Hey, kids: guess what time is it? It's time to restart that Long March known as 100 Favorite Dishes (INSERT YEAR). YEAH!!!
Hey, don't ding us for listicles: Weekly DataLab studies show ustedes love this gimmick, launched in honor of our coming Best Of issue. Besides, it is rather fun to do this for us Forkers–an opportunity to highlight dishes from restaurants we'll never fully review, or secrets from old standbys. Anyhoo, let the march begin…
There are times when you don't mind waiting for a seat at a dim sum restaurant, but then there are those moments when you wish you can bypass the lines and the formality and just get to the food.
You can at Capital B.B.Q. and Dim Sum Express, which is the take-out store located right next to Capital, the proper sit-down restaurant at Diamond Jamboree. There, next to troughs that keep the orange chicken warm, are stacks upon stacks of metal steam baskets. This is the same stuff they push around in the carts at the restaurant. It's everything you need, sold for the same price minus the tip.
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Among the usual repertoire of fat shumai and har gow with translucent skin, you'll also find frilly white tripe in luscious sauce spiked with ginger; steamed buns with ruddy BBQ pork peeking out; and even chicken feet, if you're so inclined. To the right of register, they keep a heat lamp on the baked and the fried. Those furry brown footballs of fried taro, flowery fried wontons, and the egg custard tarts are especially good, but even better are the pineapple buns–soft pillowy things with sweet-crumbly tops and a jam-like filling that floods your mouth with a fruity-sugary ooze.
Sam Woo, which is Capital's closest and most viable competitor, also offers its dim sum to go, but they wait until about 11:30 a.m. to do so. Capital does it as soon as it opens and doesn't stop until they run out. Since their supply usually lasts well past suppertime, it's entirely possible to make a dinner out of dim sum. The only thing left to do is brew a pot of tea and maybe put on a Jet Li movie on Netflix when you get home.
The list:
87. Hodo Gwaja at Cocohodo
88. Popcorn Chicken Salad at Guppy House
89. Fried Okra at Memphis Soul Cafe & Bar
90. Salted Egg With Bitter Melon & Scrambled Egg at Tasty Noodle House
91. Boysenberry Lemonade from Bautista Creek Local Produce at SOCO Farmers' Market
92. Scallop Carpaccio with Curry Oil and Yuzu Vinaigrette from Cafe Hiro
93. White Board Specials at Taco Adobe
94. Coney Dog at LinX
95. Halal Pizzas from San Giovanni Pizzas
96. Clayuda at El Fortín
97. Lunch Buffet at Dosa Express
98. The Meats at Darya in Orange
99. Panocha at Taquería Zamora
100. Bean-and-Cheese Burrito from Del Taco
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.