by Richard Foss
Not long ago there were no restaurants in the Beach Cities serving Chinese dumplings, at least as we think of them now. You could get wontons in soup, and at the Szechuan restaurant in Manhattan Beach they were available boiled and tossed with chili sauce and spinach. The wonton filling was always the same, a mild meatball. Locals who didn’t make forays to Chinatown didn’t know there were other options.
Fast forward to now and there are six Beach Cities restaurants that specialize in dumplings, offering them fried, steamed, or boiled, stuffed with meats, seafood, vegetables, and broths. The once obscure item has become commonplace.
If you want to know whether locals are embracing this change, look no further than the line outside the Juicy Dumpling Factory, which opened in the former Denny’s and Ayan space by the corner of Aviation and Artesia. They’re nearly always packed, and on a recent evening my brother and I were assigned the 19th place in line. We were in a hurry, so headed elsewhere but neglected to take our name off the waitlist. As we sat down at the alternate restaurant 20 minutes later, I received the text that our table was ready.
This illustrates two things about Juicy Dumpling Factory: they’re very popular, but service is fast so that line really moves. Menus are available to waiting diners, and they mainly offer variations on dumplings and stir-fries. As such, most people know what they want to eat by the time they sit down. If you want to have starters arrive first, you can order just those items and then add to your order after they arrive, but most diners just accept that things will arrive when the kitchen has them ready.
On one visit we ordered the spring rolls and cucumber salad and asked for them to arrive first. They did, but only by about two minutes. The cucumber salad was the standard item, sweet and cool with a dash of peppery heat. I usually order this as a contrast to highly spiced dishes, and was to find out again that this is a good strategy. The eggrolls were not that companion item because they were mild, but they were a simple item well done, crisp little tubes of bean sprouts and other vegetables. They’re served with plum sauce rather than the usual sweet chili and mustard, which I liked.
On two visits we sampled several entrees, most of which were good though not exceptional. One of the standouts was the orange chicken, which we only ordered because someone else at the table is a big fan of it. I’m not, because the sauce is usually over-sweet and one-dimensional. This was the rare exception, with the sweet and heat in good balance, the sauce lightly applied so that the breading on the chicken wasn’t soggy. We ordered it medium but I’d get it spicy next time and have it alongside the cucumber salad.
The dry-fried string beans were a very simple version of this popular dish, lacking the pork and peanuts that add texture and flavor, and also lacking the wok smoke flavor and slightly leathery texture that comes from blistering at high heat. If you are a vegetarian or just like lightly sauteed string beans and garlic with a little black bean, this is a perfectly good alternative. Another southern Chinese standard, dan dan noodles, are prepared traditionally and well, with a mound of wheat noodles topped with neatly arranged sauteed bok choy, green onions, and moderately spicy ground pork.
One interesting anomaly on the menu is the grilled scallop with vermicelli, which has an unexpectedly ornate presentation. A plate arrives with six scallop shells, each of which has a circle of rice vermicelli topped by a morsel of shellfish in a sauce with chopped vegetables, green onions, and garlic. The best way to eat this is to slide everything straight from the shell into your mouth. It’s an enjoyable and varied mouthful. The scallop flavor and texture are mere accents to everything else, but that’s not surprising for a $15 seafood item.
The most surprising thing about our meals at the Juicy Dumpling House was the dumplings were not the star of the show. If you order them fried they come out nice and crisp, with the lacy, crisp pastry between them that shows somebody who knows their trade was at the wok. The soup dumpling was also nicely made, but with a slightly thicker pastry than usual. Unfortunately, both were on the bland side, juicy indeed but dull without a dip in the vinegary sauce. They aren’t bad, but I prefer the ones at other local spots like Dumpling Mix and Jiayuan Dumpling House.
For dessert I suggest the sesame balls, which are listed as an appetizer but are traditionally one of the last items ordered at a dim sum meal. The pastry is crisp, with the toasted sesame and sweet interior a nice companion to that last sip of tea. And it is probably tea that you will be drinking here, because though their menu has a picture of a beer bottle, they don’t have their license yet. They do have yoghurt drinks and apple juice along with flavored teas, for those who like those.
At our most recent visit I timed the time from sitting down to paying the bill at exactly 45 minutes. We never felt rushed, the server took time to explain the menu items, and it was a pleasant experience. Three of us had a dinner with leftovers for about $25 each – a pretty remarkable bargain by today’s standards. Juicy Dumpling Factory serves fast food that is worth savoring at a fair price. It’s worth a while in line with others who appreciate solid Chinese cuisine. It’s a remarkable change from the days when wontons were all we knew, and a welcome one.
Juicy Dumpling Factory is at 1760 Aviation Boulevard in Redondo. Open daily 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.Parking lot, wheelchair access good. Some vegan items, no alcohol. (424) 966-1688. No website. ER
