I’m not a fan of traditional American breakfasts. I like to eat weird random meats at 10 in the morning. Sunday mornings I go for dim sum with my wife and my 2-year-old daughter, who’s probably eaten more dim sum than anything else. My daughter likes egg rolls, sui mai and pot stickers. My litmus test for dim sum is the pork sui mai. You have to consider the size of it and how fresh the pork tastes. It has to have just the right amount of shrimp. Our No. 1 go-to is S&T on Noriega and 33rd. I like fried lobster rolls—fried dough stuffed with lobster meat and who knows what else. We eat salt-and-pepper shrimp and I love the steamed spareribs with chile-vinegar sauce. I love chewy cartilage-y things.
With a group, I like to go to Koi Palace. I love their braised suckling pig and their different seafood specialties. Their shanghai soup dumplings are pretty tasty too. Then there’s Wing Lee Bakery on Clement Street. No matter how much food I get there, I never spend more than $20, and it feeds the whole kitchen at Commonwealth. I like their shrimp gao. We usually end with fried Chinese doughnuts. Leftovers are good too. Personally, I like dim sum cold—when it finally congeals, I really like it. —as told to Sara Deseran
S&T Hong Kong Seafood Restaurant, 2578 Noriega St., 415-665-8338
Koi Palace, Serramonte Plaza, 365 Gellert Ave., Daly City, 650-992-9000
Wing Lee Bakery, 503 Clement St., 415-668-9481
*Published in the February 2011 issue of 7x7. Subscribe to 7x7 magazine here.