Dim Sum - Yum! (Jacksonville, Port Charlotte: living in, restaurant, food)

[travelingfood]

Originally Posted by riveree

Were there many vegetarian items (no meat)?

I've run into that problem before with Dim Sum, everything has meat in it.

Very true, JAX dim sum house only hand full of dishes are vegetarian: Chinese broccoli (the sauce is oyster sauce, if that bothers you then ask for no sauce), fried/steamed bean curd, turnip cake (ask if they added pork, most do), steamed rice noodle wrapped in chinese donut, and all the sweet dessert items.
Can you tolerate shrimp though? I know some vegetarians can eat seafood, so it opens up few more varieties.
Any case, dim sum is not really for vegetarians here, however, you can order dishes off their menu, just be very specific that you're vegetarian and don't want any meat. And ask if they used chicken broth to cook vegetarian dishes! For some true Chinese vegetarian dishes, in FL at least, best bet is go to the [SIZE=-1]Guang Ming Buddhist Temple Orlando[/SIZE], read that they have vegetarian dining hall in there, hours and details will have to ask them.

Originally Posted by WitchDoctor

But it's "leftover" meat. Think of it as recycling. Chicken feet, tripe and gizzards, oh my.

leftover meat?...hope that's sarcasm! Haven't seen any gizzard dish in dim sum. Chicken feet and tripes are probably some of the best dishes though. And they're quite afraid to serve pig blood dim sum in JAX, also a delicate dim sum item, delicious stuff!

[WitchDoctor]

Yes, I was being sarcastic. Those are parts that I choose not to eat, but to each their own. The gizzard was added just to make the joke a la Wizard of Oz. ;-)

[travelingfood]

Originally Posted by WitchDoctor

Yes, I was being sarcastic. Those are parts that I choose not to eat, but to each their own. The gizzard was added just to make the joke a la Wizard of Oz. ;-)

oh cmon , a name like WITCHdoctor, some chicken feet and tripe is nothing to be afraid of. Should try duck and pork feet too!

[fastninja500]

My officemates and I walked by the Bamboo Creek yesterday at lunchtime, on our way to Ale house for some Zingers. I tried to talk my Floridian friends into trying dimsum and got back "Whadaheckizdat"?! So we ended up at Firehouse subs instead. Talk about having A.D.D.

I did manage to go into Bamboo Creek and ask for a couple of their menus. I told the manager that I would copy the menu and spread it around my office. She gave me a 6-page Word document, with "A History of Dim Sum" on the first page.

Whodathunk that: food with history - "Once upon a time, there was a chicken and a pig, buddies who were yakking it up in the field. Suddenly, out of the woods sprang a .... Dim Sum Chef .... and ....."

The inside of the restaurant was quite nicely furnished. Sort of like going for the PF Changs look, but more low-key. I think the staff were even wearing black shirts. Excellent location for us too - lately, we've been hoofing it to Tinseltown for our daily walk before and after lunch.

I'm looking at the menu now and they've got a decent lunch menu (11:00 am to 3:00 pm):

Choose the Ingredients:
Tofu & Vegetables (for Riveree!), 6.50
Chicken or Pork, 7.50
Shrimp or Beef, 8.50
Scallops, 9.50

Choose the Cooking Style:
Mongolian
Orange Peels
Spicy Szechuan
Honey Garlic
Kung Pao
Thai Coconut Curry
Sweet and Sour
Cantonese Ginger

then there's the Dim Sum Lounge....
"The Dim Sum Chefs present to our customers more than 40 freshly made Dim Sum food items daily... blah .. blah... blah .... push carts .... blah ... blah... blah .... 2.60, 3.60 to 4.80 per portion.

Their regular menu show some of my favorites: chicken or shimp in lettuce wraps (appetizer), some sushi rolls, Whole Peking Duck (26.00), Five Spice Chicken, Pork Chop Peking Style, Salt-n-Pepper Pork Chops, Crispy Tofu with vegetables, Eggplant with Garlic Sauce, Honey Glazed Walnut Shrimp, a whole slew of seafood dishes, ..... and even Singapore Mei Fun ?!

Holy Cannoli ! I just worked myself into a food frenzy here. I'm dragging my friends there for lunch today! Leaving in a few minutes.

[travelingfood]

Originally Posted by fastninja500

Whodathunk that: food with history - "Once upon a time, there was a chicken and a pig, buddies who were yakking it up in the field. Suddenly, out of the woods sprang a .... Dim Sum Chef .... and ....."

what kind of folk tale are they spreading

Thought I should include this in dim sum thread...

Dim sum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
*bonus, picture of raw chicken feet.

Thanks for the info fastninja500. Do they list what dishes are small/medium/large?

[fastninja500]

Originally Posted by travelingfood

what kind of folk tale are they spreading

Thought I should include this in dim sum thread...

Dim sum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
*bonus, picture of raw chicken feet.

Thanks for the info fastninja500. Do they list what dishes are small/medium/large?

