Jade Garden....It's A Dim Sum Christmas!

Jan 14

Jan 14 Jade Garden....It's A Dim Sum Christmas!

A.W.

New city, new traditions, it is a thing I’m trying. With fish on Christmas Eve, it seems Christmas Day also called out for something to do. In this case it “the new” was really more of something that other have been doing for a while but which for me would be a new thing. Make sense? In SF I’d always heard of folks who found their way to Chinatown on Christmas to dine on dim sum and Chinese food. It was something that even made an appearance in the movie “A Christmas Story.” A movie, by the way, I just don’t get. I know it has some how become a Christmas classic and has a certain mid-West appeal but I just never found it funny or entertaining or reminiscent of my childhood and what not. Still, as far as the scene at the end where they are dining at the Chinese restaurant, I felt it was something I could get on board with. Considering all my couple friends here had plans, it seemed like a good alternative to laying around my apartment in my sweats bingeing crap on television. I mean, I can do that any day of the week.

As it was, I do have a single friend from long past college days who lives here so I texted up Mr P who seemed quite amenable to getting out of his place and trying something he hadn’t done either. We were both born in the South so Chinese food on Christmas Day is outside our own cultural upbringing and thus felt like something we really ought to try. I mean the whole idea does stretch back to a time when immigrants in this country who didn’t celebrate Christmas, but had time off for it, found that Chinese restaurants where open on that day and were more than happy to host folks who didn’t necessarily have anywhere else to go and eat.

In the interest of fomo and having no plans, it all seemed a good idea to take on this tradition myself seeing has how I have been looking for some decent Chinese food since I left SF. Durham was kind of a bust but Seattle did have hope as they have what they call The International District. Not necessarily a Chinatown but a mix of Asian food and culture spots from Korea, Vietnam, China and Japan. Surely with all these options there was bound to be some place we could find to chow down and eat our feelings as singles at Christmas.

Doing my due diligence online I look at any number of options in the area and settled on one spot which seemed to a good and long standing history in the city. With that spot in mind I set a time to meet up with Mr P on a somewhat misty and mild Seattle Christmas Day.

I get to my chosen spot and, at least for this place, seems lots of others needed to get out into the day. Before Mr. P arrives I furiously Google through other options nearby but then end focusing my eyes across the street to what seems like a restaurant. People are going in and out but the windows are all boarded up. The boards are covered in art but still. Then the mantra I always tell other folks, don’t be deceived by outer appearances, some times the best places are the most out of the way, down an alley, in the basement, no frills looking spots. This one seems to fill the bill if not totally matching its name—Jade Garden (sorry, no website).

As I saunter over I run into Mr P and say '“change of plans” and we make our way across the street inside the boarded up door. Seems this spot has a bit of a wait to but not as egregious as my first choice. Plus it seems slightly bigger with higher ceilings, though if you are looking for some interior decor brightness, this isn’t your spot. Outside of a giant fish tank up front crawling with crab, we are going to repeat what we said above. My thing is, it has always been about the food, hopefully this joint can live up to that. If nothing else, the place is bustling with staff and customers so there is always people watching.

After about 20 minutes we got seated and even though decor lacks, they seem to be tech forward as you have to scan one of those QR codes at the table which takes you to an online menu where you actually place your order which then magically gets whisked off to where the kitchen is causing food to magically appear at your table. Though of note, they still do the old school version where you get what looks like a paper list of available dim sum, click some boxes then leave at the edge of your table for the wait person. Sadly, these days, seems they are eschewing the roving carts, which is a bummer as I usually like perusing the goods to see what they look like in person. This time we make do with the online photos and manage to order up a handful of choices to get started. I will say from the time I placed the order to when it started appearing at our table was about a minute. It was actually harder to get a glass of water.

The first round were some classics like pork sui mai, steamed bbq pork buns and baked bbq pork buns. Things I will admit are faves when done right. Considering some of my experiences with my search good Chinese the last few years I kept my expectations moderate, even with the fact we were in the International District. Fortunately, hope sprung eternal as it were and the first set of dim sum was actually pretty good.

The sui mai didn’t look like some processed meat inside but real ground pork and then a little piece of shrimp on top to give a small hint of salty sweet. The steamed buns were pillowy and spongy and the bbq meat inside not too terribly sweet or with too many bits of fat. The baked ones I will say had a bit too much glaze on top that was overly sweet and very sticky. Would have liked it better without it as the bread was nice and fluffy inside. The bbq meat was of the red sauce variety instead of the brown, which I prefer as not every place can really pull of the brown without it seeming like some sugared up gravy mass. Overall though, these were tasty.

