L ATIMES.COM/FOOD THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2019F7
Shrimp, pork and leek
pan-fried dumplings at PP Pop
Regardless of the hour, this Taiwanese
restaurant, tucked into the back of a strip
mall in Monterey Park, is packed with
people eating the same two dishes: big
bowls of beef noodle soup and pan-fried
dumplings. The dumplings arrive upside
down on the plate to show off a disk of
dumpling lace across the top. The crisp
lattice is made from a starchy slurry that’s
added to the dumplings as they cook; it
shatters as you eat it and tastes like the
best parts of a good, crisp cookie. And
while the pork-and-shrimp dumplings
under the lace are not technically soup
dumplings, they’re juicy enough that
you’ll want to eat them with napkins at
hand.
127 N. Garfield Ave., Monterey Park,
(626) 307-7351
Sheng jian bao
at Kang Kang Food Court
It’s easy to take one look at the Panda
Express-ish troughs of noodles and stir-
fried meat behind the sneeze guard and
assume you are in the wrong place. But
this “food court” of sorts, where you order
at the counter and then sit at a sticky
table and eat off foam plates, is indeed the
place. You are there for the sheng jian
bao: The dumpling’s wrapper, which
evokes both a fluffy bao and a chewy
dumpling skin, is studded with black
sesame seeds and seared to a crisp brown
on the bottom. It surrounds a middle of
juicy, simply seasoned ground pork that
explodes with hot juice when you take a
bite. Go slow and bite carefully to avoid
having the dumpling squirt your fellow
eaters.
27 E. Valley Blvd., Alhambra,
(626) 308-3898, kangkangfoodcourt.com
Sheng jian bao at
Shanghai No. 1 SeafoodThe sheng jian baoat Shanghai No. 1have
soft, cloudlike wrapper, cinched into a
pretty pouch with a knot of black sesame
seeds at the top. Rather than a crisp
bottom, the entire lower half of the dump-
ling is a single crisp layer encrusted with
white sesame seeds. These, like their
counterparts at Kang Kang, could be
classified as weapons. While the wrapper
is on the thicker side, it’s hardly protec-
tion from the juice that flows out like lava
after that first bite. But that uber unctu-
ous pork inside is more than worth the
burn.250 W. Valley Blvd., Suite M, San Gabriel,
(626) 800-4016, shanghaino1seafood.comPork and beef hui tou
at Hui Tou XiangHui touare the blintzes of the dumpling
world, and Hui Tou Xiang in San Gabriel
is one of the few places in the area to find
them. The dumplings look like mini grid-
dled burritos about the size of a glue stick.
The skins are blistered and browned,
perfectly chewy and elastic and swollen
with garlicky pork or beef filling. The pork
is similar to what you might expect in a
very good xiao long bao, and the beef
brings to mind the broth-enhanced meat-
balls in albondigas. Both are addictive, as
is the house-made kimchi that arrives on
each table when you sit down.704 W. Las Tunas Drive, San Gabriel,
(626) 281-9888, huitouxiang.comSweet xiao long bao and
Wuxi-style soup dumplings
at Long Xing Ji Juicy DumplingMost people visit Long Xing Ji, on the
second floor of the Ranch 99 plaza in San
Gabriel, for the jumbo Wuxi-style soup
dumplings. Filled with pork and crab
soup, the dumpling jiggles with each
knock of the table. And you attack the
wobbling orb with a straw meant for the
boba drink you’re going to have later.
They are fun to eat, but you shouldn’t
leave without trying the sweet xiao long
bao. The restaurant makes a regular and
a sweet version, with the sweet dumpling
filling kissed with just a hint of sugar.
That touch of sweetness adds a punchi-
ness to the pork that’s hard to beat.
140 W. Valley Blvd. Suite 211, San Gabriel,
(626) 307-1188, ongxingji.com/menu.aspxWeekend-only gyoza
at Nikuman-YaThe best gyoza are the ones you can eat
by the dozen: Poof and the entire plate is
gone. They are simple, no-fuss dumplings
full of ginger-scented pork, with perfectly
crimped edges and a uniformly brown
bottom. The gyoza at Nikuman-Ya at the
Tokyo Central and Main market in Gar-
dena are those gyoza — and the closest
thing to the superb version you’ll find at
Harajuku Gyoza Lou in Tokyo. At Niku-
man-Ya, you don’t think about the hour
you sat in traffic to get there or get dis-
tracted by the Gundam plastic model
display nearby. You just gyoza. Just make
sure you go on the weekend, the only time
the gyoza are available.1620 W. Redondo Beach Blvd., Gardena,
(310) 538-2929, nikuman-ya.comBeef and/or cheese khinkali
at Khinkali HouseGeorgian khinkaliarrive on a platter
looking rather lazy. The heavy tops —
meant for gripping, not eating — collapse
the dumplings onto their sides so they
look like they’re resting. One version is
filled with soupy beef and herbs encased
in a soft noodle wrapper that chews more
like lasagna than a dumpling skin. The
cheese version is a bit like a giant ravioli
stuffed with a ball of mild, herb-studded
mozzarella suspended in a slurpable
broth. You eat them by biting into the
noodle, sucking out some of the juiceand
then finishing them off. Khinkali are best
eaten with some fresh black pepperor
plain.113 Artsakh Ave., Glendale,
(818) 649-1015, khinkalihouse.comAll the dumplings at Myung In
If there’s one rule to eating at Myung In,
the Korean dumpling house in Ktown, it’s
this: Bring friends. There isn’t a single
dumpling variety at Myung In; there are
several and you want to try them all. The
King dumplings are softball-sizebaos,
fluffy as clouds but heavy as an actual
softball, filled with minced pork, mush-
rooms, glass noodles and scallions. The
“Korean-style” dumplings resemble Pil-
grims’ hats, steamed and stuffed with
pork and veggies and chopped kimchi.
