A visit from my longtime friend Luscious Liana provided the perfect opportunity to sample the highly-touted goods at Luscious Dumplings. I’m not sure how the restaurant acquired its name, but my gal pal earned hers during college freshman orientation. Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.
Lush, The Astronomer, and I, along with gas•tron•o•my reader Sharon who was in town for spring break, visited Luscious Dumplings for an early dinner. Both Sharon and I had heard through the SGV grapevine that Luscious Dumplings often runs out of food before its advertised 8 PM closing. We were early birds to guarantee the worm.
We chose a table for four by the window even though the amiable waiter had offered us the highly coveted seats by the television set. Just like at Qing Dao Bread Food and Din Tai Fung, we were presented with a Xeroxed menu to mark-up our order.
Complimentary dishes of pickled cabbage and carrots arrived at the table first along with water and hot tea.
Our first course of the evening was “flavors stewed bean curd” ($3). The firm strips of bean curd were marinated in soy and sesame oil and served cool. The combination of mild flavors and chill temps made for a refreshing starter.
In the dumplings department, we went with an order of pan fried pork dumplings (left – $5.50) and an order of steamed cabbage, pork, and shrimp dumplings (right – $6). Both were terrific, but in totally different ways. The pan fried ones satisfied my greasy / porky tooth, while the steamed ones pleased my mild / clean flavors tooth. Both were marvelously tasty specimens.
The pork filled soup dumplings ($5.50) didn’t ooze as much juice as the ones from Din Tai Fung, but tasted great drizzled with some hot chili oil and dipped in black vinegar.
Lastly, we shared a large order of “flavors stewed beef” ($6). The noodles were solid, but not as memorable as the dumplings.
Next stop on the dumplings super highway—Kingburg Kitchen.
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Luscious Dumplings Inc.
704 W. Las Tunas Drive
San Gabriel, CA 91776
Phone: 626-282-8695
Great post! I love dim sum, but have not been here yet. My friends and I enjoy Elite, although I dont know how it stacks up to LD.
You have one greasy/porky tooth? I have 28 of them! 😀
Great writeup of the place! It makes me want to eat those dumplings again right now. The next time I’m in town, I am heading there at 6pm and checking off all the choices. =)
Ben – I’ve yet to hit up Elite, but I’m pretty sure the menu at Luscious Dumplings is more limited in terms of traditional dim sum offerings. Come to LD for dumplings and noodles, and head elsewhere for a cart- and chaos-filled dim sum experience.
Anna – You win the award for the Funniest Comment of the Week! Congrats 🙂
Sharon – Holla at me when you re-visit. I’ll be there in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.
We need the Kingburg Review! I can’t wait for that reivew. LOL
I don’t know….the noodles is okay, but I can never get the dumplings that I want at Luscious because they always ran out. 🙁
Pepsi Monster – Look for Kingburg in about three weeks 😉 Like most bloggas, I eat more than I write! And about Luscious—on the one hand, it’s really annoying how they run out of food so early on, but on the other, I appreciate that the food is super-fresh and that they’re not willing to compromise quality. Luscious is doing business using the Asian street food model, that’s for sure.