Gimme Some Dim Sum!

Guess what, folks? We've discovered the ONE redeeming thing about going to a mall during the holidays.

This weekend, Scott and I joined our friend Jim, his mother visiting from Florida, and two friends of his for a dim sum extravaganza at Hollywood East Cafe in Wheaton, Md. As Scott and I had errands to run afterwards, we followed Jim in our car, and were quite perplexed when we pulled up to the Westfield Mall in Wheaton.

"A mall?" I asked aloud. How could good food come from the same place that has FYE, Macy's and JC Penneys? Scott reminded me we had a pretty amazing Vietnamese experience at a strip mall in Honolulu during our honeymoon in April 2007, so I shut my trap and hoped for good things to come.

I'm happy to report that Hollywood East Cafe should get a Golden Globe, nay, an OSCAR -- at least a supporting one, for its Dim sum.

Now, I must admit my dim sum experience is sparse -- other than a couple lunches at Ping Pong in D.C., I got nothin.' Scott, however, enjoyed it in both NYC and San Francisco, so he has the chops, so to speak.

Our resident dim sum master took care of ordering from the four or five different silver carts of hot tasty things wheeled around the dining room. Anyone like pork? Barbecued pork buns instantly appeared on the table. Got a hankering for shrimp? Lovely shrimp and chive dumplings materialized. It was like a gourmet drive thru, but the food comes to you instead!

The lazy susan in the center of the table allowed for us to enjoy a literally revolving round of dim sum, so it was easy to pass and taste the food.

I love a group meal, and so does Scott (when he knows he's not going to wind up starving afterwards, ie. every damn tapas place we try) - everyone had their fair share of dumplings, buns, little tempura bundles of shrimp and eggplant, veggies like bok choy and Chinese broccoli, and hot pots of green tea (they have decaf, just in case you need to watch it.)

We capped off the meal, sharing several desserts of pineapple buns, a custard tart, and green tea and sesame balls filled with adzuki bean paste.

I loved the whole experience for the food, the surprisingly nice dining environs, and particularly the communal experience. I thank Jim for the invite, and welcome anyone who's interested to take on some dim sum with us -- we're now full-fledged fans!