As I stepped off the plane in Charlotte I had one thought on my mind... dumplings. I had recently attended a conference in Seattle (Podcon) and tried soup dumplings for the first time. My life was forever changed. But I was saddened to discover the Din Tai Fung only had 4 locations in the entire United States. None of those locations were on the east coast.
So it is with this pioneer spirit in mind that my wife and I set out to explore our local cuisine for some sort of substitute. I put "dumplings" into the Yelp! app and it returned with a few results. Dim Sum Chinese Restaurant was one of the first on the list. We went about 2 pm on a weekday and it was basically empty.
They have a menu with pictures of the various appetizer dishes that you check off and they bring them to you. We tried as much as we could fit into our stomachs before getting way too full. We had to bring the rest home. We ordered so much food and it still came to less than $50 for both of us.
A few days later our adventurous spirit returned and we found ourselves in Dim Sum once again. This time it was a Sunday afternoon and the experience was completely different.
The place was packed. Everyone was talking in languages we didn't understand with our ignorant American minds. When we sat down this time they brought around carts full of delicious foods already prepared. And we just picked which items we wanted off the cart and they put it right on the table. It was like a dim sum buffet that comes around to your table.
We tried all sorts of things we'd never had before. Even Chicken Feet. What do chicken feet taste like? Chicken. The wait staff was attentive and made sure we knew what we were ordering if we had any questions. This place felt so authentic to the Asian community that I felt like a tourist in my own city. Thank you Dim Sum staff for welcoming us into your home.
I love this place and will definitely return.