Dim Sum: a restaurant review

The Chinese (at least Rolando's family) actually call it Nyim Cha, which means "Drink Tea." I don't know what Dim Sum means, but in high school, my friend wrote an review of local chinese restaurants for the school paper called "Dim Sum and Then Some." That's the kind of girl she was.

Anyway, the best dim sum (based on what Rolando's family says and on my experience of 3 restaurants) in LA is actually in Monterey Park at Ocean Star Restaurant (Bak Hoi in Chinese). My favorite thing to eat there is Nai Vong Bao (yellow milk bun is the literal translation, I think) which is a steamed bun filled with custard. It's a pretty white ball with a nipply-looking pink dot on the top. This is what it looks like once you've taken a bite:



Mmmmmm....
Ocean Star is at 145 N Atlantic Blvd. in Monterey Park. If you go on a weekday, it's super-duper cheap, and it's cheap anyway. Get shrimp balls and pork balls and scallop dumplings and the little deep fried sesame pastries and chicken feet if you're feeling like going native. I meant to organize an outing there the whole time I was at Irvine and never did and I apologize.