You can get boiled dumplings and pan-
fried shrimp-and-pork dumplings that
resemble gyoza. But the best of the bunch
are the spicy steamed roll dumplings. The
thumb-sizerolls are made with a thin
dumpling skin wrapper that sticks to the
filling like a wet T-shirt. It’s open at the
ends so you can see the pieces of shrimp
and pork peeking out.
3109 W. Olympic Blvd., Suite B, Los Ange-
les, (213) 381-3568, myungindumplings
losangeles.planetcafepages.siteVegan garden dumplings
at Ms. ChiChef Shirley Chung made a name for
herself with her cheeseburger dumplings
when she won a challenge with them on
“Top Chef.” But the dumplings that will
put her Culver City restaurant on your
regular rotation are the vegan ones. The
filling is a mix of sautéed kale, roasted
mushrooms and caramelized onion
bound by a silky edamame purée and
encased in house-made dumpling skins
that are perfectly al dente and chewy.
Instead of the typical vinegar and ginger,
Chung serves her dumplings alongside a
spicy tofu aioli and tart pickled cauli-
flower. It works.
3829 Main St., Culver City,
(424) 361-5225, mschicafe.comWontons in chile oil
at Sichuan ImpressionThink of this bowl of wontons swimming
in chile oil as a gateway drug into the
magical world of Sichuan food for friends
who don’t like spicy/Chinese/anything-
with-cilantro to eat. The ones atSichuan
Impressionwhop a ma lapunch that hits
you about three wontons in, as the heat
and that numbing sensation start to
build. The sauce is fragrant with garlic
and toasted chiles and just a tiny bit
sweet; the tender noodle wrappers are
filled with pork and showered in green
onion and sesame seeds. I rarely leave,
even when eating a full meal, without
getting a few orders to satisfy the table.
1900 W. Valley Blvd., Alhambra,
(626) 283-4622, sichuanimpression.comCheeseburger dumplings
at My Little Dumpling
Owners Robert and Anthony Mandler
wanted to turn an In-N-Out cheeseburger
into a dumpling. So they stuffed theirs
with a tiny hamburger patty, sautéed
onions, sliced dill pickle and melted
American cheese, and then pan-fried
them so they’re crisp and golden brown
on all surfaces. These dumplings are so
wrong, but so right.
8432 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles,
(310) 450-9393, mylittledumplingla.com
Shumai at Lunasia
You know how there’s that one kid in your
class that everyone referred to as “big for
his age”? This is that dumpling. It’s like
someone injected a regular-sizeshumai
with magic pork juice and caused it to
swell to the size of a baseball. The pieces
of shrimp tend to be large, interspersed
with bits of pork that burst out of the
dumpling’s signature yellow wrapper,
making the entire thing look like a bloom-
ing flower. And it’s crowned with a dot of
orange crab roe.Multiple locations at
lunasiadimsum.comA dozen places to wrap up
your next dumpling crawl
I started taking friends on dumpling crawls through the San Gabriel Valley
almost a decade ago. We’d pick an afternoon and eat until we needed to be rolled out and into our
cars. Most of the spots are ones my Chinese grandmother took me to; others Jonathan Gold told me
I had to try. Here’s a list of restaurants you can add to your next dumpling crawl.
BYJENNHARRIS>>>Jenn HarrisLos Angeles Times Jenn HarrisLos Angeles Times Jenn HarrisLos Angeles Times Mariah TaugerLos Angeles TimesJenn HarrisLos Angeles Times Amy ScattergoodLos Angeles Times Jenn HarrisLos Angeles TimesKatie FalkenbergLos Angeles TimesMariah TaugerLos Angeles TimesJenn HarrisLos Angeles Times Gary CoronadoLos Angeles Times Jenn HarrisLos Angeles Times