Popular dim sum spots in the ID can come with an hour-long wait at prime time here tables and parking are plentiful. Regulars fill round tables, spinning lazy susans and gesturing to the passing pushcarts for another plate of spareribs, egg custard tarts, or juicy siu mai, flowerlike dumplings of pork and shrimp, even more carnivorous platters of tripe or chicken feet. It may be surrounded by Vietnamese businesses, but weekends at Foo Lam are all about dim sum. These swoonworthy steamed pork dumplings are soft, pillowlike rounds with a crispy panfried bottom inside resides a rich, gravyesque filling. But it’s the q bao that really impresses. Yes, that includes bite-sized soup dumpling darlings known as xiao long bao. Dough Zone Dumpling Houseĭough Zone has crossed over from the Eastside-praise the dumpling gods-landing in Chinatown–International District with all manner of morsels in tow. You might think that multiple locations would reduce the waits, but you’d be wrong.
Seattle’s love affair with xiao long bao began right around the time Din Tai Fung opened in Bellevue Square-and although the tender-fleshed little soup-filled dumplings are now peddled in a few joints across the Eastside, Din Tai Fung (now in U Village and downtown Seattle) delivers them in grand, creamy quarters with attentive service and extreme consistency. There are also a few hand-shaved noodle dishes, a longtime speciality of chef-owner Cheng Biao Yang. Each one emerges crisp on one side, soft within, and is still hot when split and filled with pork, beef, or chicken in chili and sesame sauces with cilantro and pickled cucumbers. This tidy counter in Pike Place Market offers the labor-intensive flatbreads known as guo kui, each one rolled by hand, griddled, then plunged it into the bowl-shaped oven, rather like a tandoor, beneath.