Document View

Dim sum, a series of small Chinese appetizers, is making a huge statement on many menus across America: It is gaining popularity in traditional and nontraditional markets from New York to Chicago to Tampa, Florida. Though it has been around for thousands of years, dim sum is, according to Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, author of The Chinese Kitchen and The Dim Sum Dumpling Book, a Cantonese treat brought by Chinese immigrants to America. Lo says the tiny appetizers, which usually consist of steamed and fried dumplings, were a favorite snack of Chinese travelers as far back as the 10th century. Lo says many varieties of dim sum are available in America today. She says good dim sum chefs can turn one item into 30 different ones. They can be baked, deep-fried or steamed.

Copyright Lebhar-Friedman, Inc. Nov 26, 2001

Dim sum, a series of small Chinese appetizers, is making a huge statement on many menus across America: It's gaining popularity in traditional and nontraditional markets from New York to Chicago to Tampa, Fla.

Though it's been around for thousands of years, dim sum, which means "a little bit of heart," is, according to Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, author of "The Chinese Kitchen," and "The Dim Sum Dumpling Book," a Cantonese treat brought by Chinese immigrants to America.

"The Chinese immigrants brought it here as early as around World War II," she says. "There were quite a lot of Chinese people here, and many chefs and restaurant owners were Cantonese. There were some from Peking and Shanghai, but mostly from Canton. During the 1940s people came over and started cooking it."

But Lo says the tiny appetizers, which usually consist of steamed and fried dumplings, were a favorite snack of Chinese travelers as far back as the 10th century.

"It started in roadside tea houses for people who traveled," she says. "People could stop, have something to eat, rest and then go. Travel wasn't as easy then as it is now. People, you know, mostly walked to their destinations."

Lo, who is known in some circles as "the diva of dim sum," says many varieties of dim sum are available in America today.

"Some are wrapped in lotus leaves and some come in fresh rice noodles or rice paper," she says. "Good dim sum chefs can turn one item into 30 different ones. They can be baked, deep-fried or steamed. The best dim sum chefs are the old masters of China. They do them so fast. Usually the restaurants have two different kitchens, one just for dim sum and one for the regular menu. And those dim sum chefs make only dim sum and nothing else."

The author, who is based in Montclair, N.J., says some of her favorite dim sum can be found at Sweet-n-Tart, a restaurant located on the third floor of No. 20 Mott St. in New York's Chinatown district.

"They make the best Har Gau, a soup dumpling made with shrimp and tapioca and flour dough," she says.

At the 50-seat Shanghai Terrace in the Peninsula Hotel Chicago, executive chef Gerhard Doll offers a fairly extensive dim sum menu featuring traditional items with a modern touch. The restaurant, which opened in September, is, he says, 60-percent traditional Asian and 40-percent pan-Asian. Included on Shanghai Terrace's menu are dim sum appetizer selections and a special lunch entree.

"We serve six different dim sums daily," he says. "We have spring rolls, bean curd sheets with asparagus and mushrooms, crispy scallops with Chinese chives, shrimp and pork shumai and shrimp dumplings. We also have vegetarian dumplings. Three pieces are about $5 to $7, but if it's fresh shrimp or scallops, it's a bit more."

Doll says he will change the regular menu in December and the dim sum menu will rotate every two months. The special dim sum lunch will change every week.

"In mainland China it is called Yam Cha," he says. "It is very traditional and very popular and consists of spring rolls, dumplings, soup and some fried rice. It also comes with chilled tapioca-coconut soup with mango sorbet, which is served as a dessert." The lunch costs $58 for two.

Doll says he believes dim sum's popularity is on the rise.

"In the evenings we turn over the restaurant at least once or twice. On Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays we do around 100 to 130 covers a day. The main thing is it has to be authentic; that's so important. It has to taste like you got it in Hong Kong."

For Kevin Millonzi, chef-owner of the 176-seat upscale casual Prov in Providence, R.I., which opened in December 2000, serving dim sum was a no-brainer. Popular with customers and inexpensive to prepare, it had all the makings of a best-selling menu item.

"We always had dumplings or some sort of spring roll on the menu, so I decided to put them together and create a dim sum platter," he says. "Those sorts of things - like dumplings and spring rolls - are best-selling items, so I thought I could fuse those aspects together. Also, it is very cost-effective for me and is a crowd-pleaser. Plus, you can do a lot of things with it."

Millonzi's dim sum platter features four different items including vegetarian spring roll, duck spring roll and lobster Rangoon. In the middle is a coconut-- banana dumpling. The dish is nestled over a noodle salad with broccoli florets, finely julienned snow peas, watercress, water chestnuts, carrots and red pepper. It is mixed with soy sauce, fish sauce, Dijon mustard, rice wine vinegar, sugar, garlic, scallions and ginger. It sells for about $15.

Dim sum also has made a big splash at the 145-- seat SideBerns in Tampa. Executive chef Jeannie Pierola says the restaurant's dim sum lounge, which opened last May, is popular all day and all night long.

"Everybody eats it," she says. "You'll see college kids because it's inexpensive. Then there are those who want to eat faster, and those who just want to watch what they eat. I've even got a group of guys that come in just because they like to eat so many of the different flavors."

Pierola says the addition of dim sum to the menu was unexpected, sort of a happy accident. Back in 1999 the chef was rummaging through an old storage room when she made an interesting discovery: dim sum steamers - thousands of them, in fact.

"About 25 years ago Bern Laxer, the founder of Bern's Steakhouse and inspiration for SideBerns, took a trip to San Francisco, where he fell in love with dim sum," she says. "While he was there he bought something like 7,000 dim sum steamers. He stored them in what was our warehouse but is now our kitchen. One day I found this box with all the steamers, and I said, `Wow, man, we have got to use these.' They were stainless steel, so they were in impeccable condition. And now they've become our best-selling appetizers.

"It's funny I became interested in dim sum because I found those steamers. It was kind of like kismet."

One of Pierola's favorite dim sum items is crispy lump crab Rangoon, a crispy wonton stuffed with cream cheese, lump crab, scallions, red and yellow peppers and minced macadamia nuts. The wontons, deep-fried in peanut oil, are served with a red pepper-papaya ginger jam. "It's kind of a play on Southern jams and pepper jelly," she says. "I love that flavor. I grew up on pepper jelly with cream cheese on Ritz crackers. It's so delicious. And this is my homage, so to speak."

The dim sum run $3.91 each to $18.91 for a stack of five. Pierola says the prices that end in "ones" stand for "One World Cuisine."

Enlarge 200% Enlarge 400%