Dim Sum Dynasty

[markk]

Snow Pea Tips with Garlic.  I often get this dish but I always ask which vegetable is the best for the day. This wasn't eaten last night. However, it just bursts with wonderful garlic flavor and "wok hey" but it's not overpowering. The sweetness of the snow pea tip's flavor comes through and the vegetable is tender.

That's not Snow Pea Tips! That's ONG CHOY (Water Spinach) !! Did they sell them to you as Snow Pea Tips? Shame on them.

[Anonymouze]

Snow Pea Tips with Garlic.  I often get this dish but I always ask which vegetable is the best for the day. This wasn't eaten last night. However, it just bursts with wonderful garlic flavor and "wok hey" but it's not overpowering. The sweetness of the snow pea tip's flavor comes through and the vegetable is tender.

That's not Snow Pea Tips! That's ONG CHOY (Water Spinach) !! Did they sell them to you as Snow Pea Tips? Shame on them.

←

DAMN you markk...DAMN YOU! I clicked on your link and the duck is making me... well shall I say Pavlov's dogs had dry mouth compared to me right now. This is embarrassing, wanna come over and cook for us when we move?

You can take a room overnight and go to DC in exchange for room (hotel savings) you'd have to cook us a great meal, we'd pay for the ingredients sort of like that TV series on Food TV called Take Home Chef!

Any other takers? (P.S. It's the house in MY link!)

Edited July 8, 2006 by Anonymouze (log)

[Rachel Perlow]

Oh, I also noticed that Jason's Off the Broiler bit was printed out and pasted on the wall near the entrance. There was some text and some of his pics but I didn't have the opportunity to really read it. I'm curious though. Did they find it themselves or were they tipped off about it?

←

I was craving Dim Sum Dynasty from the recent bump to this thread, so we went today. After our meal, on our way out, we chatted with the manager, Sam Zheng, for a bit. He said that a couple brought in the printout from OffTheBroiler.com. They used it as a picture menu to order, as they said they'd only had dim sum once before. Afterwards, Sam looked up the mention on Jason's blog via google. He knew us from our many visits to the restaurant, so yes, now he knows us from eGullet and OffTheBroiler too.

[markk]

DAMN you markk...DAMN YOU!  I clicked on your link...

Why, thank you.

I can promise you though that I'm such a high-maintenance person (having nothing whatsoever to do with cooking) that you will NOT want to have me staying in your house. But thank you for the kind comments.

[wilsonrabbit]

That's not Snow Pea Tips!  That's ONG CHOY (Water Spinach) !!  Did they sell them to you as Snow Pea Tips?  Shame on them.

Nope. It's most definitely snow pea tips. I think the stems you see in the pic are throwing you off. However, if you look in the top left part of the pic, you'll see the little curl of the snow pea tip. Also, the ong choy was not in season when I took the pic. They're in season now. I've been having some really tasty ones whereas snow pea tips are not at their prime anymore (or else it's harder to find good ones).

[wilsonrabbit]

Though it's been a while since I posted pics from my dinners, I've been accruing them over the summer. Here's some of the tasty stuff I've had since my last posting. Unfortunately, I haven't fixed my point and shoot camera so the pics are rather poor from my phone. They're still Mmm though!

I think these were cuttlefish tentacles with water spinach. This was quite tasty! The cuttlefish were a bit dry (relatively speaking) yet surprisingly tender (for its dryness) but it was done on purpose. I don't recall if they were actually dried tentacles that are reconstituted or whether the preparation technique makes them dry to impart the flavor. My description sounds terrible but it was really quite good! The texture was actually interesting. I'm not sure how to describe this well and in an appetizing manner.

I think this is called Pine Cone Fish in a black bean sauce. On the menu, I think it is served with a sweet and sour sauce. Try it with the black bean sauce for variety. They cut the fish so that when it is fried with the batter, it curls (like squid) with the end result looking like a pine cone. For those who don't like fish skin and fatty fish, don't eat this. For those who relish it, it's quite yummy.

The next few pictures are fish done in two ways. The fish is turned into a wonderfully complex and flavorful soup that is dense with fish goodness (think light version of oxtail soup with all it's marrow). This lip smacking soup is the first method of serving:

You're given the contents of the soup to munch on but it's still part of the first serving. It's usually got watercress, silky soft tofu, mushrooms, the fish (watch out for bones), ginger...It's got a wonderfully yummy sauce you can dip the stuff in to. It's not just soy sauce...the chef clearly does something to it that makes it particularly tasty. I personally like to drink some soup and then eat some soup contents to keep the flavors dancing in my mouth.

The second method of serving the same fish is in XO sauce. You can get it anyway you like (or what they recommend).

