My Dumplings
I was very happy with the pork xiao long bao on a previous visit, and they were good this time as well. The crafting of the skin was sloppy, but I liked the briny flavors of the loofah and shrimp. The substitution of crunch for firm-protein ball worked for me— I would guess that a shrimp XLB would not have enough gelatin and fat to form a solidified meatball. See also non-standard versions of XLB.
Ha, sck, I thought I was hoarding the bamboo shoots! It was a pleasant counterpart to the starchy dumplings. These were better than ones I’ve had at Liang’s, which were not as crunchy and tasted like they’d been in the fridge too long.
There are a few Taiwanese items on the menu, and there are some other hints that it might be Taiwanese owned.
Liang’s
Beef tendon, dry style with wide noodles: The noodles had more bite, and less stretchiness than some other wide noodles, and that gave them character (see noodle discussion). A rich soy-based sauce clung to the rough surface of the noodles. Huge chunks of soft tendon.
I’ve had the extra-wide noodles at Liang’s on a previous occasion, and found the lack of uniformity to be an issue. Some pieces had raw dough bits in the center. “Extra-wide” poses problems-- to make them, they stretch a long, 4-inch wide noodle, and a few inches below the end, they cut 4 separate long 1-inch wide strands. But they keep the 4 strands connected at the top, leaving a big hunk of undercooked noodle at the head. Still, I dug the floury aroma and the spicy black bean sauce, whose “eight treasures” included pressed tofu, green onion, edamame, carrot, zha cai pickles.
Taiwanese sausage are sweet and weren’t as juicy, and lacked the crisp, snapping skin of the ones at Cafe Taiwan.
Stuffed squid were dried out and not very memorable.
Nutrition House
Is this place related to Nutrition Restaurant?
They have a few pre-prepared cold items, breads, and braided fried dough.
I opted for the steamed corn cakes, which are steamed rolls made with cornmeal and probably wheat, and served with salted fish. Er, not my thing but I imagine, with some soy milk, might be comfort food for others.
