Restaurant Review: Dots the Heart

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Dots the Heart

San Francisco

Eat in a city with more than 2,500 restaurants, many famous and fabulous? How does one select where, if only in San Francisco a few days each February? Picking a Chinese restaurant in a city with one of the largest Chinese populations outside of China and one of the biggest and best Chinese New Year parade then that attracts more than half million people is difficult. But it gets easier because a favorite spot now has three "dot the heart" emporia. Some years ago, Gourmet Magazine called eating at Yank Sing "one of the finest dining experiences in San Francisco." Bon Appetite used similar words somewhat later; fine words for a place to choose that only serves dim sum or "dot the heart" foods.

This city is closer than eating "dot the heart" treats at the Pan Hsi in Guangzho. Never heard of the Pan Hsi? That dim sum heaven in China serves hundreds of different items daily, all terrific every time I've been. However, rude service comes with a long journey and their fantastic food. Thankfully, service at each Yank Sing is both professional and polite. That is true at the location that seats about three hundred and thirty, the one serving but ninety or so, or the newest that seats more both. On any given day, their kitchens serve about sixty different varieties, a few more on week-ends, but only from mid-day, 11:00 am to 3:00 weekdays and 10:00 to 4:00 weekends, the only hours they are open.

Go early before the crush or you'll wait a long time to enjoy the har gao, better known as shrimp dumplings. They come rabbit-shaped as they do at the Pan Hsi, and sometimes in the form of gold-fish as they may have a thousand years earlier at Imperial Courts. Come relaxed. Tables have white cloth napery covered with paper place mats. On each, they set a glass museum-quality teapot replenished by an attentive waitstaff who knows food names and ingredients and want to please.

Though a bit more expensive than most dim sum places, order the dumplings that spurt hot soup when pierced by asking for Pocket Soup. Ask for Snowpea Leaf Dumplings and Pot Stickers, too, called deem sum here. Don't forget to get the lightly fried cylindrical Fish Rolls encrusted with almond slivers, Chicken rolled In Sesame Seeds and wrapped with a band of seaweed, Spring Rolls boasting barbecued chicken and veggies in their thin crispy crust, and Mango Pudding sporting half a strawberry. They are but a few of the many things worth an almost certain wait for a table.

This is an excerpt from an earlier restaurant review. Each issue of Flavor and Fortune reports on restaurants worldwide, reviews books and videos, evaluates new and established food products, and more. Consult the five-year index and the one for 1999. Also, subscribe to this unique magazine about the science and art of Chinese cuisine.

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