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City View, San Francisco, California, Tasted on June 9, 2006 — Since there's been so much discussion lately on the topic of originality, I think writing about dim sum is the right contrast. For an ethnic food, you can get a surprisingly consistent set of offerings at dim sum restaurants across the country (and even across the world). This got me to thinking about how to judge the quality of Dim Sum restaurants. If the bulk of the offerings are the same then it really reduces teh factors you can use to judge the meal. And frankly, given all the focus on food as fashion lately, this type of focus seems like a good thing.

In some ways Har Gow, the simple shrimp dumpling is the perfect baseline with which to measure the quality of a Dim Sum restaurant. It's shrimp wrapped in rice noodle “Tang” flour or high protein wheat starch (thanks Richard). (Typically) nothing else. It doesn't get much simpler. Some might find it boring, or not an opportunity to express creativity. I find that it shines a white hot spotlight on the quality of a restaurant. Is it piping hot, or lukewarm? Is the rice noodle thin and cooked slightly past al dente or is  it gelatinous and starchy? Is the shrimp flavorful and fresh, or just a lump in the middle of the dumpling?

Once we've gotten past quality ingredients, perfect texture, clean fresh flavors, and hitting the serving window then an interesting and wide variety of dumplings can be interesting. I have no clue if it's traditional but frankly I like it when there are non dim sum dishes served in smaller portions as part of the dim sum experience (e.g. this chicken and this shrimp).

So, how did City View fare? Pretty well in fact. The flavors were fresh, clean, and present, there were lots of interesting dishes, and the cooking was refined and focused. I'll admit I was surprised. My San Francisco dim sum perspective had devolved into a Yank Sing vs. Ton Kiang discussion only. In retrospect, this is silly given the decentvariety of pretty good (and some great) Chinese restaurants. My sister had recommended City View for years and I sort of ignored her. Upon reflection I think it was the name that threw me. I had some image of the restaurant that served western food with a few dim sum items. Super odd, but there was my prejudice. Name aside, City View is an excellent place to go for refined, focused, and flavorful dumplings. Definitely enjoyable.