After having visited two mediocre larger restaurants I decided to shift my attention to the small dumpling houses. They are cheap and generally serve high quality dumplings, which bettered my odds for getting a good meal.
The first small dumpling house that I went to was a place on Mosco St. who’s only English on the sign was “Fried Dumpling”. It is a tiny place, roughly the size of two large walk-in closets. There are four or five tall stools at a metal counter opposite the “kitchen”. The kitchen is a counter-length cutting board with lots of dough and bowls of dumpling fillings. They serve two things: fried pork dumplings and fried pork buns. Both are delicious, and for $1 you can get five dumplings or four pork buns. Little English is spoken and ordering is mostly holding up fingers depicting how many orders you want. The dumplings are as fresh as they come, right out of the pan and onto a styrofoam plate, throw some hot sauce and black vinegar on top, and you’re ready to eat. The dumplings themselves are almost perfect. They have a thin skin (in my mind a key factor) and they are delicious when served scalding hot. For $5 you can get twenty-five dumplings, almost unheard of in a city where a Central Park cart-hot dog is sometimes $2. Bottom line: go here, spend little money, eat amazing dumplings and go home happy. (4/5 chopsticks)
The second place I visited was a place called Prosperity Dumplings (46 Eldridge). It was narrower than Mosco street dumpling house, with a few tall stools and a counter out in front and the kitchen tucked away behind the ordering counter. The prices were the same (five for a dollar) but there was more variety such as congee, fried sesame pancake and different soups. I got two orders of the regular pork and chive, one order of fried pork buns and one chive and egg pancake. Stay away from the latter. It was simply a piece of thick bread with some chives and sesame seeds on top, nothing interesting or tasty. The dumplings were even better than Mosco’s dumplings. They had more filling, thinner wrappers and had an all around better flavor. The pork buns were far superior to any fried pork buns that I’ve had. They were crisp on the bottom yet fluffy and sweet on the top. They were just man tao* with a pork filling.
Bottom line: All you want to do after the first bite is keep eating, and at the prices that they have, you can easily eat fifteen or so without feeling squeezed for cash. (5/5 chopsticks)
My third stop was Vanessa’s Dumpling House (118 Eldridge). Many people have written about it and drooled over it because of its staple dishes (dumplings, duh) and its variety (sandwiches filled with different meats). I went with several other people so I had the opportunity to order everything I wanted and then some. We settled on three orders of chive and pork, two orders of spicy wontons, two orders of pork fried buns and one order of spicy and sour cucumber. I also got a taro bubble tea to drink which tasted like a combination of makeup and coffee (for $3, not worth it at all). The total came to a whopping $21.50, although it was for four people. The chive and pork were great, not as good as Prosperity, but still they were gone within five minutes. The spicy wontons were pork and shrimp, I was a little put off by the shrimp as I was not expecting a fishy taste, but they were delicate and in a fiery sauce. The pork buns did not hold a candle to the ones I had devoured earlier at Prosperity, but were not bad, and were also gone within five minutes. The spicy and sour cucumber was a refreshing contrast to our dumpling-heavy diet. It could have been spicier, but a little dash of hot sauce would take care of that problem.
Bottom line: it is more expensive than other places, meaning four for a dollar instead of five, but it does have more variety, something that may appeal to those who may not want just dumplings. (4/5 chopsticks)
*(pronounced man toe, it is a simple steamed bun, usually slightly sweet)
