Don’t get me wrong. The dim sum at Chef Tony’s is quite good, innovative and visually appealing. But when Richmond BC’s best dim sum comes to the Los Angeles area, admittedly third tier behind both Vancouver and San Francisco, a nearly transcendental experience is expected. They still may reach that point since they’re still in soft opening, but Chef Tony is not currently ready for prime time, particularly in light of the hefty bill. The first clue was walking into a restaurant at 11:10am to find only one other table of 2 occupied. At the same stage, Longo Seafood’s much larger premises were full by 11am and Palatte Tea House in San Francisco was likewise full. Because I was a solo diner I could only try five items on this visit.
The crispy baked bbq pork bun was excellent, perhaps even the best I’ve eaten. One issue, though is that there were sugar crystals sprinkled on top of the bun, making this the sweetest pork bun I’ve ever eaten. Like I said it tastes great but I’m not sure if this is what I want in this dish. The custom made bowl does add a nice touch.
Visually I was extremely impressed by the gold leaf shrimp dumpling which reminded me of the gold leaf dim sum I ate in Hong Kong. But it tasted like any other good shrimp dumpling and was a bit pricey at $11.80 for an order of four (I paid $9 for these three.)
The pandan pork and shrimp buns looked very interesting. Tastewise the only notable thing was that the bun was sweeter than the typical steamed bun.
The one really great thing about Chef Tony is that some dim sum items can be ordered by the single piece, so you don’t have to worry about getting stuck with $8 or $9 for a full order of something you don’t like. This is the gold foil lava bun, which was excellent (though this is a hard dish to mess up).
Lastly, the signature coconut bunny. Can’t say it was better than anybody else’ s coconut bunny.
At this point I think the question is whether Chef Tony is any better than its sister restaurant Sea Harbour or not. (They’re using Sea Harbour packed hand wipes right now.) The dim sum certainly is prettier than Sea Harbour, but a deeper dive would be needed to see if it’s equal to, better than, or not as good. And then the question is whether it’s worth the price premium, as the pictured items added up to over $37 including tax and tip.
it might have become the best dim sum in LA, but you’d also be paying for rent if you ate there. another reason i prefer to seek out holes-in-the-wall as part of my aesthetic.
as a matter of fact, yes. at least that’s how i’d categorize dim sum king in elmonte where the chef used to work at elite. near the intersection of garvey and peck. i tried it back in 2019 shortly after it opened and it was a little uneven then, i’ve been back a few times and given how dim sum prices have risen in the past year, the QPR is fair. just don’t eat there on a hot day since there’s no A/C and the fan blowing across the table makes everything congeal rather quickly.
Thanks for the responses! I don’t eat a ton of dim sum, and, when I do, I don’t always need the, er, pageantry of the usual places. It sounds like Dim Sum King mentioned by @secretasianman is worth a try.
@chandavkl, do you think the places you mentioned are also worth a try?
prices might be the lowest at $3.59 an order here. five pretty huge siu mai at that price IIRC. (prices are lower at the lowest common denominator yum cha cafe, but it’s reflected in the QPR)
the overall seating space makes it a bit more than a hole in the wall to my way of thinking, but definitely much smaller than a lot of the other places selling dim sum to be sure. i’d go with lucky 1 over ocean bo myself.
i’ve heard of them, but have yet to try that place yet.
That’s more takeout only though? Not that I’m against them, they satisfy an itch when I’m in a hurry and in the area.
But if we’re including those kinds of places, there’s also Long’s Family Pastry in Chinatown. Order at the counter and they actually had a few tables you could sit and eat in pre-pandemic. Think their chicken bao is pretty solid, same with their turnip cake, good seasoning and texture. Seems like it’s hard to find a good chicken bao these days.
Really their ha gow is the only item I don’t think is worth grabbing there. Otherwise the other dim sum and pastry items are solid.
