lis@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Elisabeth Riba) asks
 > I know this was hashed out before, but I'm seeking a good dim sum
 > place.  Restaurant recommendations and food recommendations would be
 > greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

During the week, it's always China Pearl for dim sum. Try some of the
special items from the thing resembling a steam table near the cash
register.

My normal Sun. morning schedule is to go to China Pearl. If I'm too
late to have a plausable shot at a seat, I try New House of Toy. If
the wait is too long, I go to Dynasty.

	hen

From: cmr@world.std.com (Charles M Richmond)

manes@bass.bu.edu (Michelle Manes) writes:
>
>FYI the owner of Dynasty was cited for not paying his
>staff.  He's not the kind of owner I want to support,
>even if there weren't better choices.
>--
>Michelle Manes		|	"What should I be when I grow up?"
>manes@bass.bu.edu	|	"Honest."
>			|	-Robert M. Pirsig

I agree with your recommendations .....

You should be aware that ALL Chinese restaurants exploit their help.
The usual method being , having them work more hours than they are
logged (and paid) for. I had close ties to a family with multiple
restaurants and because of that was accepted into other restaurants
as an insider. (1984-1988)

Charlie

P.S. The other thing to be aware of , is that asking the waiter to
skip the MSG is completely useless! They are not adding in MSG at the
last minute, it was added to the meat and to the sauces long before
your walked into the restaurant. When they tell you "no MSG" they are
not telling the truth!!! Unless it is in one of the very expensive
and exclusive restaurants, like Mr Leung ($30-50/person), and even
then I would have some concern. As far as the Chinatown places go,
they ALL use MSG. Most of the chefs/cooks think that people who object
are slightly off and are to be humored not listened to.

From: ian@airs.com (Ian Lance Taylor)

lis@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Elisabeth Riba) writes:

>I know this was hashed out before, but I'm seeking a good dim sum
>place.  Restaurant recommendations and food recommendations would be
>greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

Does anybody know of any vegetarian dim sum restaurants in the Boston
area?  As a vegetarian with no great knowledge of Chinese food, I find
normal dim sum somewhat impractical.  I had a couple of superb dim sum
meals at a vegetarian restaurant in Hong Kong, though, and am looking
for a slightly closer place.
-- 
Ian Lance Taylor                ian@airs.com                uunet!airs!ian
First person to identify this quote wins a free e-mail message: ``It was not
certain what significance the ceremony held, for unfortunately the records
were lost, but the formality was no less sacred for being unintelligible.''

From: nanis@ll.mit.edu (Jeff Nanis)

In article <88300@bu.edu> merritt@macro.bu.edu (Sean Merritt) writes:
>In article <JM13.92Jun11090035@bermuda.gte.com> jm13@gte.com (Joseph D. Morrison) writes:

>>My favourite so far is Dynasty, in Chinatown. Does anyone know of any
>	NOT

>	The best in Chinatown are Golden Palace and China Pearl
>	both on Tyler St.

	Now, kids, let's remember this is all subjective. How about prefacing
our little declarations with a simple IMO or IMHO? 
	(Personally, I like Dynasty for some dishes and Golden Palace for
others.)
-- 
  Jeff Nanis				MIT Lincoln Lab
		An official opinion? Be real. 

  nanis@ll.mit.edu			Radars 'r' us.

From: rosch@cpdw.enet.dec.com (Ray Rosch)


The China Pearl on Tyler St. !!!  It's a kick!!!  Arrive at around 11 - 12
noon and you wait on the stairs for half an hour.  But the food is great! When
you get "your number" indicate that you don't mind sharing a table and you'll
be seated sooner.  Also indicate if you want smoking or not.
In the past we've tried calling ahead and saying we'll be down in 30 minutes -
could we please have a number?  So we get something like 100 or 110.  When we
get there the count is usually around 80 or so.  Also the number doesn't mean
much as people are seated in order of the size of the party and they seat
large parties first so if it's you and a friend and your number is 100 you'll
hear numbers like 145, 150, 93- called in mandarin and english.
The food is worth it! Excellent, excellent, excellent ...

****
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed do not in any way reflect those of my employer
****

From: wald@theory.lcs.mit.edu (David Wald)

In article <1992Jun12.130529.7446@ll.mit.edu> nanis@ll.mit.edu (Jeff
Nanis) writes:
>In article <88300@bu.edu> merritt@macro.bu.edu (Sean Merritt) writes:
>>	The best in Chinatown are Golden Palace and China Pearl
>>	both on Tyler St.
>
>	Now, kids, let's remember this is all subjective. How about prefacing
>our little declarations with a simple IMO or IMHO? 

I bet you're one of those people who insists on smiley faces on any
statement that's not intended literally, since obviously no one writes
ironically any more.

Who else's opinion would it be, hmmm?

Does anyone really have objective criteria for "the best food"?  If
so, I don't want to hear it.

-David
--
============================================================================
David Wald                                           wald@theory.lcs.mit.edu
   "Blessed are the peacocks, for they shall be called sonship of God"
             -- Matt 5:9, from a faulty QuickVerse 2.0
============================================================================

From: wiryaman@stnick.pko.dec.com (Santa Wiryaman)

Best dim sum? Golden Palace, of course.  It beats China Pearl and Dynasty in my
tounge's opinion.  Only Golden Palace serves Crab Claw the way I like it. Yum...
I usually go there before 11 on the weekends.  There is usually no line during
this time.

Objective criteria for the best dim sum?  Definitely would be the taste of Fung
Cao(sp?), it is marinated chicken feet :-).  My wife would not leave the 
restaurant until Fung Cao is served.  Golden Palace has the best in my opinion.