Then we opted for some pork dumplings and pot stickers. These took a little more time to come but still pretty quick. The pot stickers were just chock full of meat with a nice little brown crust outside. They really were like a giant meatball covered in a just right layer of the noodle dough as I like to call it. The pork dumplings also had a nice ball of meat though the dumpling skin on these was thicker, almost too much. I felt like I needed a knife to cut it in half so it could absorb up some sauce because as is, it won’t sopping up anything. Plus, normally there is some tasty soup like juice inside so you a cool squishy burst when you first bite into it. Not so much with these. I can definitely say I have better versions elsewhere of this. Still, one out of two for this round isn’t bad.

Me and Mr P were feeling somewhat hungry on this day and decided to splurge a bit and try some of their main dish entrees. Plus I was interested to see what kind of sauce and veggies would come out of the kitchen as I have found over the years, even the menu descriptions are the same, the dishes that arrive are more like variations than carbon copies. I fired up my phone menu and we settle on a choice for me and one for him. I will say it took some time for the wok entrees to arrive. At first we thought maybe they forgot, but I will just chalk it up to a busy day at the restaurant as it took a little over 30 minutes for the mains to get to table. That is why the dim sum is there, it holds you over till everything else comes.

I got my old fall back fave chicken with snow peas and luckily enough it came with the standard white sauce instead of all the brown gunk I seemed to have been getting in NC. Plus, it was quite the large serving with a mess veggies. Visually appealing, turns out it tasted pretty good too. Not overly salty with tender pieces of chicken and cooked but crisp vegetables. I’d call this a winner, winner chicken dinner. Literally.

Mr P opted for something a little American South Chinese when choosing the General Tso Chicken. He said he’d had it before at other places and was interested to see what it was like here. It really is an Americanized version of some simpler chicken dishes in Chinese cooking, though no one is exactly sure how the General Tso name came to be associated with it. In essence it is fried pieces of chicken covered in a spicy sweet sauce like glaze. When it arrived a the table seems Jade Garden’s version also comes with a whole bushel of broccoli. Mr P says that was a new twist for him. This is kind of a variation of sweet and sour chicken except the instead of sour there is spice and the sauce is more orange citrusy than red sweet. Have to say it wasn’t too bad. Even with all that sauce the pieces were still crispy and the broccoli gives an extra crunch. Plus, doesn’t hurt to get your serving of vegetables in while eating something deep fried. The sweet was just the right level with the spicy, though my personal taste could have pumped it up a bit. Still, a nice treat in a big portion.

You know there is this thing out there now getting lots of attention called ChatGPT, an AI that evidently writes papers and answers questions for you. Just for giggles I thought I give it a whirl and quiz it about dim sum in around 100 words. Here’s what I got:

“Good dim sum typically includes a variety of small dishes, such as steamed or fried dumplings filled with meat or seafood, steamed buns with savory or sweet fillings, and rice or noodle dishes. The dishes are usually presented in small steamer baskets or on small plates and are often accompanied by a variety of dipping sauces. The dim sum should be fresh, hot and well-cooked, with the ingredients being high quality and flavorful. The overall experience should be a balance of textures, flavors and presentation. In addition, good dim sum restaurant should have friendly and attentive service and a clean and inviting atmosphere.”

Interesting if a little syntax-y. I guess outside of the attentive service and inviting atmosphere thing, Jade Garden hit most of these computer generated observations. But beyond the somewhat spotty service and general lack of atmosphere, I did like the place and would go again and try some of their other dim sum or entree options. I think going on a busy Christmas Day like everyone else can but pressure on a place they don’t normally have and things can get overwhelmed. Even with all that was going on in place the food was pretty good. And as I stated at the beginning, it really is all about the food. You can have all the frippery and non-boarded up windows you want, if the food isn’t good, then what is the point of going. Like many places I go, outside looks are deceiving. At Jade Garden all I cared about were the inside fillings on the dim sum and for the most part they nailed it and the entrees to boot. With a good first time out I may keep this Chinese food on Christmas Day thing going, though I’ll probably try to spread my eating around. New year, new city, new traditions, new food. Let’s keep eating.