Had lunch at Bamboo Creek today. I do think they are trying to be like a PF Changs lite. Look-n-feel and all. Even the entree plates were white and square, though of lighter material. And no cloth napkins as they have at PF Changs. The price was a couple of so bucks cheaper than PF Changs, though. And no waiting line. PF Changs gets too crowded at lunch.

No, I didn't see a small/medium/large listing for the dim sum. Basically, its just carts loaded with little steamed trays, being wheeled around. There's a steamed card and a fried/baked cart. You kinda have to know what you want. Some of the dim sum are the dessert-ish kind.

Food wise, their dim sum is pretty good. Not the best I've had but that's not really fair cause I've been all over Asia and China towns in NY and SF. The shrimp shiu mai was larger than I'm used to. I had to cut it in half. I'm fairly adept at using the chopsticks but it was too heavy for me.

I ordered a variety of dim sum dishes (pork, chicken, shrimp, beef, etc...), both steamed and fried, and had my lunch buddies try them. Nothing too exotic. I didn't even order the chicken feet cause it might scare them off. The Florida guy liked them. The Russian didn't. The Florida guy didn't even finish his regular entree cause he was too full from the dim sum. Me, I liked them all. Except the beef tripe. I like that done differently.

The entrees, though, were very similar to PF Changs. Sort of like Chinese Fusion food. Not traditional, real, hole-in-the-wall kind of Chinese food. But it was good food. I ordered the Chicken cooked Shanghai style to compare it to PF Changs Spicy Chicken. PFCs was slightly better, and a bit more expensive. But Bamboo Creek seems to have more variety on their menu.

We're definitely going back to Bamboo Creek as its really convenient from our office. Plan to go down the menu. Next time, I'm going for either the Peking Pork or the Salt-n-Pepper Pork Chops. Maybe even ask for a dash of MSG to make it authentic .

[travelingfood]

Thanks for the update Ninja. Ever been to Hong Kong Bistro then? Their home style cooking is by far one of the most authentic in JAX. Was hoping Bamboo Creek would offer stuffs just like HBK. Personally dislike fusion Chinese food...
Damn it I'm hungry for dim sum.

MSG? Real places you have to ask them NOT to add it in dishes, and then that'll mess up the chef's way of cooking.

[rockyracoon]

should've known waiting for a server for 15 minutes was a bad sign! All the servers walked by us with no type of greeting or "someone will be right with you." Then over half the dimsum menu was sold out. After I was notified by the server that some of the stuff I chose was out, she brought me what she called an "updated" menu. So, after I chose a few more items, she told me that some of THOSE were out! WTF?! What kind of "updated" menu is that?? The server told me I should come during lunch when they have "everything" pushed on the cart. Even after I told her it's not convenient to come for lunch because of work, she still insisted a few times later that I come in for lunch. That just showed me that she wasn't listening. Then when I asked her what one of the dishes was, she didn't know but asked a co-worker, who also didn't know but said he'd ask the kitchen. Well, no surprise, but he never came back. Then, when I asked our waitress again, she just said, "oh, did that other guy ever come back?" Of course, I said "no"...and what annoyed me was that she didn't offer to go find out herself and tell us. And just to go along with the theme, when I asked for chopsticks, of course they had to be out of them! As far as the dimsum we did get, it was average. Nothing special. Oh and upset about the discrimination that the table full of asians next to us with the asian server got fresh oranges after their meal when we didn't (I'm familiar that it's tradition for "real" chinese restaurants to serve oranges after meals). I know this establishment is fairly new since the 'grand opening' sign is still up, but here's a note: The first month of business is so important because all the customers are first-timers. It is so important to be organized (which clearly they weren't) and have impeccable service. Everything leaves a lasting impression on customers. Based on this one night, we most likely won't return. oh and lastly, 5 bucks for a corona is a bit overpriced!!

[travelingfood]

Thanks rockyracoon. For a Chinese restaurant to run out of chopsticks is quite hilarious yet unforgettable of them being stupid. Few coworkers ate dinner there too and wasn't impressed at all with the food quality, it's sub par compared to Hong Kong Bistro. I guess they wanted to be like PFChang/JackieLee with the fusion foods.
Should've demanded your oranges! Was there even fortune cookies? No? Then they failed hard.

[designermillion]

My husband and I decided to give it a try today for lunch. From the moment we got near the front door it was utter chaos. My husband managed to get in the door, but I was cut in front off by no less than 8 people. When it was finally ok to proceed, here comes another woman who cuts in front of me. Once inside the door there was no order to things. We were cut in front of, pushed and shoved by every asian person in there. No one seemed to be taking names for seats, and people were just standing around with blank looks on their faces. A woman finally appeared who seemed to be the hostess (or atleast someone in charge), and she completely ignored my husband and I and only paid attention to other asian people. My husband finally made his way up to her and said "may I please put my name on the list for a table?" She looked right at him, turned to her right, and walked off. At that point my husband looked at me and said I've had enough lets go. We felt like we were completely discriminated against because we were not asian. I think we might give it another try when they are less busy, but if we get the same treatment, we will not be back. It was just ridiculous.