Dallying at Din Tai Fung – Arcadia

Some say that food is the gateway to the soul. I don’t know if I’d go that far, but it’s been proven that smell is associated with memory, so it’s not much of a reach to say that food could surface some sentiments as well.

I am a lot of things, but to say I’m sentimental would be wildly inaccurate. But I did get back from China not too long ago, and I’m still being plagued by the occasional wave of homesickness so I was pretty reluctant to write about Din Tai Fung for a while. Plus feelings scare me, and food-feelings sound just plain terrifying.

The stinging seafood that permeates the Juicy Pork and Crab Dumplings bore a pretty terrifying resemblance to the seafood smell that permeates the Dalian air of my father’s seacoast city. Unfortunately, the balance of land and sea is way off in these too-crabby pockets of pork, and while my gorgeous city can pull it off, these dumplings don’t even come close.

Those dumplings brought a nice feeling of nostalgia, but all I felt for the Shrimp and Pork Shao Mai was disappointment. I had never had a shao mai with soup inside, but once the novelty of the concept wore off, I found the generic pork filling about as memorable as the changing of seasons in SoCal. To top it off,   the unsalted shrimp on top was even drier than the California climate.

When I was finally done with the unsatifying shao mai, I was pretty disillusioned with all things pork. Fortunately, the Pork Bun was a perfectly tender, perfectly flavored ball of pork ensconced in a fluffy wrap and definitely didn’t disappoint.

I was still glowing from the home and hearth feeling that only comfort food can conjure, but the best was yet to come. The chili sauce of the simple, al dente Spicy Noodle brought on pure elation, but it’s a pretty sad day when the noodles are your favorite dish at a famous dumpling house.

People rave about Din Tai Fung, and I’ve heard the stories from far and wide. But I guess there’s a reason legends are only loosely based on fact because the only emotions I got from eating here were sad. Maybe I ordered all the wrong things, maybe they were busy, or maybe they were off. Honestly, I could speculate all day, but let’s just say that on that day, I wasn’t feeling Din Tai Fung.