Lisa's Dumplings

Lisa's Dumplings is a dumpling restaurant up near Columbus Circle in NY.  It was started, you guessed it, by someone named Lisa.

"Her philosophy for Lisa's Dumplings is to create all natural, freshly cooked dumplings, with no artificial flavors or ingredients. Her store is an open kitchen where customers can see their dumplings being prepared right in front of them. The wrappers are hand made at the front counter, and the fillings are placed in them and then pinched closed into the perfectly formed  flavor pocket known as a dumpling. The dumplings come in a variety of flavors and are either steamed or fried. Customers stand at the counter watching the process take place in anticipation of that first savory bite." 

The restaurant features an open kitchen so you can watch the dumpling making action, which I haven't actually seen, as I only experienced their dumplings at a popup event offsite.

Popup Decoration.

At the event, they decorated nicely with traditional Chinese decor and a sign about the chef.

Popup Menu.

The popup menu was a dumpling meal, with choice of dumpling, sauce, and side.  Although the menu said only 1 kind of dumpling was allowed, many of us asked for two kinds which was no problem.

Steamed Dumplings.

Our lineup was only steamed dumplings, 4 kinds: Pork & Chinese Cabbage, Beef & Onion, Chicken & Green Pepper, and Veggie.  At the actual restaurant, they have more varieties (including seafood) and all are available pan fried or steamed.

If you buy them at the store, they come 7 to an order for $11.99/10 for $13.99/14 for $17.99, +$1 for pan fried instead of steamed.

I tried two kinds (pork & cabbage, veggie), but actually really disliked both.  They had a ton of 5-spice in them, and I truly don't like 5-spice.  There was no way to appreciate the filling given how strong the spicing was.  I wouldn't call them particularly well made dumplings either, as the wrappers were very thick and many weren't fully sealed.

Sides.

For sides we have 3 choices, all served cold:

• Cabbage and Cucumber Salad
• Kimchee
• Honey Glazed Potato

Dumplings (pork & cabbage, veggie)
w/ cabbage & cucumber salad, honey glazed potato.

For my meal, I selected two kinds of dumplings, and two sides.

Cabbage & cucumber salad:

This was a pretty simple side, just cabbage and cucumbers with rice vinegar and a hint of garlic and salt. It was fine.  3/5.

Honey glazed potato:

This was good.  Fairly flavorful, with soy and honey.  Potato not too mushy.  But a bit odd as a cold dish, and a bit odd alongside carby dumplings. 3/5.

Pork & Chinese Cabbage dumplings:

The wrappers were thick, and split apart on many of the dumplings.  The ball of pork inside was pretty big, and had a nice amount of chopped cabbage.  But ... I actually hated these due to the aggressive amount of 5-spice.  1/5.

Veggie dumplings:

The veggie dumplings turned out to be bok choy, carrot, and shiitake mushroom, with lots of five-spice.  Again, the 5 spice just killed these for me.  Also the veggies were pretty mushy.  Meh.  0/5.