Jo Jo Taipei and Allston musings

We checked out Jo Jo Taipei today for a late lunch, and it was deeelish! We had their "Special Mini Steamed Buns" aka Xiao Long Bao aka Soup Dumplings (pictured above), "Three Cups Eggplant," warm sweet soy milk, and Taiwanese Wonton Noodle Soup. Our meal started with complimentary salted peanuts and shredded marinated cabbage (pictured below). The restaurant is relatively new to the Allston area, nicely decorated and in a great location (Brighton Ave. and Linden St.).



I'm looking forward to going back and trying more dishes - it's hard to find good soup dumplings in Boston. We've had them at Gourmet Dumpling House, the old New Shanghai (RIP), and Windsor Dim Sum. I think the ones we had at Jo Jo were the best out of the bunch. They don't really compare to the ones I've had in Manhattan, at Joe's Ginger and some other places, but I've got to credit today's dumplings. The eggplant was prepared with one cup of soy sauce, one cup of wine, and one cup of water (plus sliced garlic, sliced ginger and probably an obscene amount of sugar). Next time we go, I want to try the curry beef pockets, tofu hot pot, three cups tofu, flounder fillet, tofu with shrimp, mapo tofu, and everything on the weekend brunch menu.

The Allston-Brighton area is blowing up with restaurants! We love Shabu-Zen, Gitlo's, Punjab Palace, and the 88 Market Food Court - Ken's Ramen is TDF. I also really like Kantin, the Cantonese place in the food court, and the Vietnamese place. I want to check out The Battery (fish n chips!), Cafe Brazil, Grain and Salt, the Nepalese place, Alfredo's, the take-out Thai place, and I want to give YoMa another try (the first time at YoMa, I ate some really spicy food that did a number on my tummy). Shanghai Gate was only ok (which reminds me - we had soup dumplings there too, but they weren't very good - but the fish soup with tofu is excellent).

Too bad we love cooking at home too much. We'll be lucky if we try all these places before 2010 rolls around.

The A-B was already known as a bar hot spot, but we adore Deep Ellum, despite the overabundance of hipsters. It's as if we were back in the Upper West Side and tried to venture out to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This is where I popped my Dogfish Head 90-minute IPA cherry. I've had the hot dog and fries there, but the homemade pretzels are fantastic and go very well with the impressive selection of beers on tap. In addition to Deep Ellum, we frequent Our House (preferably on weekday nights) and Joshua Tree (1/2 price burgers on Wednesdays).

Since this post has morphed into Allston musings, I can't help but add that Herrell's has tasty ice cream when we're too lazy to make it at home ourselves or go to JP Licks in Coolidge Corner.

Windsor Dim Sum

On Saturday Ben and I wanted soup dumplings, so we ventured out to Chinatown. We barely missed out on two street parking spots and had to fork over $10 to park at the Beach St. garage. It was a good reminder of why we never go to Chinatown unless we take public transportation!

We tried going to Gourmet Dumpling but the restaurant was packed and the wait too long. Instead, we headed over to Windsor Dim Sum, a new-ish place on Tyler St. near Shabu-Zen. Windsor isn't your typical dim sum restaurant, like Hei La Moon or China Pearl (two of my favorites if you're seeking the steam carts pushed by old Chinese ladies experience). Instead, you order what you want and the waiters bring your dishes out to you (presumably, everything is cooked/made to order). Ben and I were starving and basically, we ordered the entire menu. We had har gao (shrimp dumplings), shu mai (shrimp and pork dumplings), gou choy gao (shrimp and chive dumplings), turnip cake, soup dumplings, tripe, spare ribs, har cheung (shrimp in rice noodle), shrimp-stuffed eggplant, steamed U-choy with oyster sauce, and salted fish and ground pork on rice. It was A LOT of food and the waiters seemed impressed that we were able to eat most of it. (Granted, we did take a lot of leftovers home for Grandma to enjoy.)

The dim sum was *pretty* good, but nothing special. Would we go back? Maybe on a Wednesday at 6pm when other places aren't serving dim sum. The soup dumplings were just ok, and they did not come with soup spoons or the ginger-vinegar dipping sauce. I'll stick to China Pearl and Hei La Moon during the morning hours, that's for sure. I also think we've been spoiled by Gitlo's, another made-to-order dim sum place in A-B on Brighton Ave. We can walk there (no need to drive to Chinatown and search for parking) and the dumplings are more creative. Sometimes, service can be slow and the place is tiny, but for convenience, taste and creativity it really can't be beat. It might be a little more expensive than the Chinatown places, but I'm a huge fan of Gitlo's (even more so when they actually have creme brulee...I had it once and since then they've always been out).

I hope folks like the new layout. Ben gets all the credit!