I forget what this is called, but it is prepared in the same manner as the 2nd serving method of peking duck in two ways except we asked that it be made with seafood (no duck was ordered). I think I posted pics of the duck version before. It was quite good and a nice alternative to the duck version.

A close-up of lettuce leaf and contents:

Baked Portuguese Curry Fried Rice. Yum!! You have to call ahead to order this because it takes too long otherwise. It's fried rice with a creamy portuguese curry sauce on top. The whole thing is then baked which results in a very slight crust and a lot of flavor. It's a bit heavy for the stomach but well worth it I think! And because it's so flavorful, I don't think it should be served as the accompanying starch with the food. Rather, order regular rice and eat this as a separate dish. Otherwise, it will overpower the flavors of everything else.

Ever since we had their fried oysters, we've been experimenting with different ways of eating it. All have been excellent! Here is Oysters with Ginger and Scallions on the Sizzling Plate (the cast iron thing shaped like a cow on a wood board). It was fun scraping off the stuck bits that were sizzled slightly crispy. Mmm! It's akin to eating the charred meat off the grill...ya know?

Here is Oysters and Bitter Melon Casserole. I also like the cassersole variation of oysters with ginger and scallions but I don't seem to have a pic of it. Check out the size of that oyster! I think it was bigger than the serving spoon!

We also started to fiddle with eel. These are also really quite good, but not always available, just like the oysters. If you really want to eat either, tell them beforehand so they can get you some since they may not have any on hand. Here is Eel fried in batter. The batter is light and crispy and there are bits of fried shallots and fried garlic(?) and dried hot pepper in some salt seasoning. Yum. The fried oysters are also served like this.

Here, the eel is sauteed with Chinese Chives and some veggies. Very very flavorful! Again, both eel dishes have the skin intact and a bit fatty so if you're not into that, you may want to stay away or see if it can be made skinless without compromising flavor and/or texture.

This is an experimental dish that we asked the chef to whip up. It's like the money bags from dim sum but here, they are steamed and filled with a seafood mix including scallops, shrimp, water chestnut (forget what else...) and I think tied with lily stem or something (I know it when I come across it) . It's topped with some roe (crab? I'm so forgetful). The skins are not the dough type from dim sum but rather egg whites which made for a very delicate and silky skin. Quite tasty. Even tastier with a bit of vinegar.

E-noodles with lobster in a butter based sauce. Yummmmmm! The lobster is first fried up a bit in some batter (typical preparation) and then sauteed with the butter based sauce which results in great flavor enveloping the sweet and juicy lobster. Perfectly done! The lobster almost tastes grilled but I think it's from the high heat of the preparation? The butter sauce is sort of creamy in texture which mixes quite well with the soft noodles. It's quite rich tasting but it doesn't kill you like the curry fried rice.

Satay eggplant and seafood casserole. The satay flavor is great with a bit of sweetness from pineapples. The eggplant chunks were soft and buttery which contrasted the relatively "harder" tender seafood. This dish was thought up for us on the fly! Excellent results for something so impromptu.

Snow pea tips have been posted before. Here's a variation of the garlic preparation with the use of roasted garlic. They're slightly sour but still sweet. The snow pea tips were tender and delicious.

I'm just drooling from thinking about these dishes. I hope you guys derive as much gastronomical enjoyment from this place as I do.

[docsconz]

I have been to Dim Sum Dynasty a few times now for dim sum and this past saturday wa the first time I was disappointed. The previous times were without cart service. Ordering from the menu, though not as much fun as choosing from carts, produced fresh, wonderful dim sum in a timely fashion. On Saturday, however, the carts were very slow making their rounds and the dishes were not at peak form by the time they arrived at our table. We ordered soup dumplings. After a half hour wait, I reminded the waiter who then went and pulled some off a cart. These were simply the worst soup dumplings I ever had. The skins were thick and fragile and they were cold.

I would return because of prior experiences, but not for the cart service. For that I prefer Silver Pond.

[jwjojo]

Went here for dinner the other night and ordered off their regular menu...no dim sum. I ordered the Chicken in XO sauce, and we also had the Chicken w/cashews. I asked about the XO sauce and was told a little bit about it, it sounded good. I was surprised when it arrived that it had bacon in it..chunks of bacon. I didn't know what it was at first, until I tasted the chicken (which was horrible and rubbery), and the sauce had a bacon taste. I had to return the dish, explained that I had asked about the dish prior to ordering, and the manager said the waitress didn't know that there was bacon in it. I was happy to return this dish as it was trully horrible. The chicken w/ cashews was mediocre at best. We split the one dish and left. (I asked for more rice as I used it in the returned order, which they brought and told me it was on the house..gee, how gracious) I am not kosher, I just don't eat pork etc. If I was kosher, I would think this would have been a bigger deal. It is important for menus to state when they mix poultry with pork or other meat products...otherwise, a lot of returned food.

