Best Dim Sum
STAFF PICK: Dim sum are those little bites you'll find crammed onto carts and brought to your table in restaurants of coastal Chinatowns, and in the legendary eateries of Beijing and Hong Kong. At Golden Phoenix, you'll find more than 40 varieties of these delights made fresh and served Saturdays and Sundays. Go with many and taste a lot. To make these delights of the Chinese table takes the kind of care marking the maker as an artist in love with his work. You'll find a hungry throng of knowing diners for dim sum at Golden Phoenix--Chinese in large family groups on a Saturday late breakfast outing or Western couples with the Sunday paper spread between them. As servers tour the dining room with carts piled high with hot serving dishes, each table takes what meets hunger's whim. The secret is not to take too many at once. There are always more on the way. In China, there is a saying for nearly everything, particularly about food. The Chinese say, "There is nothing to surpass a good dumpling." Har gow are exemplary--small clouds of white translucence, these dumplings of wheat starch and tapioca flour are filled with simply seasoned shrimp, their tops pinched, and then wok-steamed. The beef and shrimp foon rolls are also dim sum favorites. At Golden Phoenix, translucent, gelatinous, white rice crèpes are filled with a mix of tasty beef or stir-fried shrimp, served in a luing sauce of fragrant dark soy, slightly sweetened. Try the huge lotus leaf stuffed with sweet, sticky rice studded with chicken, earthy mushrooms, sweet Chinese pork sausage and green bamboo shoots. The Golden Phoenix is at 2854 E. 22nd St.
