Best Dim Sum in the Capital Area?

You can go to Chinatown in D.C. and find good dim sum, but after trying almost every restaurant in the area, we have found none better than Fortune at Seven Corners Center in Falls Church Virginia.  (We're planning on hitting some of the other favorites in the next few weeks, and will let you know how we've fared.) Fortune restaurant is situated in the rear of the oldest mall in the area, Seven Corners, adjacent to a Home Depot store.  The “seven corners” refers to the intersections of Route 50, Route 29, Route 7, and Wilson Boulevard. A culturally diverse area, you will find there some of the best Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants in the entire Washington area.  The restaurant also hosts wedding banquets and is a very popular restaurant for Vietnamese wedding receptions.  Having attended a Vietnamese wedding reception there, we were first served soup, a variety of appetizers often referenced as the PuPu platter on Chinese menus, and at least 8 entrees to include rice, noodles dishes and vegetables.   But we are interested in the best dim sum, and Fortune is the place.

The restaurant is quite large and can seat over 300 patrons.  Dim sum is served seven days a week from 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM.  Carts are pushed through the aisles in a continuous parade.  One cart has the steamed dim sum in stacks of small steamer pots.  As they open the top container, a wisp of frangrant steam floats over the steamed delicacies of rice paper parcels.  Steamed shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, shrimp and pork dumplings, scallop dumplings, steamed beef with ginger and scallion dumpling and my favorite, steamed rice with Chinese sausage wrapped in tea leaves.  Each steamer contains 3 or 4 dumplings that you can dip into a soy based sauce. 

Another cart follows displaying fri ed rice with Chinese sausage on a small plate and a clear  glass bowl over the top to keep the rice hot, pan fried turnip cake, pan fried pork dumpling, roast pork rice noodle and chow foon, a wide rice noodle with pork and vegetables dressed in brown sauce and another favorite, steamed chives with shrimp and pork dumplings. 

The carts continue.  Steamed roast pork buns, baked roast pork croissant (absolutely delicious), large salted shrimp, steamed little neck clams with black bean sauce and jalapeño (wonderful),  deep fried eggplant with shrimp paste filling, shrimp and banana roll (a must try), roast duck (their specialty), roast chicken half Cantonese style, tender pork spareribs.  Steamed vegetables are brought around on another cart.  Sautéed baby mustard greens with garlic, string beans sautéed with garlic, baby bok choy the size of your pinkie finger with garlic and sesame oil, sautéed fresh mushrooms with black bean sauce, and seasonal vegetables.  And the parade continues.  Another cart with fried, crispy shrimp rolls, bean curd with shrimp paste, deep fried shrimp cake with taro, fried banana and shrimp rolls, crabmeat ball (excellent), spring and egg rolls, crisply noodles. 

But then you see a cart with a large lidded pot.  This is hot tofu served with ginger and sugar.  Simple, but delicious.  Then there is the sweet pastries cart.  Baked pineapple bun, coconut bun, egg custard tarts, coconut soft cake, deep fried sesame balls with lotus seed paste and a mixed fruit almond curd. 

Each time you visit, you will see new offerings based on seasonal vegetables and fish.  The price per dim sum offering runs from $2.25 to $6.50.  Two can leave quite satisfied for less than $20.00.  We always take home food for dinner.  A quart of hot and sour soup, tea leaf wrapped rice with Chinese sausage, roast duck, baby bok choy and leftover dim sum from our lunch.  The total bill runs about $40.00.  Not bad for lunch and dinner for 2.

Round up friends and family.  More people mean more fun and you can then share a bit of this and that from the vast assortment of expertly prepared dim sum.  Ask for the dim sum menu when you go in so you can have a better idea of what you want to have from the carts.  If you see something on the menu that you want ask your server and if they don’t have it on the carts, they can usually prepare it for you.   The only complaint we have ever had is that sometimes later in the afternoon the steamed dim sum is not hot, but that is not often.  We have had them ask if we’d like to have our food heated after it sat on our table for awhile.  Always courteous and willing to please, we can not say enough about Fortune.  Get there early on the weekend or you may have a long wait, but the wait is worth it!

Fortune Restaurant is located at 6249 Arlington Boulevard, Falls Church, Virginia 22044.  Phone – 703-538-3333.  You can fax an order to 703-538-3338.  If you call, they will fax you the dim sum menu and their lunch/dinner menu.

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[Eastern Shore Girl]

Dim Sum recipes:

The dim sum shown center left is Steamed Chives with Shrimp and Pork. Easy to make and may be frozen to steam later.
16 dim sum

1/4 lb. ground pork
1/2 lb. peeled and deveined shrimp
1 clove garlic, minced
1 t. rice vinegar or wine
1 t. soy sauce
1 t. sesame oil
2 t. sugar
2 T. cornstarch

Chop the pork, shrimp and garlic together into small pieces. Mix together the rest of the ingredients above in a small bowl and add the chopped mixture. Toss well. Let marinade in refrigerator 15 minutes.

For assembly you will need:
16 Won Ton wrappers - if square cut each into a circle
3 T. chopped fresh chives
Small bowl of water and a pastry brush

Place 1/2 t. chives in the center of the circle and spread out a little but don't extend to within 1/2 inch of the edge. Place 1 T. filling in center. Brush around edges with water. Bring the dough together and pinch to seal. Form into a round pillow.

Steam for 12 minutes until the won ton looks translucent. If frozen, steam for 16 minutes but make certain the filling is cooked thoroughly. You can test with a meat thermometer for an internal temperature of 165. Serve with soy sauce.

Basic Dumplings
You can make a variety of steamed dumplings by using the following recipe as the base. Simply add about 1/4 to 1/2 lb. of chopped chicken, pork, scallop, shrimp, clams, any type of fish or to make vegetarian add tofu and vegetables or a mixture.

Makes about 12 dim sum with wonton wrappers

Base to add to above:
1 chopped scallion and/or garlic
2 t. soy sauce
1-1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. sesame oil
1/2 T. cornstarch

Let filling marinade in base for 15 minutes.

To make half moon dim sum: Cut wonton into a circle. Place 1 T. filling in the center of the circle. Brush edges with water. Fold one half of the dough over the other to form a half moon. Press edges together to tightly seal. You can then crimp the edges to make them more decorate or press with a fork.

To make dim sum purses: Place 1 T. filling in the center of the square dim sum. Brush edges with water. Gather the corners to the center and gently twist to form a purse.

Steam dim sum for 12 minutes or until the wonton is translucent.

To prevent from stocking to the bottom of your steamer, you can place each dim sum on a small round of parchment paper or brush bottom of dim sum with a little oil before steaming.