Speaking of photos, these are from Taipei (pork first, then shrimp/loofah):
i think they are in bamboo steamer (arcadia location)
that sucks. price point is brutal. looks like i’ll be waiting until whenever we do our family visits to arcadia. too bad, because i love DTF. “Poppables” i call them bc they are so small versus what you typically get for xlb.
that price is RUH-DONK-U-LOUS.
Then again, I think their price point in Glendale is kinda ridiculous. I live literally blocks from the Glendale location and I’ve only been there once. VERY tasty, but double the price of any other dumpling place in the SGV. I get you’re paying for the upscale decor and such, but I’d much rather drive 30 minutes and pay WAY less than wait 60 minutes to eat in the Sephora-scented cloud that is the Americana.
The price gets even sillier when you’re in LA and you realize you can get a bag of 50(!!) homemade xlb frozen from Dean Sin World for under $20.
I put some in a cooler and brought them to sacramento and we had our own little dumpling fest w/ith friends, and there’s still half a bag left!
how do the frozen ones compare? i’ve never found ones that when steamed up can come close to the fresh ones.
The ones from Dean Sin World are delicious. A bit thicker skinned than DTF’s, but very flavorful, even unadorned w/ vinegar (though pick some up anyway). And from a quality/price perspective, it’s not even a contest.
Steaming them isn’t difficult either. Boil water. line steamer w/ parchment paper or a napa cabbage leaf. place dumplings (STILL FROZEN) around steamer. DO NOT CROWD. they double in size.
cover, reduce heat. wait 9-10 minutes. serve immediatey.
That reminds us:
“Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” – Yogi Berra
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The family spokesman in the article from Teriyakichi mentioned that socal shops use metal steamers vs here. I have not been to any DTF in SoCal.
i could be totally wrong. now i need to check next time i am down there!
If they lowered the prices, the lines would be even longer. How could anyone possibly complain about prices with lines this long?
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I don’t know how they want to position themselves here. But in Asia, DTF is good value- you can get a highly satisfying meal for US$25 with a variety of dumplings, noodles, etc. Obviously its not Asia here. Perhaps they are taking advantage of the long-built-up demand in the Bay Area by going higher initially and then gauge the market for the reaction and then lower/ raise as necessarily.
For $8/ 6, they better be good and stay good.
Xlb Still cheaper than yank sing (SF) $13 for 6
Thanks for pointing that out. XLB are such an uncommon treat that I hardly care about the price. But I don’t go to Yank Sing simply because of the price.
iirc Peony (oakland) is cheaper and pretty good, maybe more convenient if you’re coming from points east of SF.
$8 for 5 at MY China, and the results are uneven, despite being machine made. $8 for 3 at Hakkasan. Both places have larger xlb than DTF, which makes them more of a challenge to eat. Of recent memory, The only small compact XLB I can think of besides DTF are MY Dumplings in Milpitas. I’ll have to check out Panda Dumpling.
We’re usually in the North Bay as daughter and fam are in Marin. We still love House of Banquet but don’t get XLB there because they’re on a cart. I think they really need to be steamed to order. We frequently hit Ikea when we’re in the area so will have to try Peony. Thanks. We also like Bund Shanghai. Not in the league with DTF but really good.
Value, compared to what? In Shanghai I paid 45 RMB for 8 xlb at DTF at a time when you could get 12 for 8 RMB at Jia Jia Tang Bao or 16 for 8 RMB at the cradle of XLB, Naxiang Mantou Dian.
I could eat well for 3 or 4 days in Shanghai for US $25, even now.
Well, I think trying to compare an “exotic” food here that everyone is going crazy over to prices in the ‘native country’ just doesn’t work for me.
Correction: XLB were 10 to the steamer, not 8, when I had them at DTF in Shanghai. At the time (April 2007) a dollar was worth about 7.7 RMB, so I paid about U.S, $5.85 for ten dumplings there. A bargain compared to here, but 7-9 X the price for local good stuff there
Xiao long bao aren’t exactly exotic in Shanghai.