There are also dim sum in the burbs.  Peking Garden in Lexington, Great Wall in
Bedford, and May Ling in Maynard are the ones I know.  But I think the 
convenience of these places is still not worth the better taste of the Chinatown
restaurants.

-- 
Santa Wiryaman

INTERNET : wiryaman@riscee.pko.dec.com
UUCP     : ...!decwrl!riscee.pko.dec.com!wiryaman

FROM COMPANY'S INTERNAL RESTAURANT REVIEW DBASE  (all names removed)

Restaurant Review

Date: 02/26/91 08:30 AM	
Restaurant:	Imperial Tea House		
Address:	Corner of Beach St. & SE expressway (right at the dragon gate)
Location:	Chinatown
Phone:		
Cuisine:	Chinese
Reservations:	no		
Dress:		very casual


Price:		$					
Rating:	****


Comments:

We go here for DimSum on Sunday mornings. DimSum is basically Chinese Brunch.  
The waiters come around with trolleys upon which are assorted dishes with 1, 2, 
3, or 4 mouthful size portions of food.  For instance, 2 spring rolls, or 2 
small pork buns, or 4 steamed dumplings, or 1 sticky rice wrapped in a leaf, or 
a small dish of sea snails (try them they are super!).  The food is Cantonese 
style with at few extra (not all that great) Szechuan things thrown in to 
appease the trendy.    Most of the dishes are $1.50 to $2.50 with a few more 
expensive ones.  (The sticky rice dishes are more expensive, and more filling, 
so we avoid them cause we like to get a variety).  The most we have ever paid 
(for stuffing ourselves like pigs) was $8.00 per person including tip.  This is 
a great alternative to the $28 brunch.   They take plastic as well as cash 
(leave a tip though, it is expected).

I've been to a number of other places in Chinatown for DimSum and this is my 
personal favorite (Dynasty, which is down the street is good also, but I like 
the Tea House's variety better - apologies to Dave Reiner).  You have to keep 
trying DimSum places, because they keep adding stuff to their menu. 


Recommendations:

Go before 10:30am on Sunday, or you will have to take a number and wait.  Some 
of the waiters don't speak English, so just point to what you want, but beware 
that the things that look like duck feet probably are.   It helps to be 
relatively expert with chopsticks but you can get forks with some 
perseverance.  It's best to go with a party of 4 or more - 6 is ideal as the 
dishes divide up nicely that way and no one has to eat something they don't 
like.


Restaurant Review

Date: 07/01/90 11:21 AM	

Restaurant:	Dynasty		
Address:	33 Edinboro St. 
Location:	Chinatown
Phone:	350 7777	

Cuisine:	Chinese
Reservations:			
Dress:		


Price:		$					
Rating:	***


Comments:

While this is a well known Chinese restaurant, the only real good reason to go 
there is their morning dimsum. This is, by far, the best dimsum restaurant in 
the Boston area. I tried a couple of others, but let me tell you, this is the 
place. If you go on a weekend day, come around 10 or so. Later the place gets 
crowded and the dimsum offering seems to be depleted. 

I wouldn't even try to describe the huge variety of dimsum served in this 
place. There are close to a hundred different little dishes! In fact, I once 
heared from a dimsum expert that there are about 150 known and popular dishes. 
The service is authentic Chinese dimsum: Chinese speaking only waitresses are 
walking around, pushing carts filled with dimsum and announcing their cart 
contents to the crowed. You have to communicate to them your wishes in sign 
language (unless, of course, you speak Chinese!). Ask to see what under the 
covers, it may give you a hint.

There are three classes of dimsum: Fried, boiled and steamed. A dimsum chef 
starts (as an apprentice) by cooking fried dimsum. Eventually, he/she gets 
promoted to cook the boiled dimsum and then, when the chef is very experienced, 
he/she may be promoted to cook steamed dimsum which are considered to be 
difficult dishes to prepare.

In China, dimsum are served in tea houses. Usually, you won't find over there 
the kind of variety of dimsum which are served in the Dynasty restaurant. The 
reason is that this is not a tea house, this is not China and they try to outdo 
their mentors from the old country. A Chinese person, with  whom I was having 
dimsum one day, told me that places like Dynasty are generally more interesting 
then a real Chinese tea house, because they serve dimsum of many kinds, while a 
tea house will have five or six types and always the same.

The crowed in the restaurant is 80% Chinese (even during the weekend). You'll 
find here Chinese tourists, students, Chinatown residents, and a couple of 
yuppie Chinese with their mother visiting from Honk Kong. That should tell you 
something. 

Now, let me warn you: Not all dishes are innocent! Some stuff they serve may 
offend you. It's all edible,  so you can safely eat it and discover some new 
flavors you didn't know existed, just don't ask what is in the dish!. If you 
really want to learn about dimsum, try to go there with someone who can speak 
Chinese and just keep asking questions.

Stay as long as you want, eat as much as you want, drink tea and pay very 
little. I like the charging method. Every table has a form. The server stamps 
it every time anything is served to the table. At the end of the meal, you take 
the form to the cashier and get it summed up. Five or six people could eat here 
and get stuffed for less than forty dollars. Now that's a bargain!


Recommendations:

I just love the different Shumai. These are my favorites.
-- 
--------------->Elisabeth Anne Riba * lis@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu<---------------
"I want to be Robin to Bush's Batman."  Dan Quayle
Quick!  Notify DC.  I think it's time for another 900 number poll.
"We are enjoying a sluggish economy & not enjoying it very much."  --Bush