Hard-edged, worn down and lit by unforgiving fluorescents, it looked like the kind of place that Tarantino would use to stage a final apocalyptic gunfight between armies of Triad assassins. Once upon a time, the restaurant that squatted in this tunnel was called Dim Sum Garden. And because going there feels like finding something hidden even if it isn’t really at all, and something special even if the menu is a mess (too long, too deep, too full of things like Chinese cabbage dumplings that even I will probably never order, and 23 different kinds of noodle soup) and the service is inept in the most well-meaning way and the space itself looks like the offspring of a one-night stand between a well-off suburban Italian bistro and a Shanghai Chipotle franchise. Because it serves the best scallion pancakes I’ve probably ever had in my life (a whole plate of them for less than $4, enough to make a meal of if you’re dangerously close to broke), and that’s only one of the great things the kitchen is capable of. Because when it’s raining, the water sheeting off the mouth of the tunnel as it runs beneath the Hilton and the garden of umbrellas that blooms around the crosswalk makes me feel like I’m living in the opening scene of Blade Runner. Because I’m hungry, sure (I’m always hungry), but also because the cops go there, and cops (like cabbies, like strippers) have a sixth sense for finding the good, cheap stuff. Get me within a block or two and I’ll find my course bending inevitably toward its weird, trollish location in the 11th Street tunnel on the edge of Chinatown. The new and improved Tom’s Dim Sum is like that. RECOMMENDED: Scallion pancakes ($3.80) for everyone soup dumplings ($5 to $6) for everyone else. Because that’s exactly what owner Tom Guo has done. SNAP JUDGMENT: Remember the old Dim Sum Garden? Now imagine if they cleaned it up, expanded it, and made it a place for some of the best Chinese and Shanghai-style dinners and dim sum in the city. Stargazy, which I sometimes dream about because the banoffee tart blew my mind once and I can’t ever get there often enough. This little sushi place in Suburban Station that I love just because all the sushi is made by robots and I love robots. Because something in them draws me like gravity-a comfort beyond simple sustenance, strong drinks or good company. ![]() To weigh this particular fuss against the fuss of last week and whatever fuss might be coming along next.Īnd then there are places I go to because I simply can’t not go. ![]() Others I go to because I get caught up in the excitement just like everyone else-the frenzy of the new-and want to be there to see what all the fuss is about. There are some I find myself in because life is strange and sometimes the lesser of many evils is a plate of greasy mozzarella sticks and a hip flask of Jim Beam and Coke at 3 a.m. There are a lot of restaurants in this town that I go to because it’s my job. The Scallion Pancakes at Tom’s Dim Sum | Photo by Claudia Gavin
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