A Dim Sum Renaissance Is Upon Us
This trio of carrots is of the same fabrication as sesame balls, with watercress stems providing greenery.
Great dim sum has returned to New York City during the last couple of years. The decade before had been a dim sum Sahara, with the old-guard places serving desiccated dumplings and steamed buns filled with red gristle to half-empty dining rooms.
The hollow inside of the carrot proved to be filled with peanut butter. Not a bad match of flavors.
All of a sudden, dim sum bounced back at places like East Harbor and Dun Huang, with pristine har gao enfolding shrimp of astonishing circumference, chive dumplings of crystalline clarity, sesame-strewn flaky pastries of surpassing delicacy, and fresh bean curd fragrant of ginger, maneuvering in the cramped space on shiny carts jammed up like cars on a Los Angeles freeway at rush hour.
I developed several theories for this bounce-back, one of which was Chinese immigrants who had moved to the suburbs being eager to show their fully assimilated children what the best part of their youths had been in the city. Another theory suggested that, with the increase of interest in food, dim sum has proved one of the most marketable products that Chinese restaurateurs have come up with, filling hanger-size restaurants with excited diners of diverse ethnicities at hours of the day and week that most restaurants yawn empty. A third reason might be the migration of talented chefs from China to higher-paying jobs in the U.S. made possible by the current economic climate.
Whatever the reason, dim sum has become so good that I've eaten it for six Sundays in a row, and plan to continue doing so. I think of it as my favorite brunch.
Last Sunday I found myself at a restaurant I hadn't visited in over a decade--Jing Fong. In 1997, it had been the subject of a consent decree that saw the owners compensating abused employees, whose tips they'd stolen, to the tune of $1.3 million dollars. In the interim, the space was another restaurant, but after an extensive renovation, the premises is again Jing Fong. Hopefully, the labor infractions are behind it.
Holding 1300 hungry souls, plus staff, Jing Fong may be the largest restaurant in New York.
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