Gypsy Boy wrote:Gotta say I'm not entirely understanding why Hao is getting grief. ...

Me neither. He/ she expressed what sounded like a perfectly reasonable opinion that for some reason was then taken as a personal attack. The whole exchange is odd.

Kennyz wrote:

Gypsy Boy wrote:Gotta say I'm not entirely understanding why Hao is getting grief. ...

Me neither.

WAIT! Stop the presses. Hold the phone. Kennyz agreed with me. I musta missed something. Lemme go back and read everything again.

well, Gypsy Boy, even a broken clock...

Kennyz wrote:well, Gypsy Boy, even a broken clock...

I'm afraid to ask the logical next question....

Well, there was this baffling response:

Hao wrote:

stevez wrote:So does that mean that if you were in Toronto you wouldn't eat there?

I think I would not (although I would not indite anyone for going there). And this is coming from someone who: (a) would and has gone hours out of the way for good XLB, (b) does not doubt that the XLB at the Toronto place may well be the best in north america outside of the west coast (and may be in the running with those on the west coast).

Unless he/she has some kind of vested/legal interest,
who really cares about the "morality" of the name choice
of the restaurant? OK, it may even be "stolen", now what?
Does this somehow invalidate the restaurant as a "recommendation"
or take away from the deliciousness of the XLB? Move on.

What if they stole the recipe, the staff? What if they got a "C" from the city but put a phony "A" in the window? What if the "pork" in the XLB ain't pork? What if they "closed" to great fanfare and municipal sadness but really just changed names in a cynical ruse to sell more bad pseudo-German food from a once-proud beer hall and to screw over staff with decades of servi

Oh, never mind. I look forward to trying any of these places, so long as the XLB is good. I will not, however, dine in any Ray's Pizzas.

SCUBAchef wrote:Unless he/she has some kind of vested/legal interest,
who really cares about the "morality" of the name choice
of the restaurant? OK, it may even be "stolen", now what?
Does this somehow invalidate the restaurant as a "recommendation"
or take away from the deliciousness of the XLB? Move on.

In case there is any doubt, I have no business/professional/whatever affiliation with DTF (I didn't even know at first that the Toronto branch was unauthorized, that was Rene G). I do have fond feelings for DTF for a variety of personal reasons. Also, in case there is any doubt, I am not the same person as SCUBAchef, as I could see how people would think the statement above was simply a strawman argument.

I will also say this:

1. I fully accept that I may have been a bit contentious (although I do not think I initiated it), not in a very overt way, but that may actually be more annoying.
2. I also accept that I am almost certainly assuming a greater level of familiarity with the DTF chain than is warranted.
3. I wish someone would copy DTF and put it in Chicago. I would just greatly prefer they come up with their own name. That's the line I draw. Others may, and do, differ.

ETA:

What I really wish is that DTF would open a branch here.

I've had enough of you people. I'm going to post my thoughts on LTHForum.org from now on.

JeffB wrote:One is set to open in Seattle. Not entirely clear if it's legit:

http://www.seattlemet.com/blogs/nosh-pi ... vue-82610/

Yes, the Din Tai Fung in Bellevue (a Seattle suburb) is an officially sanctioned branch. It's scheduled to open in mid-November.

stevez wrote:It's a bit of a schlep out of Toronto, but it's well worth the 20 - 30 minute trip to Markham to check out Ding Tai Fung and the other delights of Chinese Suburbia. I can't recommend this place enough. It was one of the two best meals I had on the entire trip.

Ding Tai Fung
3235 Hwy 7
Markham, ON
905-943-9880

the stars must have aligned for our upcoming trip to Toronto. The hotel we are staying at for a night (due to an amazing promo) just happens to be a 10 minute ride from Ding Tai Fung. Will be happy to report back about the quality of the dim sum. Thanks for posting.

I have to say, my last meal at Ding Tai Fung was quite a step down from previous visits. Soup dumplings were still good, but everything else just tasted tired. Combine that with surly, overworked waitresses and it's not hard to see why the crowds have died down and there's rarely a line to get in anymore. In the same shopping center, both Congee Wong and Mei Nung are much more worthy of a visit. Or go exploring -- there are dozens of potentially great Chinese places in the area.

cilantro wrote:I have to say, my last meal at Ding Tai Fung was quite a step down from previous visits...it's not hard to see why the crowds have died down and there's rarely a line to get in anymore.

This is why I love reading things on LTHforum. Though this thread spans two years, it was new to me. So, in the matter of five minutes: I discovered a new and wonderful dim sum place near Toronto, then was dismayed to find out it's an ersatz copy of even better original new-to-me places in Taipei and (possibly) Shanghai. But now, two pages later, the Toronto-area clone has Jumped the Shark('s fin soup). An almost operatic progression, really.

Not to return to the OP, but on a recent visit I tried Dumpling House, 328 Spadina in Chinatown. Went with the onion pancake which was pretty awful - dry and flavorless. The chile oil was an interesting hybrid with some garlic in there - I prefer the simpler purer.

On the plus side, the dumpling combo was darned good. Had the lamb dumplings which were delicious, the pork and sour cabbage dumplings which were very good, and the egg, chive and dried shrimp dumplings which were okay. My only error was in ordering both the lamb and the pork dumplings, as they were fairly similar and heavy on the meat side.