So funny--I thought it wasn't cuminy enough And I love my lamb fat but this had too much fat to meat ratio for me to thoroughly enjoy it.

I am having such mixed feelings about this dinner. I was a first-timer at Ed's. I was only recently at Homestyle Taste and that was my very first foray into Northern Chinese I think. I'm not sure if it was an ordering issue or that I'm just not an Ed's fan but the dinner didn't wow me. While I certainly enjoyed the company and thought the food wasn't offensive in any way, Ed's fits into that category of places to which I'm "not rushing back" and, for that reason, I have a hard time saying it screams GNR to me.

Too many of the dishes were bland, unexciting (either in type or preparation) and monotonous. The sweet sauces were all very similar. The savory sauces were all very similar. The only dishes we ordered that were in any way unique were the smoked pork pancake (GREAT filling, pancake a bit doughy and heavy, as were all of the dough based items) and the mung bean noodle salad (presented like an Asian cobb salad--I took some before the server had a chance to mix it all up, which was good because once she did that, it tasted like a cold version of everything else--pre-mix, it had a nice bite of some kind of horseradish mayo on top that made it really interesting and the veggies were more distinct and crunchier). I also enjoyed the celery and dried tofu salad and the noodle dish but neither would make a greatest hits list for me.

There is a good chance that Onur is right--this is cold weather food that just didn't entice on a hot, muggy summer day. But I can't say that I'm dying to go back and try to better navigate my way through the menu, as I certainly am for Homestyle Taste.

Still enjoyed hanging with everyone (Lee, I hope your mom was ok the next day--I felt bad that we subjected her to an LTH ordering frenzy ) and thanks to turkob for organizing!!

My mom was fine, thanks for asking

It was good, but I'm not sure I'd rush back either.

I think I was overwhelmed because we had SOOOO much food and I wanted to taste it all.

Funny, I love Northern Chinese, am a semi-regular at Lao Bejing, have a history with Katy's, even trekked out to the Old Mandarin Islamic place in outer BFE last time I was in SF, but I found myself a 3 time loser at Ed's long, long ago and have not been back. Then I saw this thread and was ready to go, then I saw your post. So you are saying I shouldn't go?

JeffB wrote:Funny, I love Northern Chinese, am a semi-regular at Lao Bejing, have a history with Katy's, even trekked out to the Old Mandarin Islamic place in outer BFE last time I was in SF, but I found myself a 3 time loser at Ed's long, long ago and have not been back. Then I saw this thread and was ready to go, then I saw your post. So you are saying I shouldn't go?

Oh...the pressure

Of the other spots you mention, I've only been to Katy's (once) and, as previously mentioned, I visited Homestyle Taste recently. I hope to go back to both very soon because they were wonderful. Everything was fresh, original and delicious. I can't say the same for Ed's. But again, based on one visit, I feel a bit guilty telling anyone to do or not do something.

I think it's more apt to compare Ed's to Lao Beijing rather than Northern City or Homestyle Taste. Ed's has a broad menu and features many dishes from Beijing in addition to Dongbei (and also from Shanghai seeing as we ordered quite a few on Sunday), whereas the other two focus mostly on Dongbei. I'm not an expert and I recognize that there is a lot of overlap, but other than the lamb with cumin there was no overlap between my single meal at Homestyle Taste and my many meals at Ed's. I'd be interested to try a more directed menu at Ed's to see how they stack up on the more Dongbei style dishes, but as I said, I'd prefer to wait for the winter since the food can be pretty heavy.

Much like Lao Beijing, Ed's has a menu that's meant to cater to a wide range of tastes. I prefer Ed's particularly for their sweet and sour preparations and their myriad dumpling options, though I do enjoy both restaurants. I'd say it's worth a visit if you're craving Northern Chinese. Though I have to agree with Jen that I'm more excited to return to Homestyle Taste.

Hi,

When LTHforum was merely a few weeks old, I wrote this post on Mung Bean Noodle Salad for a hot summer night, which was enjoyed at Ed's and several other places.

This is definitely the dish to try when it is too hot. I have long wanted to do it again, because never before did food slip down my throat so fast and easily. It was a very unique sensation.

If anyone chooses to reply on that thread with their experience, it will be the first time.

Regards.

Why did Ed's lose their GNR status?

