Around valley, dim sum can truly ‘touch the heart’

Max Jacobson

Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2003 | 8:19 a.m.

The Year of the Ram is upon us, and dim sum, Cantonese for "touch the heart," has become a popular way to enjoy Cantonese cuisine in the Las Vegas area. In Hong Kong, and also in China's Canton province, where this artful form of nibbling was developed, it is known as yum cha, Cantonese for "drinking tea."

Either way, it is a delightful and different way to have a late breakfast or a leisurely lunch, and while Las Vegas might not have the variety of a San Francisco, New York or Los Angeles in terms of dim sum choices, there are few other American cities Las Vegas takes a back seat to in this style of eating.

Most of the baked, steamed and salted pastries are served three to an order, and specialty dim sum often come in twos or multiple quantities. A dish of clams, for instance, might contain a dozen or more, while something such as steamed rice dumplings are two to an order. They may look small, but they can be quite filling.

Chang of Las Vegas

3055 Las Vegas Boulevard South

It's always bustling at lunch in this busy, noisy restaurant, which features some of the more authentic Cantonese dim sum in town. The staff speaks a mixture of English and Chinese, and the carts are generally loaded to the gills with their 50 or so dim sum choices.

Despite the energy, this is a reasonably elegant room, and the tables are covered in white tablecloths. Carts roll by the table constantly, and the mostly female dim sum hawkers use a mixture of languages to describe their wares, just as they do in Hong Kong. The clientele is a 50-50 mix of Chinese and Western dim sum lovers, Manager Hing Hom says.

One of the specialties is a delicious black bean sauce, made from fermented soybeans, so it is de rigueur for a seafood lover to order a dish of fresh clams in black bean sauce.

Shark fin gow are steamed pastries made from rice flour with a delicious chicken and shark-fin filling. One of the best vegetable choices is gai choy, tender mustard greens topped with snowy egg whites.

After the salty and savory dim sum are offered, there will be a cart loaded with sweet dim sum to top things off, such as a baked egg custard in a rich short crust, gelatinous water chestnut cakes, chewy squares with pieces of the crispy root in the batter, and the lightest entry, chilled almond tofu with mixed fruit.

There is also a nice choice of teas in here; one is not limited to jasmine. Try bo lei, a rich, red tea with a robust, earthy flavor. Oolong is another good choice for this food.

Royal Star

Inside The Venetian

It's not as frenetic in this elegant dining room, where some of the more delicate and finely honed dim sum in the city are served.

The price point is a little higher, but the quality is fine, too, and the service solicitous and punctual. Perhaps that's why conventioneers and businesspeople in The Venetian have become fans. In any case, it gets suddenly busy around noon.

The dim sum list has 26 entries, some of them unique to this restaurant. One of the best choices is sesame spring roll, crisp rice paper noodles crusted with sesame with tender, delicious whole shrimp inside. Another favorite is golden chive cake, a pan toasted dumpling filled with chopped chives and light shrimp forcemeat.

Sometimes there are specials, such as a flaky baked pastry that fairly oozes a delicious meat sauce flavored with abalone, and sweets. Stuffed lotus leaf is the best in the city, actually two glutinous rice dumplings with a minced chicken, mushroom and bamboo filling.

Cathay House

5300 W. Spring Mountain Road

This is the best-value dim sum restaurant in town, and the overall quality of the food is excellent. There are probably more choices than anywhere in town, as well. One day, we lost count at 60.

Food is served in groups, from carts, which roll through the two dining rooms like an express train, coming and going nonstop. Baked pastries are on one cart, while another has barbecued meats, and yet another has steamed pastries piled high in their steamer tins.

Cathay House serves a great, chunky red chili paste, a mild paste that adds a nice dimension to many dishes. Ask for it. It won't set your mouth on fire.

Among the many good dishes here, try XO fried rice noodles, a chewy pasta with scallions and sesame seeds on top, wonderful Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce, and spare rib rice, a deep metal container with rice on the bottom and a pile of steamed pork ribs in black bean sauce on top.

Ping Pang Pong

Inside the Gold Coast

Normally, dim sum are only eaten during late breakfast and lunch, but Kevin Wu's Ping Pang Pong is a rare bird indeed, a place where dim sum is cooked to order and available whenever the restaurant is open. Given the extreme freshness and quality, it's amazing that the price is so low.

There are 12 choices on this list (includes two sweet dim sum), to accompany a terrific menu of Chinese seafood, noodles and specialty dishes. One of the most delicious choices is the golden chive cake -- small, plump cakes with chives and shrimp. Cantonese turnip cake is a starchy, tasty square laced with minced pork.

Sticky rice in lotus leaf, the same thing served at Wu's Royal Star at a higher price, is wonderful.