SGV: Dim Sum at Atlantic Seafood

When my fine dining partner mentioned she had never had dim sum before, I dragged her to Atlantic Seafood. I hadn’t tried it yet but figured it’d be an adventure for both of us.

I hate waiting for a table so I suggested we meet after 1 p.m. Turns out a gazillion other people were also waiting for table. This must be a good place then. After about a 20 minute wait, we were seated. I watched the same few carts go by and realized there wasn’t much of a dumplings selection but we made do.

The shrimp cheung fun (noodle rolls) were good. I liked the wrapper wasn’t too thick but could have used a few more shrimp in it.

 

One of my favorite things is the bean curd wrapped veggies. These were super saturated with hopefully tasty gravy. I hate to think what it could have been. When you tried to pick up the roll, it sagged with its heavy juice. I suppose this should have been the one time I let the cart ladies go at it with the scissors.

 

At last I found the siu mai (pork and shrimp) dumplings. These were fine if not a little plain. I’m used a bit of shrimp roe on top. Or at least a dab of red in lieu of the real stuff.

 

The crystal shrimp (har gow) dumplings were quite small. These must be like the ones they used to serve before the 90s when everything got super sized. The shrimp were fine. I have had fresher ones with a better chew.

 

Our favorite thing was the curried tendon. These were wonderfully tender and I admit I longed for a bowl of rice to go with.

 

You do get three daikon/taro cakes but I was so hungry, I took the picture after we attacked the first one. I liked the nice sear on these. It’s a wonder what those cart ladies can do.

 

We did get the chiu chow gow dumplings and these were pretty good. I liked them more over the fancier versions I’ve had lately.

 

The spare ribs were solid if a bit skimpy portion.

 

And dim sum restaurants in LA must have wised up to the fact everyone loves the leafy part of Chinese broccoli because that’s all we got. I am used to battling the huge “tree trunks” of the gai lan so I actually was a bit disappointed we didn’t get the stems.

 

The loh mi gai or lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice was also good. It was appropriately savory and the meat and rice was proportional.

 

We ended with my favorite dim sum treat, egg tarts. Neither the fine dining partner and I are really enthused by eggs but for some reason egg tarts are beyond eggs. I suppose it’s all that butter and sugar.

I’d go back to Atlantic Seafood but like most dim sum palaces in the SGV, the parking is horrendous and the wait was just a bit too long. I also wanted to see more variety. I did think it was nice there were cart ladies and you didn’t have to order from a list. I might actually get up early to go again to see what else they have.

Atlantic Seafood & Dim Sum

500 N Atlantic Blvd., Ste 200, Monterey Park, CA 91754  —  (626) 872-0388

 

© The Minty  2013