Sunday, April 08, 2007

brunchgang iv: dimsum at Southern Sky, 11 a.m., April 8


Southern Sky Restaurant, 801-821 Washington Ave.

Brunchgangers/dimsummers:
  • Betsy (bh1) Herbert
  • Ed (eh) Hogarty
  • Beth (bh2) Howard
  • Brian (bh3) Howard
  • Upma (us) Singh
photos are here.

7 comments:

Jon Solomon said...

I am sorry JS missed this.

DJ Pancake said...

I am sorry DP missed this.

upma said...

Dim Sum brunchgang was pretty awesome. I don't remember everything I ate, but my favorite was the Pineapple Bun. I was kind of hoping to get Pork bun too, but I don't think they had those.
Other things I remember eating:
Pork Shu Mai
Shrimp Dumpling
Spring Roll
Chinese Broccoli
Chicken Dumpling
a bite of Turnip Cake (pleasantly surprising)
and some Sticky Rice thing that came wrapped up in a banana leaf.
I think I ate more, but I really can't remember. perhaps the yet-to-be posted pictures will jog my memory.

I vote for more Dim Sum brunchgangs at a variety of other places!

brian g howard said...

I agree on the awesomeness of Dim Sum brunchgang. As I stated at brunch, this was my grand vision for brunchgang: luring enough people to Southern Sky to make sampling the 17 (or 18) items that ended up on our bill not seem gluttonous (or as gluttonous as if, y'know, I went there by myself). So I can now die happy (or happier).

I was also taken with the pineapple bun, and was equally impressed with the strange, pastry-like sesame ball.

I don't remember everything either, but my favs:
Turnip Cake
the bean curd-wrapped vegetable thing
Chicken Bun
Pork Shu Mai
the itty, bitty fried squid
Chinese Broccoli
and oh, man, I can't remember everything. but i liked it all (or almost all).

I particularly enjoyed the enthusiasm with which our servers encouraged us to try this or that on their carts, and the enthusiasm with which Betsy, upon hearing the three or four things they were peddling, would nod and say "yes, please." (Even if that did lead us to having a largely untouched plate of beef tripe on our table.)

Beth and I got there first, and even though we told several servers that we were waiting for other people to start ordering, were unable to fend off the advances of those bearing Shu Mai, spring rolls, etc.

At $53 total for 5 people, I was pleasantly surprised by how affordable it all was.

We got out just in time, as screaming kids had taken to Southern Sky's stage area.

Ed said...

I'd have to day I enjoyed Dim Sum brunchgang mostly for the company. A bad cold I have at the moment has rendered my tastebuds almost useless.

Betsy and I were about 5 minutes late, but for good reason. It's been years since I've been to Dim Sum, but I distinctly remember the beverage of choice being tea, rather than coffee. Interacting with people at that point in the morning without having had any coffee wasn't an option, so before leaving the house, Betsy and I dug out the old Travel Mugs and filled them to the brim piping hot coffee.
I couldn't find the proper lid to my mug, so I used one that almost fit. This led to me spilling half the cup down the front of my jacket while waiting for the bus. (Brian, Beth, Upma - did you notice this? I tried to be discreet).

Right away, this brunchgang was different. No waiting for a table! We were seated immediately and dug in. I enjoyed the Chinese Broccoli, Chicken Dumpling, and the Spring Roll. A lot of the other choices contained Shrimp or Sqid, which generally does not agree with me, so I avoided them.

Behind our table was a Giant Stage, somewhere between the size of the stage at the Northstar and the TLA. At the side of the stage was a 19" TV showing Professional Billiards (and later bowling). Perhaps they have a kickass karoke night at this place? Not on Sunday afternoon. Toward the end of our brunch, the stage stage featured 6 or 7 kids engaged in primal scream therapy. Interesting.

The only real downside to this brunchgang was noticing a waitress sneeze all over one of the food carts while she was pushing it. I blame myself, though, for glancing at the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm sure this happens everywhere.

Southern Sky fun fact: Those giant yellow Corinthian Columns are made of hollow plastic.

HBets17 said...

It's true that I said yes to everything and that the pineapple bun was amazing and that Ed spilled coffee down the front of him en route and that DP and JS ARE sorry they missed this. Shrimp shumai a huge hightlight!

Beth Noel said...

Dim Sum was the ausmus.
My favorites were the rice thing wrapped in a black leaf, the pork thing, the shrimp thing, the pineapple bun, the sesame thing, the tea was nice but it had tea leaves floating in it, so it was just whatever.
I did not notice ed's coffee snafu but i was pretty jealous that i did not think to bring coffee myself.

I also vote for more dim sums. The sum of all dims.
woop!

I'm sorry JS and DP missed this, too.