) but seeing how it's Halloween... I think I'll buy a pound or two and offer some to unsuspecting trick-or-treaters. That should make a good show

[irodguy]

I've been to Dallas nearly a dozen times, and each time I always forget to look up which restaurants I need to try, so I keep going back to Shanghai (the restaurant). They serve some good Xiao Long Bao there, including a crab meat variety. The buns are a bit thick but a beggar from Xiao Long Bao-less Austin cannot be a chooser! I'm also from Shanghai and grew up on that food, so their brand of cuisine particularly appeals to me.

What other traditional Chinese restaurants are good in the DFW, next time I drop by?

←

Get off 75 North on Beltline. Turn East on Beltline (right if you were heading North on 75) Then turn North bound on Greenville. About 1/2 mile on your right you will see the Chinese area. There are many very good restaurants. Maxims is good for Dim Sum at lunch or Seafood at dinner. Just past this on your right is the Chinese cultural center and many other great places.

Another favorite is First Chinese BBQ which is about 1 block south of the corner of Beltline & Greenville.

[Kevin72]

Irod pretty much hit exactly what I was going to say, so I'll only add Chef Hsu to the mix. Got a good review here and we enjoyed it when we went fairly soon afterwards but haven't had a chance to go back.

[Richard Kilgore]

A friend asked recently for a suggestion for a Chinese restaurant to take an out of town guest for a late lunch. The guest was staying at the Anatole, so that made most of the restaurants north of 635 impractical. I searched and based on the Dallas Observer review by Mark Steurtz and one by Dotty Grifith in the Dallas Morning News I pointed him to Chef Hsu. Located on Harry Hines Blvd. Between Walnut Hill and Royal Lane, Ms. Grifith gave the restaurant 4* for both food and service, but 3* for atmosphere, suggesting this might be a sleeper.

My friend's party of three arrived about 2:00 pm and had trouble getting waited on in the midst of the lunch buffet crowd. They were eventually brought a menu that had more typical Chinese-American menu items on it. Puzzled they asked about specific dishes that Dotty Griffith mentioned in her article. Finally the light went on and the waiter said, "Oh, you want the good menu."

All in all, they thought the food, when it came, was very good. He suggested going at night with a group for the good menu, and asking for a private room.

[Kevin72]

Yeah, they have a number of private rooms you can reserve and then have a multi-course feast in. That was one of our intentions of going back was to try a full-on feast there.

[Kent Wang]

First Chinese BBQ also opened a location in Austin that I've posted about.

I went back to Shanghai in Dallas last week and had their xiao long bao. The broth is brown, instead of clear like the traditional kind, which leads me to believe they use a beef mixture. The size is also a third bigger than traditional. I can't really tell the difference between the crab meat variety and the regular. Nitpicks aside, these are very good xiao long bao, better than any in Austin or Houston.

They also have some other traditional Shanghai dishes like kao fu and jellyfish, though I didn't get a chance to try them.

I believe there a couple of other restaurants in Dallas that also serve xiao long bao; I'll explore those next time I'm in Dallas.

[theabroma]

Jeng Chi Bakery in Richardson, on Greenville Ave, north of Belt Line, on the east side of the road. It is in a strip center anchored by a recently massively refurbished market. The center is called "Chinatown".

They make all products, including noodles, dim sum and wraps, in house. They have a mean spiced and pickled stomach, and xiao long bao ... they are quite nice, but ... I shall defer to your judgment. I have not sampled enough of them, especially in situ, to want to make a pronouncement.

The chef/owner is from the Northern part of the country, speaks little English, but dammitall if he isn't quite the chatterbox in ..... Portuguese. Seems he spent some time in Brazil and is a rabid soccer fan.

Regards,

Theabroma

[Richard Kilgore]

Jeng Chi Bakery in Richardson, on Greenville Ave, north of Belt Line, on the east side of the road.  It is in a strip center anchored by a recently massively refurbished market.  The center is called "Chinatown". 

They make all products, including noodles, dim sum and wraps, in house.  They have a mean spiced and pickled stomach, and xiao long bao ... they are quite nice, but ... I shall defer to your judgment.  I have not sampled enough of them, especially in situ, to want to make a pronouncement. 

The chef/owner is from the Northern part of the country, speaks little English, but dammitall if he isn't quite the chatterbox in ..... Portuguese.  Seems he spent some time in Brazil and is a rabid soccer fan.

Regards,

Theabroma

←

I have promised a dining companion that I would find an Asian restaurant that serves fresh, house-made noodles. Does anyone know if the bakery has table service? If not, are there restaurants in the Chinatown Center that serve freshly made noodles?