Tasty Takes – Roast Duck, and Tips on Ordering Dim Sum

Emerald Restaurant is one of my go-to spots for breakfast.  Dim sum is not as easy to find in San Diego as in Los Angeles, but if you want to avoid the traffic, parking fees and the chaos of a huge dim sum restaurant, go to Emerald.

Another advantage of Emerald is that it opens at 9 am on Saturday and Sunday, even though it may look closed.  If you’re like me and my husband, you know that there aren’t too many restaurants on Convoy Street open at that hour.  We’ve spent several mornings driving up and down that street looking for an open restaurant, to no avail. But alas, we found Emerald.

The roast duck is always a treat.  The fatty skin that separates from the meat is really the star of the show.  It’s juicy and crispy and full of flavor.  Don’t expect this meaty indulgence to be as piping hot as our American palate has come to demand, however.  After all, it’s been doing laps around the dining room in an unheated cart.

The art of ordering dim sum is about patience.  When first seated, the diner may be bombarded with a procession of carts, and women trying to get the table to take one of each item.  But keep your composure, use your right to say no, and take your time no matter how much pressure you get.

Unless you have a very large appetite, or you are expecting lots of leftovers to take home, aim for no more than four dishes per person.  Decide which dishes you must have ahead of time, and hold out for those.  For instance, my husband must have the chicken feet.  So we ask for them, and they make sure we get them.  Otherwise, because we are not Chinese, we may not always be offered the chicken feet.

Never been to dim sum and don’t know what to order? Here are some of my other personal must haves:

– Steamed Spareribs in Black Bean Sauce
– Stuffed Bean Curd
– Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf
– Rice Noodle with Beef
– Shu Mai and/or Dumplings – pork or chicken
– Baked BBQ Pork Bun (trust me, as weird as it seems this is my dessert)
– Sweet Tofu (it comes around in a big pressure cooker pot)

Emerald Restaurant
http://www.emeraldrestaurant.com

3709 Convoy St. Suite 101
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 565-6888

Mon – Thurs: 11 am – 12 am
Fri: 11 am – 1 am
Sat – Sun: 9 am – 12 am