I went yesterday around 4 pm. They have continual service from lunch until closing but I’m not sure if they should. It was largely empty which I was happy about, and I sat at the counter by the dumpling and noodle section.
I ordered the sjb and the “Marco polo” zha jiang mian. I was told the bao would take 20-30 minutes which i took as a good sign that they would be fresh and hot. I noted the huge special pans and waited for about that length of time, noticing that the two cooks at the station were folding trays of wontons for dinner service. Eventually one of them opened one of the pans and plucked four bao out. They were precooked from before I was seated and were hardly warm. I sent them back and was asked if I wanted another order, and my server pointed at the same pot my first order came from. I said no for that reason and was told it would be another 20-30 minutes. I was too hungry and could no longer schedule in that long a wait, so I asked for xiao long bao instead.
My noodles came while I was waiting for the xlb. I liked the shape of the noodles, long and tubular like bucatini. I’m guessing they’re the “Marco polo” aspect. It was not a large portion, which I expected. But the sauce was kept in a metal tub over a bain marie and was also not very warm, for a dish that translates into fried sauce noodles, if I remember correctly. At first I thought it wasn’t enough sauce to coat the noodles, and the very eager to please and friendly floor staff had me brought another small bowlful of sauce. But it wasn’t the amount, it just was bland. When I think of zha jiang mian I think of salty, funky, earthy fermented bean paste flavors. I knew not to expect the blackish Korean version I grew up with but I’ve had northern Chinese versions and liked them. This one was just underseasoned, watery and lukewarm.
The xlb’s were pretty good. I’m not too picky about them. I really liked dumpling kitchens a few years ago. Bund shanghai’s, one of the LA area din tai fung’s. I did not like Shanghai dumpling kings. Just for comparison over the past couple years. Two had small cracks in the skin, but they were hot at least and had good flavor, and were juicy. They seemed very eager to demonstrate proper xlb eating technique, maybe because of timeout london’s piece showing people exploding them for fun and discarding the soup?
Maybe the Shen jian bao weren’t being tended to because I was the only one who ordered them between lunch and dinner, which is why I said maybe china live should not be open in between. But the precooked baos were not warm, and I did wait roughly half an hour for them as told, while watching the cooks making wontons instead. I just didn’t like that bowl of zha jiang mian. Except for the actual noodles.
The staff seemed genuinely concerned about my experience and eager to accommodate me. i will go back, but not too soon. The veggie potstickers that the cooks started to cook fresh after my own misfire of a lunch looked delicious. And I was eyeing those ducks as well.