[Fat Guy]

We had a first-rate brunch at Dim Sum Dynasty today.

We arrived shortly after 11am and, based on what I saw, I'd say that's a great time to arrive if you have enough patience to see the process through. The place was virtually empty at 11:15am and there was no evidence of any dim sum. At about 11:25am the procession began, very slowly, and took until about 12:30pm to play out. During that time, bit by bit, the kitchen sent out relatively small batches of just about everything on the dim sum menu, mostly on trays, and then on carts when the restaurant got busier. We were slightly handicapped by the presence of two toddlers, so we couldn't truly settle in the way I'd have liked to, but as a theoretical matter this form of service is very desirable. And I thought the kitchen did a good job of producing the right amount of food for the dining room (the dining room is quite nice, even though the building's facade is not at all promising).

In terms of the food itself, it has been covered so extensively on this topic I don't have much to add. Certainly, the place is much better for dim sum than Silver Pond is now, and for most items I tried seemed better to me than Silver Pond ever was. I'd rank the food up with the best New York City places, with the exception of Chinatown Brasserie. The selection is quite diverse -- nearly as diverse as New York City places with a zillion times as many seats, and the experience is less stressful. I thought the variants on the steamed shrimp dumplings (one with pea shoots, one with leeks) were particularly excellent -- as good as dim sum gets. The wrappers were paper thin, the pieces of shrimp were large, the vegetables crunchy and vibrant. In addition to the dim sum items we had some of the pan-fried noodles with mixed seafood: large shrimp, sliced scallops and a ton of calamari. I was bummed because, as the kids started to melt down and we paid the bill and were heading out the door, the chee cheong fun (rice noodle rolls) came out. Those are just about my favorite dim sum items and I regret not being able to try Dim Sum Dynasty's version. It's a reason to go back, though.

P.S. the restaurant now has a website:

http://www.dimsumdynastynj.com

[Lutece]

We had a first-rate brunch at Dim Sum Dynasty today.

We arrived shortly after 11am and, based on what I saw, I'd say that's a great time to arrive if you have enough patience to see the process through. The place was virtually empty at 11:15am and there was no evidence of any dim sum. At about 11:25am the procession began, very slowly, and took until about 12:30pm to play out. During that time, bit by bit, the kitchen sent out relatively small batches of just about everything on the dim sum menu, mostly on trays, and then on carts when the restaurant got busier. We were slightly handicapped by the presence of two toddlers, so we couldn't truly settle in the way I'd have liked to, but as a theoretical matter this form of service is very desirable. And I thought the kitchen did a good job of producing the right amount of food for the dining room (the dining room is quite nice, even though the building's facade is not at all promising).

In terms of the food itself, it has been covered so extensively on this topic I don't have much to add. Certainly, the place is much better for dim sum than Silver Pond is now, and for most items I tried seemed better to me than Silver Pond ever was. I'd rank the food up with the best New York City places, with the exception of Chinatown Brasserie. The selection is quite diverse -- nearly as diverse as New York City places with a zillion times as many seats, and the experience is less stressful. I thought the variants on the steamed shrimp dumplings (one with pea shoots, one with leeks) were particularly excellent -- as good as dim sum gets. The wrappers were paper thin, the pieces of shrimp were large, the vegetables crunchy and vibrant. In addition to the dim sum items we had some of the pan-fried noodles with mixed seafood: large shrimp, sliced scallops and a ton of calamari. I was bummed because, as the kids started to melt down and we paid the bill and were heading out the door, the chee cheong fun (rice noodle rolls) came out. Those are just about my favorite dim sum items and I regret not being able to try Dim Sum Dynasty's version. It's a reason to go back, though.

P.S. the restaurant now has a website:

http://www.dimsumdynastynj.com

←

So happy to read this very favorable review. I WAS their biggest fan until the last two dinners. The service was just awful. Both times we ordered a 2 pound lobster with ginger and scallions and received nods and smiles from the waiter , waitress.

Both times we got one and 1/4 pounders, with 30 dollar price tags.

They were great but just not what we wanted. We wound up having to order another dish! Really pissed us off, so since we know the manager and said something, he brought the price down to 28 bucks!

I still wanted to read a good review because I think their dimsum is the best and unusual and as good as anywhere in flushing or nyc chinatown.

I will go back now, cuz I just have to have it.

The lobster thing I don't know what I'll do about that because for valentines day I would like to get a real 2 pounder, there, in front of me, in real life!!

MAYBE, I'll try again....

[jo-mel]

Fat Guy. You are too nice!

I would have sent the kids to the car and stayed behind to order a take-out of the rice noodle rolls -- and would have eaten them on the way to the car!!