Hi,

I stopped at Ed' Potsticker House yesterday after Dorie Greenspan's talk. After Ed's name was dropped, I was under the impression it had new ownership.

There was a tall woman with a short skirt who seemed to look like Ran. I wasn't really sure it was her or another tall Chinese woman from northern China. I finally gathered the nerve to inquire if she was Ran. It was, though she looked better and more youthful than my last encounter.

We ate through two orders each of soup dumplings and those long cigar potstickers. An order of scallion pancakes with smoked pork and eggplant with garlic sauce. Soothing savory food was a nice finish after a hectic morning.

Regards,

We still go to Potsticker House (which we will also forever call "Ed's". Mostly still the same as always, but they're having issues with the soup dumplings. On our last two trips they contained zero soup. Not a bad dumpling, but not a soup dumpling. One time is a fluke, twice in a row is a trend. We were in over the weekend and said something to the tall women who we think is Ran and she just said that is was still the same person making them and she'd talk to her.

My folks love Ed's. I always want Homestyle Taste. After a few beers no one wants to drive to HT to pick it up. Ed's delivers.

My parents have a standing order with a few classics like Beijing style eggplant and the smoked pork pancake + a few things that always strike me as filler, like the sparsely populated kimchi fried rice. Since Homestyle opened, I've found Ed's stuff a notch below the bar.

This weekend it was supposed to be my pick, but once beer three rolled around, we called Ed's. And they hit it out of the ballpark. I ordered a few things that I love at HT, that I'd never had from Ed's. Cumin flavored lamb with bone was perfectly tender and absolutely coated in oily spices. The Clear wide cold noodles with pork and vegetables was a dead ringer for Colorful wide noodle, with bright, fresh textures, and sinus-clearing mustard. Even the old kimchi rice had a nice wok hei that evening. I missed the peanuts in the vinegary cold spinach dish, which was great otherwise. And an old fave proved to still stand out– the Stir fried hot and sour shredded potato.

Maybe a new chef? EPH this past weekend was firing on all cylinders!

I agree with the above poster. We were there over the weekend and the soup dumplings were again properly soupy. Even better, the eggplant with garlic sauce was the best I've ever had them serve. When we mentioned this we were told that the "head chef" was in the kitchen cooking that evening.

Our last two trips to Ed's have been underwhelming. We hand't been for a few weeks due to various things and then the holidays, but went in mid-January and again this past weekend.

In January we noticed that seemingly the entire service staff had turned over, and we didn't see the tall woman/owner either time, although that isn't unusual.

This January we again had "soupless" soup dumplings, but our hit rate for actual soup has been 50/50 at best. The "house" potstickers (the long cigars) were the same as usual, the eggplant had the right flavor but wasn't nearly as crispy as in the past.

This weekend everything was different. I can't comment on soup dumplings as they had none. The house potstickers were completely different, skinnier, wrapped differently and with only a small amount of filling which had a different flavor. We could have wrung the grease out of them and used it as cooking oil. I certainly tasted cilantro, which was new for us. We skipped the eggplant, but did have the pork with garlic sauce, an old standby. It looked the same but the proportions were all off with much less pork than in the past and the flavor profile was not the same as in the past, very little of the vinegar tang and just didn't pop like it should. New chef??

I'm still reserving judgement since Ed's has always been up and down, but 2 trips in a row is beginning to sound like a trend.

We went back to Potsticker House this weekend to find that most things had returned to normal.

After I'd come to the conclusion that it had changed hands, the tall women was back this Saturday, firmly in charge of things.

While most of the waitstaff is indeed new, a plus is that many of them speak better English than in the past, and have some idea of service. When they saw our bottle of wine they automatically brought two glasses - that matched!! - and a corkscrew. We were further encouraged when we were asked if the wanted the "dim sum" first. We said "yes, please" and that's how the meal was served.

Both the house potstickers and soup dumplings were back to normal. The dumplings had a slightly different seasoning to the soup, but they were delicious anyway. Full of soup. The carrot under them is sadly still missing, but I'm not sure that it actually matters in the greater scheme of things.

The shredded pork with garlic sauce was spot on, and with plenty of pork this time. Don't chide me, but we tried the kung pao chicken for a change and were surprised. It was full of flavor, the spice level was good, the chicken was tender and juicy and the peanuts give it a nice pop of flavor.

So, for us at least, Ed's is back.